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Highway 290 Project

charris911

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  • 5 months later...
lockmat

lockmat

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Charles Kuffner has a good chron.com blog entry with an informative 30 minute interview with a woman from Citizens' Transporation Coalition.

http://blogs.chron.com/kuffsworld/2010/06/whats_going_on_with_us290.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+houstonchronicle%2Fkuffsworld+%28Reader+blog%3A+Kuff%27s+World%29

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TheNiche

TheNiche

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These two projects are not mutually exclusive. HCTRA will develop any planned toll road that is toll-viable. If both roads are toll-viable, then they both get built. It has nothing to do with prioritizing certain non-financial factors over others; that's just the HCTRA following the legislatively-authorized rules that it is bound to.

They couldn't mention that in the article, of course, because it would mean that there's not a controversy.

For the record: there's not a controversy.

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lockmat

lockmat

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These two projects are not mutually exclusive. HCTRA will develop any planned toll road that is toll-viable. If both roads are toll-viable, then they both get built. It has nothing to do with prioritizing certain non-financial factors over others; that's just the HCTRA following the legislatively-authorized rules that it is bound to.

They couldn't mention that in the article, of course, because it would mean that there's not a controversy.

For the record: there's not a controversy.

If I remember right, tha't not true according to the interview Kuffner had that I posted a few posts back. Not sure if it's the same interview that T2THC posted.

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TheNiche

TheNiche

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If I remember right, tha't not true according to the interview Kuffner had that I posted a few posts back. Not sure if it's the same interview that T2THC posted.

What about it isn't true? I scanned over the CTC comments after you'd posted the link, but didn't bother listening to the thirty-minute interview.

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lockmat

lockmat

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What about it isn't true? I scanned over the CTC comments after you'd posted the link, but didn't bother listening to the thirty-minute interview.

In the interview, the woman said something about HCTRA reallocating funds away from Hempstead for some reason.

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T 2 THA C

T 2 THA C

Posted
Posted

These two projects are not mutually exclusive. HCTRA will develop any planned toll road that is toll-viable. If both roads are toll-viable, then they both get built. It has nothing to do with prioritizing certain non-financial factors over others; that's just the HCTRA following the legislatively-authorized rules that it is bound to.

They couldn't mention that in the article, of course, because it would mean that there's not a controversy.

For the record: there's not a controversy.

Fact, TxDOT has repeatedly told the public that the Hempstead Managed Lanes will be constructed before US-290 construction begins, to give people travel options and minimize disruption during construction.

Fact, Harris County has not committed to the managed lanes and Txdot has not clearly stated a plan B if the managed lanes are not built. The 290 project team has stated they have some ideas for temporary HOV lanes but not much will happen if anything.

List of HCTRA Projects

IMO there's no project more toll-viable(Maybe the South Sam Houston widening)

In the interview, the woman said something about HCTRA reallocating funds away from Hempstead for some reason.

Robin Holzer"... Last year in June of 2009 Harris county cut there allocation for Hempstead in half to just a little over a billion dollars and they redirected most of that money toward construction of the proposed Grand Pkwy..."

PDF Summary

CTC Comments

"The current proposal for US-290 is predicated on concurrent plans for the Hempstead lanes. In its 2008 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), Harris County allocated $2.05 billion to the proposed Hempstead Managed Lanes over five years. However, in its 2009 CIP, Harris County cut the Hempstead allocation in half, to just $1.08 billion, despite only a 12% decrease in HCTRA’s overall budget from $5.2 billion to $4.6 billion

."

Note: It dose state "As of this writing, the public cannot know what Harris County’s Hempstead Lanes commitment will be in its 2010 CIP, scheduled for public hearing on June 22, 2010. It is unclear whether the County will restore its commitment to build the Hempstead project timely.

So maybe no controversy, after all, if the funding is allocated back to Hempstead come June 22, 2010. If not then sounds like a problem if the FEIS is based on Hempstead managed lanes being built 1st

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TheNiche

TheNiche

Posted
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Fact, TxDOT has repeatedly told the public that the Hempstead Managed Lanes will be constructed before US-290 construction begins, to give people travel options and minimize disruption during construction.

Fact, Harris County has not committed to the managed lanes and Txdot has not clearly stated a plan B if the managed lanes are not built. The 290 project team has stated they have some ideas for temporary HOV lanes but not much will happen if anything.

List of HCTRA Projects

IMO there's no project more toll-viable(Maybe the South Sam Houston widening)

That seems like it would be intuitive, but the most financially sound toll road alignments are those that do not compete directly with other freeways. They are typically crosstown routes like the Beltway provides and such as the Grand Parkway would provide. The Westpark was doable because it improved upon radial access in a way that neither I-10 or US 59 were very effective at. And the I-10 managed lanes were made possible by the participation of numerous other agencies, which kept certain costs manageable. The Hardy Toll Road, on the other hand, never lived up to financial expectations.

Also bear in mind that whereas the Hempstead corridor is already built up, the path of the Grand Parkway is still mostly rural, making ROW acquisition, engineering, and construction faster and less expensive. Grand Parkway Segment E is also already further along in design and engineering, meaning that it could be completed and open for vehicles possibly years sooner.

So maybe no controversy, after all, if the funding is allocated back to Hempstead come June 22, 2010. If not then sounds like a problem if the FEIS is based on Hempstead managed lanes being built 1st

HCTRA did reel in its long-term capital budget in 2009 as a reaction to the worst part of the financial crisis so as to ensure that certain financial ratios and their debt ratings could be maintained. And yes, in doing so they did appear to place more priority on projects that could be finished sooner. It didn't matter especially much, however, since groundbreaking on major projects was still years into the future. For all practical purposes, what I'd stated earlier is still true. Neither project is mutually exclusive of the other. Each project's timing to completion may be significantly different, but that was going to be true with or without long-term funding commitments in the 2009 fiscal year.

What is much more critical to the time line is that Prop 12 funding will allow TxDOT to proceed on reconstruction of the I-10/I-610/US 290 interchange and improve the freeway out to 34th Street...without federal funds or an FEIS. That's a HUGE project unto itself, and only after it is substantially complete can HCTRA's Hempstead project can tie into it without creating a huge new bottleneck.

The Grand Parkway Segment E could be complete before that, adding an element of relief, however small, and serving a crosstown route, before the Hempstead project would even be physically viable.

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  • 2 weeks later...
MyEvilTwin

MyEvilTwin

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So it's maybe just delayed then, I guess. Oh well.

I have to say that some of the little things they've been doing on 290 lately (extending some exit lanes, mainly) have made a noticeable improvement in traffic. And the extension of the 4th lane west of Beltway 8 to just past Jones Road (westbound) that opened up yesterday has had the biggest impact of them all, at least so far. It's really helped ease the biggest Westbound bottleneck (the BW8/290 interchange).

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  • 1 month later...
Arivechi

Arivechi

Posted
Posted

No new updates but here are a few recent articles on the expansion.

Work on 290 to start by next summer

TxDOT: U.S. 290 work would cost $4.6 billion

From that first link: "Funding, however, has only been identified for half of the project. Proposition 12, approved by voters in 2007, will provide for inbound improvements. The agency is currently looking for sources of funding to cover outbound improvements."

wow. that sounds awkward.

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  • 5 months later...
  • The title was changed to Highway 290 Project

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