Travis County Commissioners Court
October 6, 2009,
Item 16D
16 d.
16.
review and approve requests regarding grant proposals, applications, contracts and permissions to continue: dd grant contract with the Texas department of transportation for transportation and natural resources to participate in the cost of design and construction of the howard lane extension to state highway 130 as a four lane divided campo arterial roadway.
>> judge, the reason that I wanted this basically discussed is because this is -- this is probably one of the last pieces that really needed to be put together for this to happen on such a major roadway project, east-west connect actually into s.h.
130.
which is howard lane to here.
and if -- if you allow me, I would like to have staff maybe to maybe go through a little brief overview on -- on this particular agreement with txdot and also the moving parts of this and once this is in place to maybe indicate a way we could actually maybe start the project.
i will go ahead and let staffing ahead and lay some things out for us today.
>> okay.
thank you.
thanks Commissioner, I'm steve
>> [indiscernible] from t.n.r.
public works.
the agenda item today is to amend an agreement we have with Texas dot approved last -- txdot approved last April.
the most significant changes are they are changing the way the money is going to be provided to us from fixed to lump sum and, second, they are addressing how any interest earned on the money that they provide to us, how that can be used.
needs to be done with txdot approval or returned to them at the end of the project.
that's what the item is today, just to approve that amendment.
we recommend approval of that.
>> right.
>> the project is noteworthy.
as Commissioner Davis indicated.
it is -- it is one that was approved by voters in -- in the 2005 bond referendum.
there were complications with developing agreements to get the work done.
and in conjunction with some property owners.
we -- we were successful in getting a participation agreement with them.
so that the money was -- was reallocated to another project per the terms of the bond referendum.
however the project didn't die.
there was still a lot of interest in it.
by txdot.
and by the chamber of commerce.
and of course the property owners as well still wanted to try to make something work as well as us.
took us nearly two years of negotiations with the property owners, but we finally came to agreement.
one of the big keys was finding alternative funds because the original fund were reallocated as I said.
we worked with campo.
they were able to work with txdot and find us $6 million to fulfill -- helpful fill the project.
along with that, we partnered with the city of Austin we are helping to fund the project as well.
it extends from cameron road about one and a half miles eastward to an existing interchange at s.h.
130.
about one mile of that project is within the city limits they are going to fully fund that.
we have an interlocal with them approved by this court and we will manage the project that will provide us with the funds.
as far as txdot goes, they are simply going to provide us with the funds, we will manage our section of the project and pay for our section mostly with our money but also with co's that the court approved and the fy '09 budget process and funds provided by the two property owners.
the property owners will be dedicating the right-of-way for our section.
the right-of-way for the city's section has already been dedicated by a previous developer.
when completed, as you indicated Commissioner, it will provide a four-lane road from s.h.
130 westward to -- across 35, all the way to loop 1.
once you cross over loop 1, pick up mcneil and all the way to 183.
it's a major east-west arterial, four lane roadway that has had a long history of getting done, but we are moving forward with it.
this amendment will -- will clarify a few things for us.
with txdot on their agreement.
we are currently negotiating a fee, we are going through the consultant process.
we expect that through purchasing within the next four to six weeks.
>> great, great.
>> we go through the design process, thinking probably anywhere from 15 to 18 months, we don't have right-of-way to acquire.
so that helps a lot, we would be able to go into construction.
construction again is -- it will probably be 15 to 18 months in construction process as well.
we do have not only a model road to do but also a pretty significant bridge structure to get build.
over the next three to five years we would expect to have the project completed.
>> thank you very much for that overview, judge, steve manila and judge for allowing him to lay that out.
i think it's very significant that the public should know exactly what we're doing.
even with this amendment change to the agreement.
so I move approval.
>> second.
>> if there are no other questions.
>> motion and a second.
so the contract before us really sets out how the --
>> it's an amendment to an existing advanced agreement.
it does two things.
it specifies it will receive the money lump sum as opposed to fixed.
second it tells us if there's any interest earn odd the money that we receive that we cannot use that without their permission.
if we don't by the end of the project, we will return that interest to txdot.
that's all that the amendment says.
>> any more discussion?
all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
thank you very much.
>> thank you all very much.
>> you're welcome.
>> and we'll have g back on the agenda next week.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 2:30 PM
