Firms submit TTC-69 bids

Two companies have submitted bids to construct a portion of the Trans Texas Corridor that could run through Fort Bend County.

The Trans Texas Corridor is the name given to the statewide transportation master plan developed by the Texas Department of Transportation. Gov. Rick Perry and TxDOT officials have proposed several wide corridors winding through the state, with dedicated truck and car lanes, as well as rail lines and utilities running side-by-side.

One of the corridors would run along what is called I-69, or the NAFTA Highway. I-69 is a proposed highway that would run through the U.S. and connect Mexico and Canada, with entry points at Laredo and Port Huron, Mich. The highway would replace much of what is now U.S. 59.

TxDOT has proposed that Texas' portion of I-69 could be integrated into the TTC plan. Also, TxDOT has proposed that the contractor fund the construction and maintenance of the road, with the hope of generating profits through tolls and other fees.

The concept has been the subject of much criticism in rural parts of Texas, in particular, where the corridor would run through.

One proposal for developing the corridor was submitted to TxDOT by Bluebonnet Infrastructure Investors, led by Cintra. Team members include Citigroup, Earth Tech, Blanton & Associates, Maunsell, Othon and W.W. Webber.

A proposal was also submitted by Texas-based Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure Development Inc. Team members include Steer Davies Gleave, UBS Securities, Dannenbaum Engineering, ACI Consulting, Sociedad Ibercia de Construcciones Electricas, Dragados, and William Brothers Construction.

These proposals include statements detailing the groups experience in developing and financing transportation projects similar to TTC-69. Also included are conceptual proposals describing how the team would finance, design, construct, operate and maintain TTC-69.

The next step is for TxDOT to complete an initial review of the proposals, which could be completed next month. Teams with experience, qualifications and innovative engineering will be placed on a short list of potential strategic partners for TTC-69, say TxDOT officials.

Once this is completed, approval by the Texas Transportation Commission is needed to continue with the competitive selection process. If approved, TxDOT will request detailed proposals from the short list of potential strategic partners. A selection of a strategic partner could be made by the commission by late 2007.

With no funding set aside for construction, supporters say a public-private partnership would allow development of the entire 600-mile multi-billion dollar project from Northeast Texas to Mexico to be accelerated. Even with private sector resources to fund the project, state transportation officials stress TTC-69 will remain a state-owned project.

A Trans-Texas tussle (06/16/06)

By JACK Z. SMITH
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief assailed the Texas Department of Transportation on Tuesday, suggesting that it was snubbing Metroplex officials' preferred alignment for the region's portion of the Trans-Texas Corridor, the state's proposed toll system on steroids.

After his forceful address to the Texas Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security at its public hearing in Fort Worth, Moncrief attempted to shake hands with Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson of Weatherford before departing the meeting at the downtown Intermodal Transportation Center.

An obviously miffed Williamson, rankled by Moncrief's blunt comments, refused.

Williamson apparently took Moncrief's comments as a slap in the face, although the mayor didn't malign the commissioner personally. Moncrief seemed somewhat baffled by Williamson's becoming so steamed.

After witnessing the tense exchange and talking to the two afterward, I thought: "Oh, no, this is exactly what the D-FW area doesn't need." Strained personal relationships between two important public officials can only make it more difficult to resolve the crucial issue of where the TTC system will be routed in the Metroplex.

After Moncrief's comments, Dallas City Councilman Bill Blaydes, a bear of a man who speaks with a powerful voice and doesn't mince words, offered additional pointed remarks that further irritated Williamson and other TxDOT officials.

But as the dust cleared after the four-hour hearing, I was feeling considerably better. Despite a stream of barbed comments and prickly exchanges, the end result appeared to be that TxDOT officials and Dallas-Fort Worth leaders better understood each other's positions.

Most encouraging is that Williamson repeatedly insisted that the preferences of Metroplex officials would be given great weight at public hearings being held later this summer to solicit comments on the preferred TTC alignment.

Williamson said he finds it "incomprehensible" that a project of such magnitude would be approved without support from a region as large and populous as North Texas. He indicated that local political and business leaders would be strongly influential in determining the route.

A Spanish firm, Cintra, and Zachry Construction of San Antonio are proposing to use $6 billion in private investment to build a 316-mile, four-lane toll road dubbed TTC-35 from the D-FW area to San Antonio and pay a $1.2 billion concession to the state. Cintra-Zachry would collect tolls for 50 years. TTC-35 would be the portion of the statewide Trans-Texas Corridor system relieving congestion on choked Interstate 35.

Cintra favors running a primary leg of the TTC-35 segment around the east edge of Dallas County. But D-FW elected officials, business leaders and transportation experts strongly favor running the corridor up the Metroplex's middle, along the path of an extended Texas 360 and on to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Local leaders also favor constructing an east-west corridor at the southern edge of the Metroplex and looping it northward around the west edge of Tarrant County.

The locals have been perturbed by earlier comments by Williamson leaving some to believe that Cintra might call the shots as to the alignment for TTC-35 in the Metroplex. But Williamson insisted on Tuesday that local leaders would have far more influence, with TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration ultimately deciding.

Although Cintra officials wouldn't determine the route, they could decline to participate in the project if they believed it wouldn't make enough money, Williamson said.

The plan favored by D-FW officials appears superior. It's now vital that they speak up in important hearings in July and August regarding the proposed route.

In the wake of Tuesday's oral tussles over the TTC, I'm confident that Moncrief and Williamson can resolve their differences if they haven't already.

They're big boys. They know how vital it is that the project be done right to help ensure that the Metroplex traffic jams of the future are not unbearably long and unpleasant.

That's something they should be able to shake hands on.

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