MINUTES
SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION (INTERIM)
Thursday, May 14, 1998
10:00 am
South Padre Convention Center
*****
Pursuant to a notice posted in accordance with Senate Rule
11.11, a public hearing of the Senate Committee on
Transportation (Interim) was held on Thursday, May 14, 1998,
at the South Padre Convention Centre, South Padre Island,
Texas.
*****
MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Senator Kenneth Armbrister Senator David Cain
Senator Troy Fraser Senator Drew Nixon
Senator Mario Gallegos, Jr. Senator Bill Ratliff
Senator Carlos Truan
*****
The Chair called the meeting to order at 10:25 am. The
following business was transacted.
The following members arrived after the roll was called:
none.
The Chair recognized Mr. Paul Cowen with Senator Eddie
Lucio's office to read a letter into the record. (See
attached)
The Chair recognized Mr. Tom Goodman with the South Padre
Island Chamber of Commerce, written testimony attached. Mr.
Goodman expressed support for the construction of a second
causeway from the mainland to the Island. He also discussed
the different options available and stated that the most
support exists for the Holly Beach option. The new causeway
is being proposed as a tollway, and the figures indicate that
with the Holly Beach option, they expect to charge $2 per car
per crossing, with 7 million cars crossing per year.
Questions and comments from the members followed.
The Chair recognized the Honorable Connie de la Garza, Mayor
of Harlingen, written testimony attached. The mayor expressed
support for the proposed I-69 corridor through Hwy 77/83.
Disappointment was also voiced about the current funding
methods that tend to favor areas with a 200,00 population or
more, and asked for a more equitable method of distributing
funds. NAFTA has made this issue much more important. He
also communicated his concern about the severe decrease in
funding for the Urban Street Program.
Questions and comments from the members followed.
The Chair recognized the Honorable Renato Cuellar, Hidalgo
County Judge.
The Chair recognized the Honorable Joe Ochoa, Mayor of
Edinburg. Mr. Ochoa stated that the Valley is growing faster
than the rest of the state and voiced his concern for
achieving equitable funding for the Valley. He also expressed
his support for the proposed I-69 Corridor.
The Chair recognized Mr. Mike Allen representing the South
Texas Manufacturing Association and the South Texas Border
Partnership. Mr. Allen described the problem involving egress
of trucks from the area ports. He noted that there is no
transportation linkage from the ports and border crossings to
the interstate highways. Mr. Allen asserted that there is so
much emphasis on drug interdiction at the border that the
border crossings are paralyzed and crossing it takes too long.
He supports a dedicated commuter lane at the border, with
"pre-screened" operators.
Questions and comments from the members followed.
The Chair recognized the Honorable Jose Pulido, County Judge
-elect for Hidalgo County. Mr. Pulido expressed his support
for the concept of raising local funds to invest in quality of
life.
Questions and comments from the members followed.
The Chair recognized Mr. Ed Molitor, Hidalgo County MPO. Mr.
Molitor stressed that funding flexibility is very important.
He pointed to the fact that highway funds have never been
transferred to transit projects, but transit funds have been
transferred to highway projects. Mr. Molitor also expressed
support for disadvantaged funding, more flexibility in
off-system projects, and more transferability between fewer
pots of money.
Questions and comments from the members followed.
The Chair recognized Mr. Larry Brown, Planner with the City of
Brownsville. Mr Brown, stressed the need for an overpass over
77/83 extension, as it will alleviate congestions. However,
the Urban Street Program funds for Brownsville have been cut
in half, when they need to be increased instead.
Questions and comments from the members followed.
The Chair recognized Mr. Bill Card, former Mayor of Harlingen,
and a 6 year former MPO Chair. Mr. Card strongly supported
the proposed I-69 Corridor , saying it will be a "big boom"
for Texas. He also expressed strong support for a second
causeway to the Island, if only to address the safety issue.
Mr. Card stated his feeling that infrastructure needs to
become a state priority and that it doesn't make sense to
spend billions in transportation projects in North Texas when
traffic gets down to South Texas in a bottleneck. He also
pointed out the fact that TxDot is considering making a
priority corridor from Laredo to Corpus, but Laredo has only
1/5 the traffic of the McAllen/Brownsville area.
Questions and comments by the members followed.
The Chair recognized Mr. Alan Johnson, Vice Chair of the Texas
Turnpike Authority. Mr. Johnson, summarized the history of
the Valley being left out of the major highway system, when
the mobility study came out and helped them get Hwy 77/83.
This has set them up nicely for the proposed I-69. Mr.
Johnson supported using tolls, and said the state needs to
take advantage of the SIB and tolling.
Questions and comments by the members followed.
The Chair recognized Mr. Raul Besteiro, Port of Brownsville.
Mr. Besteiro stated that Brownsville is the only port in the
US that isn't serviced by an interstate highway and that he
supported the I-69 proposal. He made reference to the project
to route train traffic around Brownsville is almost complete
and so far they have removed seventy-four deadly rail
crossings.
Questions and comments by the members followed.
The Chair recognized Mr. Gary Wayes, former City Alderman.
Mr. Ways expressed his support for the second causeway as well
as the I-69 corridor.
The Chair recognized Mr. Charlie Brown, Valley Trucking Co.,
Brownsville. Mr. Brown wanted to go on the record in support
of the previous groups' testimony.
The Chair recognized Mr. Paul Cown, Senator Lucio's office
with Amadeo Saenz, Tx Dot district engineer , and John Voss,
and Dr. Marge Ford, with the Long Island Association.
Testimony centered around the "swing bridge" at Long Island.
This is the only one in the state that is not maintained by
TxDot, so the citizens of Long Island must maintain it on
their own, and would would like it to change. The bridge
has an appraised value of $30 million and an annual
maintenance cost of $300,000.
Questions and comments by the members followed. Mr Saenz
stated they he would be happy to work with Senator Lucio's
office and the interested parties to try and arrive at a
solution to the problem.
The Chair recognized Mr. Robert Nichols, Transportation
Commissioner, with Amadeo Saenz, district engineer. Senator
Fraser asked how we keep up with NAFTA traffic and with truck
crossings doubling? Nichols' immediate response was to
increase the manpower available at the crossing gates so that
all of them can be operational and processing traffic with
maximum efficiency.
Mr. Nichols wanted to respond to testimony he heard in San
Antonio relating to TxDot trying to pool whatever money was
available in different funding categories to try and have an
amount available to meet the increased match that will be
required to draw down increased federal funds. Nichols
asserted that TxDot is not pooling money yet for this purpose.
Senator Fraser moved the minutes from April 23rd be adopted.
There being no objection the motion prevailed.
There being no further business to come before the Committee,
at 4:15pm, the Chair moved the committee stand recessed,
subject to the call of the Chair. There being no objection,
the motion prevailed.
_____________________________
Senator Ken Armbrister, Chair
_____________________________
Committee Clerk