Progress on the loop is not among projects scheduled for the Texas Department of Transportation’s 2009 calendar because of a lack of funds, TxDOT Bryan District spokesman Bob Colwell said.
“Funds are currently not available for pursuing further development of the U.S. 79 Rockdale Relief Route and, under the current funding situation, it is not possible to predict when they might be available,” Colwell said.
“During this project’s long development process, including lengthy discussions with the county over their participation, several things occurred,” Colwell said. “Many of TxDOT’s mobility funds were directed towards the new bonding and other innovative methods that the Legislature provided. Those innovative funding options have now been either used up for the most part or have been under legislative moratorium.”
Additionally, Texas experienced record inflation of construction costs, as well as record growth in population and vehicle travel.
“We reached this point in the project development at roughly the same point that the
department realized that there were not sufficient funds to continue with all of the projects that were under development statewide,” Colwell said.
Changes in the funding revenue and options may come out of the upcoming legislative session, Colwell said.
“However, there will be some system for distributing those funds across the state and it is impossible to tell how this project might fare when compared to other projects in other regions that are also competing for these same funds,” Colwell said.
Dr. Frank Summers, Milam County judge, said the project is “not necessarily dead for eternity, but for the time being.”
“As far as how it affects the folks bracing for the buyout, at this point in time,” TxDOT has advised the judge “that there is no right of way purchasing going on. As I understand the process, right of way purchase does not begin until the project is funded,” Summers said.
Construction on the 10-mile, two-lane loop that would carry through-traffic on U.S. Highway 79 around Rockdale was scheduled to begin in 2011, but at a hearing last January, TxDOT officials said the startup date was pending. The Milam County Commissioners Court in 2007 signed an agreement with TxDOT to pay $100,000 installments annually through 2010 as the county’s 6.4 percent share of right of way costs. The county will not be making any payments to TxDOT, Summers said.
The project would affect 68 tracts, including 15 single-family homes. The bypass has been in the planning stages since 1979. Residents in the affected area could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
TxDOT has counted more than 15,000 vehicles driving through Rockdale during a 24-hour span. Traffic volumes have caused complaints about heavy trucks and congestion. TxDOT estimates that 20 to 25 percent vehicles that pass through Rockdale during a 24-hour period would use the bypass.
The project has been halted, but not abandoned, Colwell said.
“The work done so far is not lost and if the situation changes, the department will pick back up where we left off,” Colwell said. If funds were available, TxDOT in 2009 would have been conducting design and right of way acquisition, he said. Thus far, TxDOT has completed preliminary design and environmental documentation phases, but the agency has not begun buying right of way.
TxDOT’s Bryan District “conducted preliminary development for this project based upon future funding projections that indicated money might be available to continue design, right of way acquisition, and eventually construction once we received approval of our preliminary design and environmental clearance,” Colwell said.
The bypass has been controversial in Rockdale, said Chamber President Denice Doss. The Chamber conducted a survey of businesses last summer and learned that “some wanted it and some didn’t.”
Susan Morton, who rallied to have the bypass stopped, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
During 2009, TxDOT will spend:
n $2 million to replace bridges on FM 1915 at Lipan Creek and at South Elm. Project is expected to be let for contract in June with construction to begin in late fall.
n $3 million for summer seal coat projects: U.S. Highway 79 - east limits of Thorndale to Rocky Creek; U.S. Highway 77 from the Falls County line to state Highway 36 in Cameron; FM 487 from U.S. Highway 79, 1.5 miles south of U.S. Highway 79; FM 486, 3.3 miles south of Salty Street in Thorndale to the Williamson County line; FM 1445 from the Falls County line to FM 1444; FM 1600 from Henderson Street in Cameron 2.75 miles west; FM 2095 from U.S. Highway 77 to FM 3242; FM 2095 from U.S. Highway 79 to .6 miles north of U.S. Highway 79; and FM 2269 from FM 485 to U.S. Highway 190.
