Texas Transit Association

The heavily-trafficked Interstate 35 corridor between Austin and San Antonio and its Commuter Rail District is progressing; the District is in receipt of $5.7 million for planning study.

David Hendricks: Funding will put Commuter Rail District study on track San Antonio Express-News 04/30/2003

When the Austin-San Antonio Commuter Rail District organized in February, the 14 board members had many questions and no money for answers.

The district has money now — $5.7 million, to be exact.

That should be enough not only for answers but also a plan good enough to launch construction for a service that is needed more every day.

The money comes from the federal government, a grant from the current transportation budget that was arranged by U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.

The hard part was the 20 percent state match needed to land the grant. No one had $1.4 million, but the Texas Transportation Commission had “toll credits” in a bank that it could use as a match.

The only thing is, the $1.4 million will not be added to the study. It’s not real money, Texas Department of Transportation officials explained. Toll credits, for federal grant purposes, accrue as the state spends money for maintenance, operations and intersection construction between toll roads and highways.

“It’s a soft match,” said James Bass, Department of Transportation finance director.

The only toll roads in Texas now are in the Houston and Dallas areas. Those credits now will be expended toward a San Antonio-Austin rail study funded solely by federal dollars.

That is, if the Federal Highway Administration approves the Texas Transportation Commission’s action taken last Thursday. Federal approval is expected within a month, said Mario Medina, the Department of Transportation’s multimodal director.

The department and the rail district then must strike an advance funding agreement before the rail district gets the money, Medina said.

The district has plenty to do in the meantime.

“The first thing we probably will do is issue a request for qualifications and see what kind of response we get from the management and engineering community,” said Tullos Wells, a San Antonio lawyer who is chairman of the rail district board.

Whoever is selected to carry out this study will build upon and update a 1999 feasibility report.

The first question the hired engineering firm must answer is “the cost and viability of building this,” Medina said. “The study must look an any and all options and alternatives.”

The options include using the existing Union Pacific rail tracks between San Antonio and Austin, having UP move its freight operations to other tracks like those that could be built along Texas 130 (a tollway itself that is nearing construction), costs of different train speeds and the best places for passenger stations, Medina and Wells said.

The alternatives also could include building new tracks in UP’s existing San Antonio-Austin right of way or buying land for a new route altogether with new tracks.

Environmental concerns must be addressed, too, and that could require public hearings, Medina said.

The future of this passenger rail service depends on how well this study grant is spent. That puts all the pressure on the rail district board.

The board meets for the first time Friday after learning of the state’s matching grant approval. The board will convene, Wells said, in San Marcos upon the conclusion of the “Regional Issues-Local Solutions II” conference set by the Greater Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council.

The regional conference, last held five years ago, no doubt will re-establish the need for improved transportation. It did five years ago and the challenges are even more apparent today.