By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-887984.mp3
Dallas, TX – The North Texas Tollway Authority has voted to take on construction of Highway 161 and finish the project itself. That adds more than a billion dollars in new debt, and the Texas Department of Transportation will guarantee it. KERA's Bill Zeeble reports.
NTTA chair Paul Wageman calls this an important day for North Texas. He says it means highway 161 can be finished, and Tarrant County's Southwest Parkway toll road can be built.
Wageman: We now move forward on delivering on 3 new projects, two of which we'll combine into a single project. It's going to bring more mobility sooner to north Texas.
Because the NTTA is already bloated with 7 billion dollars in debt, it asked TXDOT to back what it will borrow. TXDOT demanded up to 6 million dollars in annual fees to take on that risk. NTTA board members were livid. But they agreed, because the fees will - by law - stay in North Texas.
Essentially the money will come back to the NTTA. Mike Morris, with the North Central Texas Council of Governments, says the fee is fair - otherwise, it would look like a sweet heart deal for north Texas.
Morris: You have to have a policy to charge so the notion of a charge, as difficult and late in game, isn't an unreasonable position. As long as everyone falls through that the money comes back to region, then let the local policy officials decide if they want to build something else or if they really want to get these 2 projects across the goal line.
If tolls from Highway 161 don't deliver predicted revenues decades down the road, txDOT carries the financial burden. But here's what's more likely. Wageman says tolls on 161 would rise and rise in order to pay off the project. But current projections indicate that decades from now, 161 will become a significant income producer.
Meanwhile the NTTA has borrowed so much money and is so stretched, it will take years before it can afford to tackle other needed road projects