Harris County commissioners consider Capital Improvement Program

HCTRA gets $4.6 billion

Steve Hawley, Jun 23, 09.

The Harris County Commissioners Court considered the 2010-2014 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Tuesday morning. Houston Tomorrow obtained a copy of the Public Infrastructure portion of the CIP yesterday, and it will also be posted to the Public Infrastructure Department website in approximately one week.

The Public Infrastructure Department CIP is divided into five sections: Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA), Flood Control District, Roads, Parks, and Buildings. The vast majority of the money—almost $4.6 billion—will go to HCTRA, with $763 million allocated to Roads and $264 million to Flood Control. The Buildings portion included $666 million but singled out $59 million for recommended projects, and the Parks portion listed $37 million in 2010 but did not provide amounts for the subsequent four years.

The most striking changes involve the Grand Parkway, the Sam Houston Tollway, and the Hempstead Tollway. In last year’s CIP, the Grand Parkway was only allotted $620,000, mostly to prepare the terms and conditions. This time, buoyed by $181 million in stimulus funds, the project is expected to receive $603 million in the next five years—including $503 million in Fiscal Year 2010 alone. Overall, HCTRA expects Segment E to cost $419.7 million.

A memo attached to the CIP provided more information on the Grand Parkway stimulus funds, stating, “The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will propose an amendment to the Advanced Funding Agreement” approved by the Commissioners Court in February in order to allow the HCTRA access to the funds. Previously, the transmission mechanism had been unclear, since the money was awarded to TxDOT but the project is being developed by HCTRA.

The CIP would also provide the Sam Houston Tollway with a large funding boost, from $138 million in the last CIP to $1.2 billion in the current document. Of that money, almost $300 million is scheduled for 2010.

At the same time, the Hempstead Tollway has seen its share of funding cut almost in half. In the last CIP, it was allocated $2.05 billion over five years, while the total shrank to $1.08 billion this time around.

While last year’s CIP detailed projected expenditures for each year over the five-year period, the current CIP only provides specific expenses for 2010 while combining the remaining four years into one lump sum.

Below are the HCTRA expenditures, in thousands, included in the 2009-2013 and 2010-2014 HCTRA Capital Improvement Program.

More from Houston

Comments

Page 1 of 1 pages