U.S. Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. 26th District of Texas

Fifth Annual 26th Congressional District/TXDOT Transportation Summit

On November 26, 2007, in conjunction with the Texas Department of Transportation Chairman Ric Williamson, I hosted the Fifth Annual 26th Congressional District/TXDOT Transportation Summit at The Texas Motor Speedway. The event highlighted local, state and federal transportation experts and was devoted to discussing and improving transportation throughout North Texas. The event’s opening remarks were given by Congressman Michael Burgess; Steve Simmons, Deputy Executive Director, Texas Department of Transportation; Kathleen Hicks, Mayor Pro Tem, City of Fort Worth; and Eddie Gossage, President, Texas Motor Speedway. The Texas Department of Transportation Chairman, Ric Williamson, provided closing remarks.

The summit included presentations from Tarrant, Denton and Cooke county transportation leaders, including Transportation Director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, Michael Morris. The panels included highways, transit and aviation issues. The special guest and keynote speaker was Congressman John Mica (FL-7), who serves as the Ranking Member for the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The event, hosted annually, continues to present creative and innovative solutions to new transportation dilemmas.

With ever-increasing demands on our transportation system for both local mobility and international trade transportation improvements, it is essential that North Texas’ voice be heard in Washington, D.C. This summit helped to provide transportation leaders with the pertinent information needed to ensure all opportunities are explored in Washington to provide better public policies and increased funding for the transportation needs in our region.

SAFETEA-LU Provisions—Current Status

During the 109th Congress, President Bush signed into law the highway reauthorization legislation, also known as SAFETEA-LU. Congressman Michael Burgess and TxDOT collaboratively worked together to ensure that the following four provisions were enacted.

1. Transportation Development Credits
During the initial House passage of SAFETEA-LU, Congressman Burgess offered an amendment to allow states to receive transportation development credits (also known as toll credits) on a pro rata basis. This provision was included in the final version of SAFETEA-LU. States are now given credit on a pro rata basis for their investments in toll projects. With the application of this new provision, it is estimated that toll investments throughout Texas should net an additional $2.1 billion in transportation development credits (TDCs) through the life of SAFETEA-LU. On November 15, 2007, the Texas Transportation Commission awarded just over $2.6 million in transportation development credits to six urban and rural public transportation agencies.

2. Design-Build
In addition to transportation development credits legislation, Congressman Burgess introduced H.R. 1085, The Reforming, Accelerating, and Protection Interstate Design Act, which was adopted as part of SAFETEA-LU, Congressman Burgess’ provision amended federal law to allow for the use of design-build contracting and directed the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to open its rulemaking process to amend design-build contracting provisions to ensure legislative intent and the use of state design-build procurement practices be maintained. In 2006, FHWA published their proposed revisions to design build regulations, and took comments from interested parties. As during SAFETEA-LU, Texas and a handful of other states led the way on this important matter. Nearly 40 different groups had responded to FHWA. When the final rule was published, (eff. September 13, 2007) the efforts of Congressman Burgess, other Texas Delegation members, and TxDOT proved successful.

3. Environmental Streamlining Provisions
Congressman Burgess also introduced H.R. 1086, which would have required the Secretary of Transportation to develop and implement an environmental review process for safety emergency highway projects. SAFETEA-LU encompasses many environmental streamlining components that allow for the interagency coordination required to complete the environmental review process for large, complex transportation projects. Texas was one of five states (Alaska, California, Ohio, and Oklahoma being the others) designated in SAFETEA-LU to pilot a new project delivery program that will grant FHWA’s NEPA review authority to these individual states. The delegation of this authority would result in significant cost savings to the state, measured in reduced days of project review. Texas and the other four states worked closely with FHWA both prior to and post the issuance of their proposed rules on this matter. The final rule was published by FHWA in March 2007; however TxDOT did not receive state legislative approval to move forward with this program. The legislature will take up this matter again when they reconvene in 2009.

4. Borders to Corridors
During the 108th Congress, Congressman Burgess introduced H.R. 2220, to develop and coordinate border infrastructure and safety corridor planning. Congressman Burgess worked with Senator Hutchison to ensure that this language was implemented in SAFETEA-LU. SAFETEA-LU restructured the Corridor/Border Program, dividing it and making the border portion a formula program. The new formula program directs funding to border-states for the promotion and facilitation of trade across U.S. borders, as was originally intended. Texas has ports of entry and the longest contiguous U.S.-international border in the country. The greatest need for these funds is in Texas. The new formula program acknowledges this need. Since passage of SAFETEA-LU, TxDOT has been working closely with the affected Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) to ensure these funds are appropriately programmed throughout the state’s border regions.