Two influential state lawmakers are asking the Texas Transportation Commission to hit pause on a pivotal vote related to a proposed massive expansion of Interstate 35 in Austin amid fears of free-falling tax revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg — both chairmen of their respective chambers’ transportation committees — sent a joint letter to the head of the Texas Transportation Commission last month urging it to put off the vote on its Unified Transportation Program, a plan that dictates the Texas Department of Transportation’s spending on road projects for years to come.
The proposed plan includes dedicating $4.5 billion to revamping I-35 in Austin, a pet project of Texas Transportation Commission Chairman J. Bruce Bugg Jr.
But because funding for such transportation projects is in part dependent on oil tax revenue — which is expected to take a major dip amid a cratering oil market — Canales and Nichols said Bugg should hold off on calling for a vote. The state will also likely take a major hit from expected decreases in sales tax revenue triggered by layoffs and business closures.
“Simply put, the 10-year UTP is based on estimated revenues over a 10-year time period, and since these estimates were last made, there have been substantial changes that have not yet stabilized,” the lawmakers wrote.
Staff for both Nichols and Canales said the lawmakers were not available for comment Wednesday. Bugg also would not comment on their request to delay the vote.
The long-term plan is expected to come up for a vote on April 30, though that date has not officially been set.
An overhaul to I-35 in the Austin area has been contemplated for some time but had faced a steep $4.3 billion funding gap. But in late February, Bugg announced he would recommend dedicating the entirety of the commission’s discretionary funding to rebuild the highway.
The $7.5 billion project would cover fixes to the interstate from Texas 45-N in Round Rock to Texas 45-SE at Austin’s southern edge. Preliminary plans have proposed lowering the highway below ground in many sections and possibly creating multiple levels of tunnels.
Bugg’s proposal included a request for $600 million in funding from the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, a federally mandated transportation planning board made up of elected officials from Travis, Williamson, Hays, Burnet and Blanco counties.
Bugg’s announcement set off something of a mad dash at CAMPO to reallocate $600 million in road construction spending by deferring planned projects to get the state transportation commission’s offer of billions of dollars for Central Texas’ most traveled roadway.
In the wake, it created a “Lord of the Flies” scenario among CAMPO’s board members as they scrambled to save local projects, many of which had already been promised to voters and had garnered matching funding from cities and counties, according to Austin City Council Member Jimmy Flannigan, a CAMPO board member.
On Monday, several members of the board expressed frustration with the list of projects that CAMPO marked for what amounts to an indefinite delay in lieu of the I-35 project. Mayor Steve Adler said CAMPO’s process for selecting road projects for deferral was unclear and differed from the organization’s usual process.
“I can’t make heads or tails of things that were chosen,” Adler said.
On the chopping block are $79 million in improvements to Texas 71 in Bastrop County; $12.4 million in Burnet County road projects; $21 million of spending in Hays County; $120 million in Williamson County and $357 million on Travis County. CAMPO still needs to cancel about $10 million to $15 million more in road projects before meeting the $600 million threshold.
“Everybody is taking a haircut,” Round Rock Mayor Craig Morgan said. “If you break it down by percentage, it works out the way it should be.”
It appears CAMPO staff selected projects in part based on the population of each county. Many members of the board said that was a flawed process. However, with the Texas Transportation Commission’s vote on the UTP coming in three weeks, most seemed resigned to approving the plan out of fears that inaction would jeopardize the I-35 project.
CAMPO’s board will vote on what projects to cancel on Monday.
“As usual, I feel like our back is up against it,” Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt said.
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