Spending soars in Texas long-term highway plan

For upcoming fiscal 2017 to 2026, here’s ten commuters have long sought to see. less Nearly 300 projects in the Houston area are planned in the next decade, based on the 2017 Unified Transportation Program under consideration by state transportation officials. For upcoming fiscal 2017 to ... more Nearly 300 projects in the Houston area are planned in the next decade, based on the 2017 Unified Transportation Program under consideration by state transportation officials. Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Photo: Karen Warren, Staff Image 1 of / 93 Caption Close Spending soars in Texas long-term highway plan 1 / 93 Back to Gallery

State highway spending is poised to hit record levels in the next decade, as voter-approved money kicks in to start construction on some of the Houston area’s most sought-after freeway projects.

The Unified Transportation Program is a blueprint for non-maintenance work on Texas roadways using state dollars via the Texas Department of Transportation.

Without inclusion in the plan, amended annually, highway projects can’t get built. The Texas Transportation Commission is scheduled to approve the program on Aug. 25. Texans have until Aug. 22 to comment on the plan before it is approved.

For fiscal years 2017 to 2026, transportation officials have amassed a record level of highway spending — $70.2 billion, up from $31.9 billion — in large part because of two voter-approved referendums to repair and expand highways, especially in growing metro areas such as Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.

“Texas is relying on Texas,” state transportation commissioner Jeff Austin said. “We’re not waiting on Washington to solve it.”

New lanes, however, are years away.

For the Houston region, the added money means major projects long considered pipe dreams will start showing up in the plans. The draft of the 2017 plan includes two projects, totaling $2.57 billion, that would rebuild Interstate 45, U.S. 59 and Interstate 10 in downtown Houston — part of a larger widening of I-45 from downtown north to the Sam Houston Tollway. Work, under current schedules, would start on some parts of the project in 2024. The proposed 10-year plan accounts for $847 million of the money needed for the two projects, with the rest undefined.

Other projects are much closer, including $370.7 million in work widening I-45 in Harris County and Galveston County, starting next year, and a $232.4 million rebuild of the Loop 610 interchange with Interstate 69, formerly U.S. 59, near The Galleria.

In addition to the freeway work around Uptown and Bellaire, state transportation officials also plan to start construction on their portion of dedicated bus lanes from Post Oak, along Loop 610, to Metro’s Northwest Transit Center. The $55.7 million project received $25 million in state funds in 2014.

Well-traveled suburban roads in many fast-growing spots morph into major thoroughfares, including the first phases of widening Texas 36 in Fort Bend County and Brazoria County, starting in 2019. Further away from the city center, officials plan to start construction in June on a third lane in each direction along I-10 in Waller County, from FM 359 to the Brazos River.

Funding for the projects comes from a variety of sources, ranging from federal funds, state fuel tax revenues and even tolling. In 2014 and 2015, however, Texas voters approved more than $3 billion in additional annual spending that can only be used for highways — and specifically not for transit or developing tollways.

In 2014, voters approved Prop. 1, which used a portion of the state’s economic stabilization fund — a “rainy day” fund — for transportation. A year later, Prop. 7 also passed with an overwhelming majority, directing $2.5 billion in sales taxes to highways, after sales tax revenue tops $28 billion.

To some, focusing the vast majority of the money on roads is a lost opportunity.

“There are obviously steps that can be taken that are not just building and widening,” said Kyle Shelton, a post-doctoral fellow at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University who has extensively studied Houston’s freeway expansion and development. “Our express bus system is a great example.”