Local transportation organizations are gearing up for the Nov. 3 election with Proposition 7 and road bond proposals for both Harris and Montgomery counties on the ballot.
Alan Clark is the director of transportation planning for the Houston-Galveston Area Council and has more than 30 years of transportation experience with the agency. Clark also worked as a transportation planner with the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County and as a traffic-engineering consultant.
Jeff Collins, a board member for the Transportation Advocacy Group, has more than 35 years of engineering experience and is the vice president of the public infrastructure division for LJA Engineering.
How important are the Harris and Montgomery county road bonds to accommodating growth in the Greater Houston area?
Clark: The counties are having to rebuild their roads from rural highways with just a couple of open lanes and big open ditches into modern urban infrastructure that can accommodate pedestrians and cyclists as well as multilane traffic intersections. The roads need sophisticated traffic control and signage that county officials never dreamed about 20 years ago. So those bonds are extremely critical.
Collins: The Greater Houston area is behind on the transit side so more cars are on the road. And the roads are congested. We have to pass the bonds because it’s getting more congested. [With] transportation, we’re still in a catch-up game.
Why should voters approve Prop. 7? What will it mean for statewide transportation funding?
Collins: It was calculated [by the Texas Department of Transportation] the state needs an additional $5 billion a year to maintain congestion the way that it is now. If Prop. 7 passes, it’ll take $2.5 billion and put it into state roads. So we’re inching up on that $5 billion line. That’s really the biggest chunk that we’ve done in the past four years.
Congress delayed the Highway Trust Fund authorization legislation again in July. What kind of pressure does that put on local transportation entities?
Clark: The expectation that we don’t have a path forward for seeing local investment is substantial and [has a] very high impact on regional transportation projects. Without assurance of a federal partner, it makes it difficult for us to talk about how we’re going to advance things like meter rail, light rail [and] even local bus service. I think it is very disconcerting because we’ve seen a lack of federal leadership.
Collins: The big problem with the congressional highway funding is transportation projects typically are multiyear projects. When you don’t have funding, you’re going to be very conservative on what you are going to let out. Typically, transportation bills are six-year bills, and [the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act] has been extended for 2 1/2 years. It really impacts the ability to do long-range planning for long-range transportation projects. That’s the reason it’s so important to get Prop. 7 done in our state because that’s going to give us that money to keep us going.
Why are the state Legislature and Congress not seriously considering increasing the statewide and federal gas taxes ?
Collins: If you look at it from a common sense standpoint, what makes more sense than user pay? If you want to drive a big truck, you’ll be paying more. If you want to drive an electric vehicle, you’ll be paying less. That makes sense. But I think, politically, that has gotten zero traction on the state level, and it’s being debated nationally.
Clark: I don’t think we have as much everyday support for this issue as one would think, given the water cooler conversations about how hard it was to get to work today and what some traffic delay caused. The public is not connecting the possible revenue that might be gathered to the solutions.
What will the completion of the Grand Parkway segments F-1, F-2 and G do for mobility in the area?
Clark: Officially speaking, it is all still planned for implementation to be operational by the end of the calendar year. But last year, no one knew about the floods we’d have in the spring [and] what happened on Memorial Day. I believe [project officials are] likely to be able to get it open from Hwy. 290 to I-45. I’m less sure how much of the work between I-45 and Hwy. 59 will be open to traffic by the end of the year. I think it will be a primary corridor for people going to work. It will connect a number of very important regional roadways.
What are your thoughts on Texas Central Railway, the high-speed rail line from Houston to Dallas?
Collins: I am a big proponent of that project just because I see the potential benefit—not only to Houston [and] Dallas—but also the state of Texas with high-speed rail in place. I do think it will get built. There’s some opposition, more in the rural areas. I own a ranch in Grimes County, and I know I’m in the minority with my neighbors. [For] these rural counties, it could be commerce for them. I think we could look at piggyback[ing] on that rail and putting [in] a transit line. Maybe you put [transit] underneath [it] on the same right of way. There are some advantages, and I think our area needs it.
