San Antonio
construction company Zachry American
Infrastructure has received the blessing of
Brazoria County commissioners to pursue
the project in that county with the Texas
Department of Transportation.
And according to
The Facts
newspaper, Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert
has met with Zachry American representatives and wrote a
Dec. 18 letter to TxDOT expressing an interest in allowing the
company to expand Highway 36 and turn it into a toll road in Fort
Bend County as well.
Hebert could not be reached for
comment on Sunday morning.
“With another
hurricane season fast approaching, the Highway 36 project is a
priority to our counties and the Gulf Coast,” The Fact quoted Hebert
as saying in his letter to TxDOT. “The public-private approach
assures the timely development of the project.” .......
The Facts article follows in full:
Highway might go ahead on larger scale
Published
December 31, 2006
The plan: A developer would come in and pay to
widen Highway 36 to four lanes from Port Freeport to West Columbia.
The cost: Nothing.
Zachry American Infrastructure has received permission from Brazoria
County Commissioners to pursue the project with the Texas Department
of Transportation.
Zachry intends to widen and then maintain the highway for the next
35 years. It plans on being reimbursed from the highway department
with a pass-through toll agreement, which a government entity or
developer, in this case, would be reimbursed for how many cars use
the highway after it is built.
Now commissioners are considering the idea of expanding the private
development all through Brazoria County and into Fort Bend and
possibly Austin counties.
Zachry representatives have met with Fort Bend County Judge Robert
Hebert, and he expressed his interest in the project in a letter to
the transportation department sent Dec. 18. (NOTE:Bob Hebert is
recent past president of the National Council for Public Private
Partnerships [NCPPP].He has spoken
nationally many times in favor of using public private partnerships
for building infrastructure, including transportation
infrastructure.)
“With another hurricane season
fast approaching, the Highway 36 project is a priority to our
counties and the Gulf Coast,” Heber said in the letter. “The
public-private approach assures the timely development of the
project.”
County Judge-elect E.J. “Joe” King, who will take office Monday,
said he supports the private development of the project. Widening
the highway for a hurricane evacuation route would do no good if it
exits only at the Brazoria County line, he said.
Using a private developer to pay for the highway’s construction may
be different but would be quicker than trying to pay for the project
with public funds.
“If that’s the way to get it done, that’s good,” he said.
Even though Heber has announced interest in joining the project,
Brazoria County officials also are trying to bring in Austin County
so the highway would be expanded to four lanes all the way to
Interstate 10.
“It would really be better if we got this corridor all the way to
I-10,” said County Engineer Gerald Roberts. “We’re really just
trying to see if they want to get on board.”
No official deal has been made but one likely will come in the first
months of 2007. Commissioner Dude Payne has scheduled meetings with
King and Heber regarding the project, he said.
“To do Highway 36 right, you need to have them on board, too,” Payne
said.
Brazoria County Commissioners Court will have three new faces
Monday. King will take over as county judge, while Matt Sebesta and
Mary Ruth Rhodenbaugh will be sworn in as commissioners for
precincts 2 and 4, respectively.
John Tompkins covers Brazoria County commissioners for
The Facts. Contact him at (979) 849-8581.
...........
FortBendNow article resumes with comments
In Brazoria County, Zachry
American plans to widen Highway 36 to four lanes from Port Freeport
to West Columbia, maintain the highway at its own expense for the
next 35 years and collect a toll from motorists.
The company wants to extend
the project through Fort Bend County, and also through Austin
County, to Interstate 10.
The Facts quoted Brazoria County
Judge-elect E.J. King as saying he supports the private development
project, but that it would do no good as a hurricane evacuation
route unless it extends beyond Brazoria.
Brazoria County commissioners
reportedly have scheduled a meeting with Hebert to further discuss
the proposed toll road project.
According to news reports,
Zachry American is one of two companies (the other is
ACS Infrastructure Development) that
submitted documents to TxDOT in October showing their interest in
building the Trans Texas Corridor - 69 from the Texarkana area to
the Mexican border.
Also interested is
Bluebonnet Infrastructure Investors, financed by Spanish
infrastructure company Cintra. A partnership of
Zachry and Cintra has already been chosen to build
a toll segment along Interstate 35 in conjunction with the Trans
Texas project.
The Cintra-Zachry
partnership also signed a $1.3 billion, 50-year lease agreement a
few months ago to build a 40-mile toll road between Austin and
Sequin, and then later filed a lawsuit to prevent details of the
contract from being made public.
According to
Mother Jones magazine
news reports, Dan Shelley, former legislative director for Gov. Rick
Perry, was a consultant and lobbyist for Cintra before he joined the
governor’s staff. In September 2005, he went back to work for the
Spanish company, where he and his daughter are now employed to lobby
the Texas Legislature.
#####
