la Frontera In the News

Austin American-Statesman

June 7, 2006

BEN WEAR: GETTING THERE

Toll roads to open in December

About 40 miles of roads opening nine months early and $125 million below construction estimates.

by Ben Wear, American-Statesman Staff

The state in December will open all or portions of three toll roads in Central Texas, 40 miles in all, officials confirmed Tuesday.

The turnpikes — the extension of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) north of Parmer Lane, Texas 45 North from Loop 1 east to the new Texas 130, and the northern half of Texas 130 itself — will be the first toll roads in the greater Austin area. These three roads, generally new paths cut through cedar and cactus, have not generated the controversy of a proposed second wave of Central Texas tollways that would overlay existing highways.

The opening will come about nine months before the original estimate for those sections, September 2007. And the construction costs, according to the most recent quarterly statement for the three-road project, are about $125 million below the original $1.75 billion estimate.

The costs for acquiring right of way to build the roads came in an additional $200 million or so below original estimates.

Gov. Rick Perry is expected to hold a news conference Thursday announcing the opening and noting the early finish and lower costs.

"It is certainly good news for people who have been stuck in traffic jams that this project is being completed a year early and well under budget," Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said. Three other state officials, who requested anonymity in light of the coming Perry announcement, confirmed details about the December opening.

Texas 130, a 49-mile, four-lane tollway east of Austin that is intended to provide a bypass around clogged Interstate 35 traffic, was designed and built using a relatively new approach to contracting in which one entity (in this case a consortium called Lone Star Infrastructure) does everything.

That project is actually over original cost estimates by $90.2 million, according to a February report on what is called the Central Texas Turnpike Project.

But the Loop 1 and Texas 45 North sections of the project, built under a more traditional procurement approach and using several contractors for distinctsegments, were a combined $217 million under budget as of February.

In all cases, state transportation officials have said, construction contracts were laden with incentives and potential penalties to speed construction and get toll revenue rolling in as fast as possible.

"We have a plan, and it's based on some sound strategies," Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson said. "And one of our strategies is to use competition to drive down costs. And there will be no better example of our strategies than (Texas) 130."

The western third of Texas 45 North and the southern half of Texas 130 — about 24 miles of highway — are further behind in construction and will not open in December. It was not clear Tuesday whether they, too, will open ahead of their original estimated completion dates of September 2007 (for Texas 130 from U.S. 290 to Texas 71 near the airport) and December 2007 (for the western part of Texas 45 North and the southerly 8.7 miles of Texas 130).

A different toll road, U.S. 183-A, being built and operated by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority rather than the state, will connect to the western end of Texas 45 North and is expected to open in March 2007.

When the roads open in December, motorists willing to pay about 15 cents a mile (more for trucks) will find some newly unobstructed paths to and from Round Rock and an alternative to taking I-35 from Georgetown to North Austin.

Drivers will have two options for paying.

If they buy an electronic toll tag — called a TxTag and already available online — they'll be able to pass through toll plazas every few miles without slowing down and to exit the freeway without stopping at a toll booth. And they'll pay 10 percent less than people using cash.

The Texas Department of Transportation is expected in coming weeks to begin a marketing blitz for the tags, which will be usable on Houston and Dallas toll roads as well, and to make them more widely available.

Every main toll plaza and exit ramp plaza (other than a few where there will be no charge to exit) will have cash booths.

Unlike the proposed controversial second wave of toll roads, which would have free-to-drive frontage roads alongside, these three roads by and large will have frontage roads only near exits and entrances.

bwear@statesman.com; 445-3698