TPC struggles with 2035 RTP

Livable Centers update

Jon Boyd, Aug 28, 10.

Baseline funding scenario
The Houston-Galveston Area Council’s (H-GAC) Transportation Policy Council (TPC) voted unanimously to direct H-GAC staff to further study the “baseline” funding scenario (item 8 in the agenda) for a greatly reduced 2035 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), cutting $70 billion over the next twenty-five years. Federal regulations require that such plans be “fiscally constrained” to revenue expectations.

Over the last several months, H-GAC staff has been working with the Technical Advisory Committee to study regional transportation finances, and to comply with federal planning standards in light of reduced revenue projections. In June, Houston Tomorrow reported on the baseline, enhanced, and full funding scenarios for the 2035 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). The public comment period for these changes ended August 30th

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) started requiring states to account for total project costs in 2007, which includes environmental work, design and engineering, right-of-way acquisition, as well as construction costs. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), as well as many other state DOTs, had been accounting for road projects only in terms of construction costs. Second, FHWA also requires DOTs and Metropolitan Transportation Organizations (MPO) like H-GAC to estimate total project costs in terms of year of expenditure dollars. Road projects in state and MPO planning documents had been out of compliance with these two standards. Now TxDOT and H-GAC are bringing these transportation plans into federal compliance. Transit projects are not affected as the planners had already been accounting for those in terms of total project costs and in year of expenditure dollars.

This item brought comments from the public and members of the TPC.

The first person providing public testimony, Robin Holzer, Chair of Citizens’ Transportation Coalition (CTC)*, spoke favorably of the new standards. While she admitted that the current transportation situation owed partly to the recession and lower gas tax revenue caused by more fuel efficient cars, she lauded the new standards as sound cost accounting. She cited the Katy Freeway expansion as a case in point for the new road planning standards. She stated that taxpayers spent $700 million just in right-of-way acquisition for this project, implying a great difference between what the public expected in costs and the actual amount of money required to build it. She also addressed the year of expenditure dollar standards, saying that while TxDOT assumed gas tax revenues would increase every year, it failed to account for inflation of costs.

Holzer urged the TPC “to get strategic about spending scarce transportation dollars where the people are.” After her time had run out, Harris County Judge Emmett asked her to explain a Houston Tomorrow map she produced. She said the map illustrated twenty-five job centers, and claimed that 60% of all regional population resides within five miles of these centers.

Roger Hord, President and CEO of the West Houston Association, also testified on agenda item 8, encouraging a series of measures to raise the state gas taxes and motor vehicle registration fees, “to maintain the progress we’ve had historically in the Houston region.” He claimed that funds for new projects in upcoming years will be about 10% of historical levels, and that these additional taxes are needed to build projects: “we need to move people from our residential areas to our employment centers.”

Art Storey, Executive Director of Harris County Public Infrastructure, said that he understood the CTC approach to build transportation where the people are, but a toll road authority is an enterprise fund. Harris County already owes $2 billion that it must pay back. That means Harris County can build projects when it can reasonably expect to be paid back with tolls charged to the traveling public. Drivers need to be able to get on and off the tollways, “because we’re not building parking facilities.” He said Harris County has a different need from TXDOT. TxDOT builds highways where they’re needed; Harris County builds toll roads when it has a chance to get the money back through tolls, he said.

“Everybody knows that Hempstead Highway [US-290] is the most congested in the region,” he said. Harris County has a lot of money, but also has a lot of bills, so the county needs to be selective about what to build. He said that Harris County does not believe that toll lanes on the Hempstead Corridor can be responsibly built and paid back with tolls. The county recognizes the need for US-290, it is on a list of projects, and the county is still looking for a way to build the project, “but it isn’t looking good.”

About the possible expansion of SH 288, Storey said, “[SH] 288 starts in another county and ends in a traffic jam. I’ve already done that one time. It sounds like a TxDOT project to me, to figure out how to serve three counties and pass through the City of Houston.” The Texas Medical Center, the George R. Brown, and the future soccer stadium would complicate the project.

He said, toll roads are viable and effective as a means of moving people around the region, but not so good as a means of moving people around town. He said, “If you put them where the people are, there’s a whole lot of getting on, getting off, very expensive intersections, and not much mileage over which to charge tolls that will pay for the facilities.” He concluded that a toll road is just one solution, and suggested that the TPC consider other solutions like light rail and other transit.

After discussion ended, the TPC voted unanimously to allow H-GAC staff to continue work on the 2035 RTP under the assumptions of the baseline scenario.

Livable Centers update
TPC Agenda item 9 mailout says:

Background
In 2008, the Transportation Policy Council committed $1.5 million to fund Livable Centers studies in the region. The goal of H-GAC’s Livable Centers program is to help create walkable, mixed-use places that provide multi-modal transportation options, improve environmental quality, and promote economic development. Livable Centers studies apply these program goals to a specified study area. Project outcomes may include proposed future land uses, transportation facilities, street design, and pedestrian improvements and parking plans.

To date, Livable Centers studies have been completed for the East End and Midtown communities in the City of Houston, the City of Waller, and the City of Tomball. Studies are underway in Houston’s Fourth Ward, Upper Kirby, Northside, and Energy Corridor communities. These studies will be complete by early fall 2010.

An additional $1.5 million to continue funding of the Livable Centers program has been committed in the 2008-2011 TIP.

Jeff Taebel, H-GAC Director of Community and Environmental Planning, told the TPC that with enough Livable Centers in the region, it’s possible to begin siphoning off enough short trips from roadways to improve conditions. While he acknowledged that study areas like Tomball and Waller differ greatly from a study area such as the Upper Kirby District, he also noted they should all have the ability to support high-quality transit.

Taebel re-emphasized the uniqueness of each of these Livable Centers studies:
- The Midtown study is looking at sidewalk and streetscape improvements, and also evaluating the parking requirements.
- Upper Kirby is studying how to improve access to transit stations.
- The Northside study is observing lots of pedestrian activity, and considering possible improvements to the Hardy Yard site.
- The Fourth Ward area has many open ditches, and a former bus maintenance facility at Gillette. There is a focus on historic preservation.
- The Energy Corridor study is imagining ways to leverage the Addicks Park and Ride lot and the Energy Corridor Circulator. The Katy Freeway creates a barrier between the north and the south.

* Disclosure: Jon Boyd serves as a volunteer Vice Chair and board member of Citizens’ Transportation Coalition.