Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Projects to widen parts of Hewitt Drive and Bagby Avenue to four lanes have been put on indefinite hold because of a transportation funding drought and timing issues with federal stimulus funds.
Local transportation planners are instead recommending spending $16 million, including $7.2 million in stimulus funds, for an overpass and frontage road project at Loop 340 and Old Robinson Road.
The Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization board voted Tuesday to take the $7 million Hewitt Drive project and $4.5 million Bagby Avenue project out of the Transportation Improvement Plan, which runs through 2011. The Waco MPO board recommends Greater Waco transportation projects to the Texas Department of Transportation.
Because both the Hewitt and Bagby projects were considered “shovel-ready,” the MPO had planned to fund them with the $7.2 million in stimulus money, with additional funds coming from the state of Texas.
The Hewitt Drive project would have widened that arterial road’s last two-lane segment, which lies between Ritchie Road and Sun Valley Drive.
But MPO director Chris Evilia said the Hewitt Drive project was scuttled after planners discovered last week that an AT&T fiber-optic line would have to first be moved. The relocation would take 18 months, passing the deadline for the federal stimulus money to be spent.
MPO officials also decided to hold off on the project to expand Bagby Avenue from Texas Central Parkway to Sun Valley Road, so there would be enough money to finish the Old Robinson Road project. Old Robinson Road crosses Loop 340 at a signalized intersection, interrupting freeway traffic. Loop 340 now will pass over Old Robinson Road, and its frontage roads will be extended.
Hewitt City Manager Adam Miles, a member of the MPO policy board, expressed disappointment during Tuesday’s meeting with the delay of the Hewitt Drive project.
“So, after all the work that’s gone into this project, it’s going to sit on the shelf?” he said.
“That’s the financial reality we’re in,” Evilia responded. TxDOT area engineer Richard Skopik said the fiber-optic relocation and right-of-way work will proceed on Hewitt Drive so that when funds become available it can be done quickly.
But Evilia painted a bleak picture of future road project funding. Most major transportation projects in McLennan County have traditionally been built with state and federal funding, but that money has been shrinking because gasoline tax revenues are not keeping up with needs, he said.
Evilia recently learned that a pot of state funds he had been counting on, called Category 3 funds, had been canceled, leaving precious few state funds for McLennan County projects. The Legislature this spring declined to provide more funding for road projects.
“Right now, if it’s not an economic stimulus project, everything is pretty much on hold,” he said.
Evilia gave an in-depth presentation on long-term highway funding, showing projections that Texas would need to spend more than $170 billion in new mobility projects by 2030 or face an increase in traffic delays.
If current funding trends continue, with no increase in taxes for transportation projects, only $60 billion would be available to relieve congestion by 2030. The added congestion would increase the average Texan’s yearly traffic delays from 32 hours to 90 hours, according to projections he presented.
Miles said he hopes the state will come through with more road funding in the next couple of years so that Hewitt Drive’s bottleneck can be cleared.
“Obviously, that’s the main thoroughfare through town, and we’ll have an elementary school opening along there in the next couple of months,” he said. “This is a temporary setback. It’s not a dead project. We’ll get there.”
jbsmith@wacotrib.com
757-5752
Comments
By Taco
Jul 1, 2009 10:46 PM | Link to this
Everyone here sees it, Rdneck gets it, 2 blocks to 77, just lazy people......someone needs to revisit this whole thing, makes no sense...all the growth is around the new hospital, guess it good that the hospital is so close to Bagby with all the accidents...
By rdneck
Jul 1, 2009 10:23 PM | Link to this
to hell with Robinson let those lazy fools go up 2 blocks to 77 and shut that intersection down its always been a pain sorry Robinson FOLKS
By Taco
Jul 1, 2009 9:58 PM | Link to this
Old Robinson road needs to be shut down, all traffic should go to 77, save everybody a ton of money, as soon as the light went up they had wrecks all the time(its a loop for God's sake-LOOP). Agree with Bagby, trucking companies, TexDot, look what happened last week with the fire at the pallet company...someone will die, then a lawsuit and then Bagby will be fixed.....MPO, bunch of fools IMHO.....
By I'm Worried Too
Jul 1, 2009 11:23 AM | Link to this
I agree with both comments regarding Bagby. With the 60 mph speed limit and no left turn lane, it is only a matter of time before someone is killed. The traffic is increasing with the growth in that area; more and more folks are becoming sitting ducks as they are stopped in the road waiting to turn left with traffic coming up behind them going 60 mph. It's impossible to stop suddenly, so drivers have to go right onto the shoulder to keep from hitting the poor guy who is attempting to turn. I've already seen several bad wrecks on this road, please don't postpone this project!
By Gary
Jul 1, 2009 11:17 AM | Link to this
Liberals, got money got to spend it..Don't have money make some.Tax tax tax .We need to take back over our country....If all the conservatives will vote next election, we can push this country back to our control, wipe the slate clean start over with new politicians...
By Citizen
Jul 1, 2009 11:10 AM | Link to this
16 million so the people of Robinson can get off of Loop 340 and turn down a narrow two lane road full of potholes????? What is wrong with this picture???? Did this so-called board do any traffic surveys to determine the number of users per day on these projects or did they just pick the one that best suited themselves. Sounds to me like we need to check the address on some of these board members..............
By Concerned citizen
Jul 1, 2009 9:25 AM | Link to this
Something must be done SOON to Bagby Avenue. There will soon be someone killed if the problem is not addressed. Instead of wasting money repaving the road (like was done a couple weeks ago), why not add a turn lane? The issue at Old Robinson Road has already been taken care of with a much needed traffic light. If you are driving within the speed limit and defensively, then no, you won't receive a ticket in that location. I bet they would think differently if it were their loved one in a horrible accident on Bagby!!
By Stephen
Jul 1, 2009 8:54 AM | Link to this
How many more wrecks need to happen on Bagby in front of the Sendero Springs edition for them to put in a turn lane as they had planed? The wrecks that have happened there have been major because of the high rate of speed people drive and people use the shoulder as a lane of traffic. I see near wrecks every day. There is going to be a death there unless Bagby is widened and a turn lane is put in.
By B.T.
Jul 1, 2009 7:47 AM | Link to this
Actually, the MPO did a great job, here. Hewitt Drive will need to be fixed because of the new school, but they will find alternative funding for it as an emergency project. The problem here is that it just doesn't qualify as a "stimulus" project, but it will be a higher priority to the state because of the new school.
In regards to Old Robinson Road, that also needs to be done. Who here hasn't received a ticket in that location? Seriously, though, in terms of mobility, it's necessary and cheap. Plus, the Old Robinson Road intersection was actually complicating the IH-35 interchange with Loop 340. The connection from 35N to 340W was dangerous because of no frontage roads.
And $16 million for an overpass, frontage roads, retaining structures and landscaping is a pretty good price for a project like that. They had to do it.
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