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Lockhart's city council last week (3/6) joined more than 20 area jurisdictions and transportation-oriented organizations by passing a resolution in support of the Legislature financing the Texas Rail Relocation And Improvement Fund with $200 million a year during the current Legislative session.
The Austin-San Antonio Commuter Rail District Board meeting scheduled for April 13th at the Robert and Helen Griffith Library in Round Rock has been CANCELLED.
The Congressionally-chartered National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission will study ways to reduce traffic tie ups and future ways to fund new road, bridge and transit projects during a field hearing in Washington, D.C., on 3/19 from 8:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. (EDT). The hearing will be simulcast at www.transportation.house.gov
Austin Sen. Kirk Watson - that requires a politically accountable elected official on any board that sets toll rates. Another element says that toll revenues would only pay for the road on which they are collected unless CAMPO publicly votes to redirect some of the revenue to another, specific transportation project. This bill could be strengthened by ensuring that any excess revenues generated by toll roads could be re-directed to rail relocation or transit projects, in our opinion.
“What Will Austin Look Like 20 Years From Now?” is the topic for CAMPO director Michael Aulick at the 15th annual State of the City dinner sponsored by the League of Women Voters, 6:00 pm March 20, at the University of Texas Club, 2108 E. Robert Dedman Drive.
The Spanish group Cintra has won the bid to build, operate and maintain six State Highway 121 toll lanes from the Dallas North Tollway in Plano/Frisco to US 75 in McKinney. Cintra is committing $2.1 billion up front for the construction of the Collin County portion.
The North Texas Tollway Authority was asked by Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, to say what it would have offered the TxDOT to make Texas 121 (above) into a toll road — just for the sake of comparison. Authority officials said they could have matched Cintra's upfront carrot of $2.1 billion and would have paid $4.2 billion for the rest of the 50-year contract compared to Cintra's $700 million. Read Pat Driscoll's blog about this highly questionable comparison. More Details
US Cong. Rep. Charles Gonzalez told a House subcommittee inn San Antonio last week that 12,833 train-related accidents or incidents occurred in the US last year. Another 2,897 wrecks involved highway-rail collisions. Highway-rail accidents are considered separately from train accidents and are statistically far more deadly. While 6 people were killed in train accidents in 2006, 362 people were killed in highway-rail accidents. Fatalities in the highway-rail accident category actually increased 1.4% from 2005 to 2006. Read More
The Texas House Transportation Committee hears a bill (HB 2296) on Tuesday (3/20) that would name portions of State Highway 130 running through Williamson, Travis, Caldwell and Guadalupe Counties in honor of former US Congressman J.J. "Jake" Pickle as the "Pickle Parkway."
Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was 8.9 percent higher in 2006 than in 2005, reaching $760 billion, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), reported. A news release and summary tables can be found at www.bts.gov. More information on transborder freight data and data from previous months are posted on the BTS website at http://www.bts.gov/transborder/.
Site Selection magazine has ranked Texas second only to Ohio on its 2006 Governor's Cup award list in terms of Economic Development. Site Selection ranks cities and states based on their respective level of success in securing the most new and expanded corporate facilities. Ohio had 431 projects. Texas ranked second with 363 projects. North Carolina was next in line with 316 projects.
Six Flags Inc. will launch a new VIP program at all of its theme parks this season. The program includes: preferred parking, park admission , front-of-the-line ride access, all meals, snacks, games and reserved seating at shows. A specially trained host will serve as a private tour guide for VIP guests. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com/vip
Citigroup is constructing a 300,000 sq. ft datacenter on 50 acres in Georgetown. Total capital investment for the project will be $450,000,000. 50 full-time jobs will be created with wages averaging $70,000/plus benefits annually. For more information contact Mark Thomas at 512-930-3546
Developer Rich Redmond is proposing a $75 million water park and hotel on 40 acres at the intersection of Parmer Lane and RM 1431 in Cedar Park. The proposed site map also includes 280,000 sq. ft. of retail space. Redmond says his goal is to have the water park open by summer 2008, and the hotel open by December 2008. Redmond also owns the 6-acre Volente Beach Water park on Lake Travis.
The City of Kyle's population is now in excess of 26,000 and is still growing. Plum Creek Development has 1,400 existing and 8,700 proposed residential units within 1 mile of a Home Depot, HEB Plus, a possible Target, and less than 2 miles from the new Seton hospital. For more information contact Peter French at 512-217-2786
Hidehiko Tajima, president of San Antonio's Toyota Motor Manufacturing Texas Inc. facility, will "complete his assignment in April," company officials say. Tajima will return to Toyota in Japan as general manager of its Corporate Affairs division. He oversaw the transformation of a Texas ranch into a $1.3 billion plant that is producing the full-sized Tundra truck.