TxDOT Projects Progress Across the State

Stimulus boosts highway work.

By Debra Wood

Just as lettings were dramatically slowing down, the stimulus bill is providing a lifeline to thousands of workers in Texas Department of Transportation projects.

“We are most enthused about [the stimulus],” says Thomas L. Johnson, executive vice president of Associated General Contractors of Texas Highway, Heavy, Utilities & Industrial Branch in Austin. “It comes at a good time because we are desperate for the work.”

The state will receive $2.2 billion in transportation construction funds. In early March, the Texas Transportation Commission approved spending $1.2 billion in stimulus money to fund 29 projects, including:

• $250 million for a new interchange on State Highway 121 in Tarrant County.
• $121 million to widen Interstate 35 in Bell County.
• $90 million to construct an interchange at U.S. Route 183 on U.S. Route 290 in Travis County.
• $181 million to construct a new tollroad on State Highway 99 in Harris County.
• $112.5 million in corridor improvements along U.S. routes 281 and 59 in Bexar, Live Oak, Jim Wells and Brooks counties in the South Region.

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The commission planned to announce the balance of the projects later in the month after consulting with local, state and federal officials.

In addition, the commission approved $505.6 million in stimulus funds for more than 250 roadway and bridge maintenance and rehabilitation projects. The largest are a $12-million project to construct new lanes on U.S. Route 84 in Coryell County and an $11.7-million repair of U.S. Route 287 in Armstrong County.

The state’s 2030 Committee report indicates the state needs $4 billion annually through 2030 to preserve its existing 192,500 mi of pavement at 90% level. Bridges need an additional $1.6 billion. To prevent worsening congestion, the state needs to spend $7.8 billion annually, according to the report.

However, TxDOT is not investing anywhere close to those amounts.

“The highway department for all practical purposes was broke,” Johnson says. “They were out of money and not letting any work.”

Johnson says that in calendar year 2005, TxDOT went to contract with $4.5 billion, and in 2006, it contracted for $4.884 billion. One year later, in 2007, that contracting declined to $2.785 billion, and in 2008, it dropped to $2.492 billion. The amount under contract has decreased from $16 billion to $12 billion. 

“We had a backlog 2.5 years ago of about $8 billion,” Johnson adds. “The uncompleted work has dropped from $8 billion to a little over $3 billion. You don’t even have 10 months of work to be built out. As a result of that, starting in November, we were seeing layoffs.”

In December, contractors laid off 5,000 road project workers, Johnson says. In January, an additional 5,000 people were let go. He says the industry expected to lay off another 5,000 in February, but the stimulus bill put those job losses on hold. 

“There are a lot of people with zero work, and firms have no choice but to lay these crews off because of the department’s letting schedule,” Johnson says.

With the stimulus passing, TxDOT decided to let some projects sooner than planned.

“They took $300 million out of lettings in April and May and moved them into March,” Johnson says. “That means immediately we quit laying people off.”

He estimates that the $2.2 billion in stimulus dollars will save 22,000 jobs, based on a Federal Highway Administration formula that every $1.2 billion spent on highway construction creates 11,921 direct jobs and a total of 34,779 jobs.

In addition to the stimulus, TxDOT will issue an additional $2.9 billion in Proposition 14 revenue bonds to accelerate a number of priority projects that had been delayed due to cash flow limitations. Some of those jobs have already gone to bid, such as $3 million to construct State Highway 349 in Odessa and $21 million to add lanes on State Highway 195 in Austin.

The Austin district expects to let a contract this spring to complete three ramps at the Ben White/IH 35 interchange, using funding from the Proposition 14 bonds.

Projects under way

Throughout the state, contractors continue working on major projects.

In Brownsville, Ballenger Construction of San Benito, Texas, is working on a $44.2-million, 9.7-mi widening project on Farm-to-Market Road 511. The company began the project in January 2008 and was more than half finished in March, with completion set for May 2010.

Ballenger is on track to complete by late summer a $24.8-million project on Farm-to-Market Road 396 in Mission, building a connector between the Anzalduas Bridge and FM 396. It includes new overpasses at a railroad crossing and a road. The company is nearing completion on a $45.9-million project on U.S. Route 281 in Edinburg. The work consisted of upgrading existing overpasses and constructing a six-lane expressway.

