Monday Morning Report
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The Economic Development Committee has scheduled a tour of the Central Texas Technology Center, (CTTC) and Airport in New Braunfels on Wednesday, February 27th. Please RSVP to jeffwebb@thecorridor.org or call 512-558-7360 for more information.
Infrastructure
Last week was a tough one to be a TxDOT executive: the first steps of the upcoming Sunset Review process were danced in front of a joint meeting of the Senate's Transportation and Finance Committees in Austin and it wasn't pretty. After diverting $100 million in gas taxes away from TxDOT in the last session - adding to the nearly $1 billion in earlier diversions over the last decade - senators were "shocked, shocked" to suddenly discover TxDOT had a funding shortage. And the agency didn't help itself much by admitting that a billion-plus dollar error in funding projections led to the current cash crunch that has resulted in project delays across the state. The only good news to emerge was that key Senate leaders seemed to be signaling TxDOT that they might be willing to funnel more money to the agency next Session to cover debt if TxDOT will use some of their existing bonding authority to issue more debt. For more details go here and here.
The Dallas Northwest/Southeast Light Rail program will receive $88 million in FY 2009, according to just passed Federal legislation. This 21-mile extension from Dallas' central business district to Farmer's Branch, and southeast 10.1 miles to Buckner Boulevard. The line will carry nearly 45,900 weekday riders by 2025. The project will cost a total of $1.4 billion, with a federal New Starts share of $700 million.
An article in the new Portfolio magazine argues that too much private investment money is chasing too few high quality public infrastructure projects worldwide and predicts an inevitable 'bubble' that will result in some entities over-paying for public-private partnership deals such as toll roads, bridges, and the like. 72 new infrastructure funds have raised $160 billion for project financing just since 2006, according to the piece. Read it here.
The University of Texas at San Antonio has been awarded $280,000 in Congressional funding for the UTSA Mexico Center, an umbrella organization that will allow existing Mexico-related expertise to collaborate on research projects and activities. Its primary goal is to generate dialogue and research on public policy issues that affect the US and Mexico.
Texas will receive $115 million in Federal funding for expansions and renovations of Veterans Administration facilities, a large chunk of that going to San Antonio: about $35 million for various construction and improvement projects.
Pat Driscoll reports that the average commute in San Antonio grew a minute longer last year and is now up to just under 25 minutes a day. He also has a list of the top 10 traffic congestion spots in the city identified by TxDOT's Transguide center (four are on IH-35). A 2005 Texas Transportation Institute report showed San Antonio's congestion delays increased 247% from 1993 to 2003 to an annual cost of $401 million; Austin's delays increased 246% in the same period, with an annual cost to motorists of $391 million. Details.
Economic Development
Guadalupe County has a new chamber of commerce, organized just over the last two months to represent the Marion and Santa Clara townships. About two dozen members have already signed up. Details.
Depending upon your outlook there are two interesting transportation-related conferences upcoming in Texas this Spring: one is the 2008 "Preserving Freedom and Mobility" Conference put on by the American Dream Coalition, May 16-18 in Houston (http://americandreamcoalition.org/pa08.html) - a fairly conservative group; then there's the Conference on New Urbanism's big annual event, this time in Austin, April 3-6, "New Urbanism Comes To The Boomtown," (www.cnu.org/cnuxvi/cnuxviaboutprogram).
Leisure Pools, an Australian pool manufacturer, broke ground Thursday in New Braunfels for their new facility at 3567 South Interstate 35, along the northbound interstate access road. The 40,000 square foot facility will sit on 18 acres of land. Thirty-five new employees have been hired, and that number is expected to double within the next year. See story here.
That new Hays County based news site Newstreams.com has an interesting story today about a "land rush" developing along State Highway 130 between Seguin and Austin, and the impact it is having on small towns like Uhland and Niederwald. Details here.
“Don’t blame the boss. He has enough problems.” -Donald Rumsfeld