DEPARTMENT: Transportation and Capital Improvements (TCI)
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Mike Frisbie
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Briefing on the Bexar County Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) $825 million regional highway expansion plan.
SUMMARY:
This item will provide a briefing on the Bexar County Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) $825 million regional highway expansion plan which includes improvements to several highways in San Antonio and is funded through regional partnerships.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The $825 million regional highway expansion plan includes improvements to US 281 North, I-10 North, and 1604 West. The $825 million package was announced in early 2014. The package bundles several projects with annual Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) funding, local Advanced Transportation District (ATD) sales tax funding funding, and City of San Antonio 2012 Bond funding ($30 million). About 60% of the package is funded with locally committed resources. This funding was then leveraged and TxDOT pledged an additional 40% in toll revenue (32%) financing and vehicle registration revenue backed loans (8%). The projects in the plan are being administered by the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (RMA).
ISSUE:
The $825 million regional highway expansion plan added approximately $330 million additional dollars to the existing $495 million identified for local highway expansion. Projects within the $825 million dollar plan can be found below:
US Highway 281 from 1604 to the County Line
Received a Record of Decision (ROD) on the Environment Impact Statement (EIS) to proceed in July, 2015. The southern segment (1604 to Stone Oak) will begin design in 2016 and bids for
construction are expected to be released in mid-2017. US 281 is moving forward with design. This design will not change whether the facility uses toll revenue or not. The managed lanes do not require tolling and are necessary to help improve traffic flow. Below is a description of the lanes to be added.
1604 to Stone Oak
Existing: 4-6 lanes of frontage road (2-3 lanes in each direction)
Added: 4 Non-Tolled expressway (2 lanes in each direction)
2 Managed (and Tolled) lanes (1 lane each direction)
Stone Oak to County Line
Existing: 4 lanes of frontage road (2 lanes in each direction)
Added: 4 Managed (and Tolled) lanes (2 in each direction)
I-10 North from La Cantera Parkway to Ralph Fair Road
Anticipated to receive approval of environmental documents in 2016 and is anticipated to be released for construction bids in 2017. Below is a description of lanes to be added.
Existing: 4 lanes of frontage road (2 lanes in each direction) 4 lanes of Non-Tolled expressway (2 lanes in each direction)
Added: 2 Managed (and Tolled) lanes (1 lane in each direction)
Loop 1604 expansion from US 90 to Bandera Road
Received approval of environmental documents, is under design, and is anticipated to be released for construction in January 2016. Below is a description of the lanes to be added:
Existing: 4-6 lanes of frontage road (2-3 lanes in each direction)
Added: 4 Non-Tolled expressway (2 lanes in each direction)
The additional funding also allows all projects in the plan to be built sooner than they would have otherwise been built. Another feature of the plan is the introduction of Managed Lanes which allows the transportation officials the opportunity to address mobility needs and provide travel options through a combination of limited capacity expansion coupled with operational strategies that seek to manage travel demand and improve transit and other forms of ridesharing. The goal is to proactively manage demand and available capacity on the facilities by applying new strategies or modifying existing strategies. Since transportation research and experience shows that highway expansion does not usually resolve congestion overtime, the integration of active transportation management allows a transportation option to improve transit operations and potentially influence travel demand at peak hours.
The Alamo Area 2040 Regional Plan has identified approximately $7.4 billion in funded highway projects. Of the $7.4 billion, approximately $5.25 billion is toll funding. An additional $10 billion in highway projects were identified, but were not placed in the plan due to lack of identified funding (the plan is “financially constrained by federal regulations).
In 2015, additional funding was made available for TxDOT roadways from oil and gas revenues and state gas tax funding commitment to the State Highway Fund. This funding added approximately $2 billion a year to the fund statewide and approximately $65 million a year to the San Antonio Region.
On November 3, 2016, Proposition 7 will be placed before the voters to direct existing sales tax revenue also to the State Highway Fund for TxDOT facilities. Proposition 7 would add approximately $3 billion a year statewide and an estimated $200 million a year to the San Antonio Region.
Discussion in the community is ongoing regarding the removal of toll funding as an option on San Antonio roads. The new and potential revenue for highways could be used to replace some toll funding, but will not alleviate the entire existing gap.
While this conversation about tolling moves forward, the Regional Mobility Authority has stated that the design of the roadway would not change and the projects should keep moving forward.
ALTERNATIVES:
This is a briefing for informational purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with this briefing.
RECOMMENDATION:
This is a briefing for informational purposes only.