“This project also had a bridge lifted about a foot with pedestals as a cost savings measure instead of tearing down and rebuilding a perfectly good bridge,” says Amy L. Rodriguez, TxDOT spokesperson.

Williams Bros. Construction Co. of Houston will soon wrap up a $74.4-million widening project on U.S. Route 83 in Mercedes. The project built parallel floodway frontage road bridges on each side of the main bridge.

A joint venture between Balfour Beatty Infrastructure of Atlanta and T.J. Lambrecht Construction of Euless, Texas, is putting the finishing touches on the $139.7-million, 21-bridge State Highway 45 Southeast Turnpike project, which TxDOT expects to open at the end of April.

Two projects associated with the Woodall Rodgers Freeway extension in Dallas are making progress. Williams Bros. is forming columns for the $69.7-million Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge over the Trinity River. Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed the six-lane, 0.366-mi, cable-stay, suspension bridge.

TxDOT spokesperson Tony Hartzel expected steel for the bridge to arrive from Italy in the spring.

Meanwhile, J.D. Abrams of Austin recently began building the east and west, six-lane approaches to the Trinity River levees under a separate $47.4-million contract. The bridge and approaches are scheduled for completion in 2011.

Williams Bros. also has two major projects in Montgomery County, the $175.5-million, 4.5-mi reconstruction and widening of Interstate 45, scheduled for a 2011 completion and a $57.4-million, 3.3-mi widening of U.S. Route 59, set to wrap up in 2010.

In Denton County, Ed Bell Construction Co. of Dallas continues excavation, embankment and drill-shaft work on a $45.8-million, 4.7-mi Farm-to-Market Road 2499 road and bridge improvement project. Ed Bell is ahead of schedule, having completed 22% of the work in 13% of the time. Completion is slated for 2011.

W.W. Webber is rebuilding main lines, adding frontage roads and building bridges as part of the $143.8-million IH-30 Mobility Improvement Project.

W.W. Webber of Houston is in the midst of a $76.8-million, Interstate 610 improvement project in Harris County, during which it will reconstruct 11 bridges and mill and overlay 5.4 mi of highway and frontage roads. Completion is slated for third quarter 2011.

Ahead of schedule, W.W. Webber continues work on the $143.8-million Interstate 30 Mobility Improvement Project in Arlington, which will rebuild main lanes, add frontage roads and build or reconstruct two bridges. It is scheduled for completion by the end of 2010.

The project is reaching an important juncture, says TxDOT spokesman Val Lopez.

“In March, we will shift traffic to new pavement and reconstruct the westbound lanes,” he says. “It will be in time for the first [Texas] Rangers game and the first [Dallas] Cowboys game. It was our goal to do that.”

TxDOT expected to break ground by the end of March on another Fort Worth project, affecting those entertainment venues. W.W. Webber received the $55.9-million contract to add new bridges and ramps at State Highway 360 and Division Street, eliminating an existing bottleneck.

Moving forward on other major work

The Texas Transportation Commission conditionally selected the international consortium of LBJ Development Partners of Austin to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain the $4-billion, 13-mi New LBJ/Interstate 635 Expansion Project. The road will feature six depressed, managed lanes and reconstruct eight main lanes cantilevered above the managed lanes.

The project includes two- and three-lane frontage roads. TxDOT expects the project will cost $2.5 billion to build, and it will take five years to finish. $1.5 billion is for operation and maintenance.

LBJ Development Partners is a consortium made up of Cintra of Spain, with a 55% ownership, and Meridiam Infrastructure of France, with a 45% stake, according to a Cintra news release. The team is negotiating with the Dallas Police & Fire Pension System, which would like to acquire an approximate 10% interest in the project. 

Johnson estimates El Paso has about $1 billion worth of projects in its 2008 Comprehensive Mobility Plan, a joint effort between the city of El Paso, the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority, the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization and TxDOT. Two roadway projects on LP 375 ($17 million) and Interstate 10 at the University of Texas El Paso ($11.5 million) are expected to be let this year.

Useful sources:

Texas Department of Transportation-Stimulus
http://www.txdot.gov/news/007-2009.htm

Texas Department of Transportation-Proposition 14
http://apps.dot.state.tx.us/apps/project_tracker/prop14projects.htm

2030 Committee
http://texas2030committee.tamu.edu/