U.S. 281, Loop 1604 expansion to get $100 million

The board that controls the spending of a quarter-cent transportation sales tax approved the allocation of $100 million for expansion projects on Loop 1604 and U.S. 281 but with the condition that high-speed bus and carpool lanes be incorporated on the U.S. 281 portion.

Another provision of the resolution requires the Texas Department of Transportation — and not the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority — to build the nontoll expressways and the transit/carpool lanes, which could be open to other traffic only if the drivers pay a toll.

For TxDOT to build them, the Alamo RMA would have to relinquish its legal right to build, design, finance and operate any toll projects on Loop 1604 and U.S. 281.

The vote was taken at a special meeting of the Advanced Transportation District Board, which oversees the sales tax and whose members are also make up the board of VIA Metropolitan Transit.

The projects could be up and running by 2017.

While the ATD tax has been generating revenue since 2005, its board never has before involved itself so closely in a project of this magnitude.

The inclusion of the transit-priority lane in a highway project marks a first for the San Antonio region, a collaboration that VIA Board Chairman Henry Muñoz III called “monumental.”

“I think this positions San Antonio as a major player in the state of Texas because it's the first step toward integrating public transit and a highway system,” Muñoz said.

Friday's resolution also said the transit lanes would be operated by an agency that the ATD board approves.

Normally, that agency would be the Alamo RMA, but its future has been tenuous since the Bexar County Commissioners Court's surprise vote June 12 to take over the agency's operations. Days later, the Alamo RMA board chairman and the board member expected to succeed him resigned.

No RMA representatives were present Friday, and its executive director said she was not made aware of the meeting.

“None of these new conditions were coordinated with anyone at the Alamo RMA,” Executive Director Terry Brechtel said.

It would take a vote of the Alamo RMA board to give TxDOT the authority to build the projects, Brechtel said. No such vote has been set.

Regardless of confusion over which agency will control the projects, plans for the expansion of Loop 1604 and U.S. 281 are moving forward.

The San Antonio Metropolitan Planning Organization, which allocates all transportation dollars in the region, on Monday will vote on the final U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 plans and whether to adopt the conditions of the ATD resolution. The plan would call for nontoll expressways added to Loop 1604 from Bandera Road to Potranco Road, and on U.S. 281 from Loop 1604 to Stone Oak Parkway.

The ATD resolution also would require that TxDOT build a direct connection ramp between the transit lanes on U.S. 281 and a planned park-and-ride station off U.S. 281. VIA also wants to establish a bus rapid transit line on the 281 corridor.

The transit agency's first BRT line will launch in December and primarily run between downtown and the medical center.

The transit lanes would cost an additional $58 million. TxDOT officials said Friday that the MPO will consider using Texas Mobility Fund money already set aside for U.S. 281 to cover that cost.

“I think it's pretty neat that we're going to get all these new road lanes, new BRT service with the transit priority lanes, and the citizens don't pay a dime more in taxes,” VIA President and CEO Keith Parker said.

Another condition of Friday's ATD resolution would require the MPO to give VIA the flexibility to use $10 million that was originally slated for a compressed natural gas fuel facility and instead use it for a planned downtown streetcar or other projects that are part of a previously adopted $239 million transportation package.

Speaking about the U.S. 281 and Loop 1604 expansion, Muñoz said TxDOT should build these projects because it's important to maintain a close relationship with that agency and ensure VIA gets a “transportation advantage” on the U.S. 281 corridor.

“Our close collaboration has to be with TxDOT,” he said.

Asked if the RMA ultimately would operate the transit lanes, Muñoz said, “You'll have to ask Commissioners Court.”

vdavila@express-news.net