CTRMA project update

CTRMA project update

By Kara Vaught Friday, 21 November 2008

Higher-than-anticipated usage of Toll 183A has bumped up the date for expansion of the road by six years. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is finalizing negotiations for the design work now. Originally, an extension was to be complete in 2017.

Steve Pustelnyk, CTRMA’s director of communications, said the authority hopes to begin construction by late 2009 and anticipates less than 18 months until completion.

“We aren’t looking at taking on significant additional debt until next fall, and we’re hoping the craziness of the market will work itself out by then, Pustelnyk said. “We’re cautiously optimistic that our current schedule will go as planned.”

Short-term financing for the design work will be done through local banks that have shown interest in lending to the CTRMA.

It is not known whether the toll road will bridge FM 2243 or stop just short of it. Plans call for Toll 183A eventually to extend to the San Gabriel River.

Transition to cashless

Beginning Dec. 1, Toll 183A will be the fifth cashless toll road in Texas. At that point, drivers without a TxTag will be billed via Pay-By-Mail, which allows them to bypass the toll plazas and remain in the main lanes. Cameras mounted above those lanes will photograph each license plate, and the vehicle’s registered owner will receive a bill in the mail. A $1 processing fee is charged per bill, and bills are sent every 15 days.

Now, cash customers pay 50 cents at the Brushy Creek ramps and $1.50 at the mainline Park Street plaza. With Pay-By-Mail, those rates increase to 60 cents and $1.80.

“Our goal is to encourage people through the pricing differential to get a TxTag because that is the most efficient way to pay,” Pustelnyk said. “What we’ve found in survey research over the years is that a 5 or 10 percent discount just doesn’t encourage infrequent customers to get a tag.”

The price difference will also help cover the cost of Pay-By-Mail. TxTag customers save 25 percent off the Pay-by-Mail toll rate. Tags are free, but require a $20 prepayment of toll charges. Drivers can add money to their account four ways: authorize TxTag to automatically charge their credit card when the balance gets low, make a credit card payment over the phone, pay cash in person at the customer service center or mail a check or money order to the center.

During November, Toll 183A drivers receive a scratch-off ticket when they pay cash at the Park Street main toll plaza. The CTRMA planned the promotional giveaways, which reveal up to $100 in prepaid TxTag tolls, to make customers aware the road is going cashless.

TxTags are available at all mainline toll plazas in Central Texas, online at www.txtag.org or by calling 1-888-GoTxTag (1-888-468-9824).

183A and the Manor Expressway

The CTRMA’s second project, the Manor Expressway, is planned as a 6.2-mile toll road with three lanes in each direction along the route of the existing Hwy. 290 from US 183 to Parmer Lane. Hwy. 290 will be widened and remain non-tolled.

Construction is expected to begin by early 2010, and completion could be as early as 2013. Final design work for the $624 million project is under way.

“We are proposing to issue bonds that would use revenue from 183A to backstop, or secure, the Manor Expressway bonds, similar to a parent co-signing a car loan for their child,” Pustelnyk said. “There is the potential that some revenue from 183A could be used to help pay the debt service/mortgage on the Manor Expressway, but a lot will depend on the results of the traffic and revenue study and market conditions/interest rates at the time we sell the bonds. Regardless, we will be able to borrow money at a lower interest rate if we can use 183A to back the Manor Expressway project.”

The CTRMA held four public hearings on the statement of purpose for creating a system composed of Toll 183A and the Manor Expressway to inform residents surrounding Hwy. 290 about the funding mechanism for the project.

By creating such a system, the authority would have the ability to leverage revenue from the Manor Expressway to make repairs or modifications to Toll 183A at some point in the future.

“The intention from the outset was that 183A would be the road that established the mobility authority and gave us the financial foundation to be able to expand the roadway network regionally as we continue to face challenges finding transportation funding,” Pustelnyk said.

Hike and bike trail

The design work on a trail running along Toll 183A from Brushy Creek to FM 1431 is under review by the Texas Department of Transportation.

Construction could begin as early as spring 2009. The trail will be funded by the CTRMA and federal and state grants.

Pustelnyk said the route will not be for those seeking peace and quiet, but it will provide connectivity.

“Eventually we hope to tie another trail in somewhere near the San Gabriel River, so we’d have a trail that extends all the way down our road, linking the Williamson County trails together and possibly tying into some of the neighborhoods along the route.”