The Texas Transportation Commission announced last week that as a result of the mandate five funding categories would be slashed, including $100 million from the National Highway System, $71 million from interstate maintenance and $24 million from bridge projects.
According to TxDOT, the federal government has asked for the funds back to help fight terrorism and because of the heavy burden of hurricane relief efforts last year.
Roberts said that the everyday planning and maintenance work for the Texas highway system would continue to move forward as usual but that as each district in the state learns the percentage of cuts it must absorb, the local communities would have a better idea of how its roadway projects would be impacted.
He did say that Interstate 35 projects were a major priority and did not anticipate any delays on freeway projects in the area.
Bell County is part of the Waco District of TxDOT. There are 25 total districts in the state that will share in returning funds back to the federal government.
Roberts said that with an April 19 deadline to return the funds, individual TxDOT districts would need to know quickly the percentage of the cuts that must be absorbed, so budget decisions could be made on the local level. He expects decisions about funding cuts in the Waco District to be made this week.
If TxDOT follows the advice of citizens, the cuts should be distributed fairly equally throughout the districts. Before making the decision, TxDOT held a public hearing last week to get citizen input on how to absorb the reductions. Most citizens expressed a desire to see reductions across-the-board for all funding categories and all regions of the state.
The $288 million reduction comes on the heels of a $305 million cut made last year when Congress cut Texas funding for enhancement programs. Enhancement grants fund hiking trail, beautification and tourist projects.
Within the last quarter the cities of Temple, Killeen, Belton and Waco asked members of Congress to help reinstate enhancement grant funding. While the funding may not be reinstated soon, enhancement programs were spared further cutbacks.
