Texas Transportation Forum Celebrates Interstate's First 50 Years

Mineta Calls on Other States to Follow Texas' Lead

By Eileen Schwartz

Announcing the early completion of the first 40 mi. of the Central Texas Turnpike Project are (left to right): Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission; Hon. Norman Y. Mineta, secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation; Hon. Rick Perry, governor of Texas; and Phillip Russell, director of the Texas Department of Transportation’s Texas Turnpike Authority. (Photo by Eileen Schwartz)

Judging by the attendance and the enthusiasm of the delegates, the first annual Texas Transportation Forum— commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Federal-Aid Highway Act— was a huge success. More than 1,300 transportation experts from the private sector and from federal, state and local agencies attended the two-day event June 8 and 9 in Austin to discuss the past, present and future of Texas' congested highways.

Addressing the packed, opening luncheon, Norman Y. Mineta, secretary of the United States Department of Transportation, said that traffic congestion, not only on highways but also in crowded airports and skyways, is costing Americans $200 billion a year.

"Congestion affects every aspect of people's lives— where they live, work and shop," Mineta said. But Texas, he added, has been "well ahead of the curve in encouraging more private investment in its transportation network."

He called on other states to follow Texas' lead, adding that with its new, flexible approach to highway financing, "Texas can accomplish in four years what would have taken 25 years under conventional funding systems [that relied on gas taxes]."

Mineta was introduced by Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, as an "ally and supporter who has helped us engage the private sector in solving our problems."

Williamson told the audience that Texas "has an $86 billion problem" and that the TxDOT "has a plan to solve that problem." He referred to the new financing tools and new, multilateral partnerships for highway construction made possible by the landmark HB3588, which the Texas Legislature passed in July 2003.

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Stressing TxDOT's support for toll roads, Williamson said: "We are going to reduce congestion, enhance safety, expand economic opportunity and improve air quality."

A highlight of the luncheon was the presentation of "Road Hand" awards to five Texans "who have given their time, energy and vision to help improve transportation in their communities and throughout the state."

They are: Carolyn Cerny Bilski, Austin county judge; Ruben Bonilla Jr., Port of Corpus Christi commissioner; Robert A. Bowers, former Port Arthur Chamber highway chairman; John C. Doerfler, Williamson County judge and Nelson Wolff, Bexar county judge.

Their names will be added to the Road Hand Hall of Honor plaque, which hangs in the foyer of the Dewitt C. Greet Highway Building in Austin.

Other noted speakers at the two-day forum included Texas Governor Rick Perry; Michael Behrens, executive director of TXDOT; Steve Massie, senior vice president, Associated General Contractors of America and Eugene McCormick, president, American Road and Transportation Builders Association.

Networking sessions were held on such topics as "The Interstate Generation," "The Next 50 Years" and "You Bet Your Assets: Leveraging Existing Infrastructure."

The transportation forum was hosted by TxDOT, the Texas Transportation Institute, the Associated General Contractors of Texas and the Texas Good Roads Transportation Association.

The opening of the forum coincided with a special press conference held by Governor Perry the morning of June 8 to announce that the $3.6 billion Central Texas Turnpike Project (CTTP) is running ahead of schedule and some $400 million below budget. Perry met with the press, Mineta at his side, at the CTTP offices in Pflugerville.

Approximately 40 mi. of the new toll-road system will open in the fall of 2006, rather than September 2007, as originally scheduled, Perry said. It will be paid for, he added, by a loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation, bond sales, local government's contributions of right-of-way and tolls.

"If state and local leaders hadn't embraced this modern vision for transportation funding, " Perry said, "Central Texas would have only two options: Pay at least a dollar more at the pump for each gallon of gas or waste even more time in a rush-hour parking lot that gets filled with more trucks and vehicles with each passing year."

When complete, the CTTP will offer motorists 65-mi. of toll roads, which they can use as alternatives to congestion in north Austin, Round Rock and eastern Williamson and Travis counties. TxDOT has devised— and is promoting— a Tx— Tag sticker that motorists can use on all Texas toll roads to pay their tolls electronically.

The CTTP is the first phase of Governor Perry's long-range plan for the Trans-Texas Corridor. As envisioned, the TTC would be a 4,000-mi. network of mega-highways stretching from Mexico to the Oklahoma border. Supporters say it would handle the expected boom in the flow of goods to and from Mexico driven by the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"I think it will be the model for future infrastructure construction in the world," Perry said.

In his speech to the Texas Transportation Forum, Mineta noted that Texans played a prominent role in the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act, which President Eisenhower signed in 1956.

"Lyndon Johnson (then a United States senator) and Sam Rayburn (then Speaker of the House) were running Congress when that law was under consideration," Mineta said.

He added that another Texan, the late Frank Turner, a 1929 Texas A&M graduate, played a major role in the earliest planning for a national system of Interstate highways.

"This opened an unprecedented period of mobility and prosperity across the nation," Mineta said. "But President Eisenhower knew that we could not always follow the old ways. I agree with a statement he once made— that each new Interstate system must be viewed as a journey not a destination."