Monday, July 29, 2002
FHWA 33-02
Contact: Jim Pinkelman
Telephone: 202-366-0660
U.S.
Transportation Secretary Mineta Announces $917 Million Loan For Central Texas
Turnpike Project
In its continued efforts to
employ innovative financing techniques to help surface transportation projects
move forward, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway
Administration has closed on a $916.76 million loan to the Texas Transportation
Commission (TTC), U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta announced
today. The loan will help fund the
$3.6 billion first phase of the Central Texas Turnpike Project, which is a toll
highway facility through central Texas.
"Through
TIFIA (Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 1998), we are
providing innovative financing for transportation projects that might otherwise
not have received financing and moved forward," Secretary Mineta said.
"The investments we are making in Texas and across the country will provide
an economic boost while improving the transportation infrastructure, all at a
cost savings to the taxpayer. At the same time, this particular loan will help
to advance the turnpike project, which is vital to the safety and the mobility
of residents and visitors in central Texas."
The
TTC will use the loan proceeds to partly finance design and construction of the
first phase of the Central Texas Turnpike project, which is composed of three
distinct elements: Loop 1, State
Highway 45 North, and the northern segment of SH 130. Loop 1, a 3.5-mile element, will serve as a major north-south
route in the Austin vicinity. State
Highway 45 North, about 13.2 miles in length, will serve as a connector between
the cities of Austin, Round Rock, and Pflugerville. SH 130, a 49-mile element, will be an eastern bypass
for Austin, Texas, and is parallel to and east of I-35, one of the more
congested urban parts of the interstate.
The Texas Turnpike
Authority Division of the Texas Department of Transportation is managing the
project. TxDOT has retained a
general consultant engineer and two engineering firms to assist with management
of the construction project. The
Loop 1 and SH 45 will be constructed using the traditional design-bid-build
process, and SH 130 is under an exclusive development agreement with Lone Star
Infrastructure. The first phase of
the turnpike project will be open in segments and the final phase will open to
traffic in December 2007.
In addition to the
TIFIA loan, the TTC will issue $1.2 billion in revenue bonds and $900 million in
bond anticipation notes. The remainder of the project will be financed through
contributions from TxDOT and contributions of right-of-way by the surrounding
jurisdictions.
TIFIA,
a provision of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21),
authorizes an innovative financing program under which USDOT provides credit
assistance rather than grants to public and private sponsors of major surface
transportation projects. USDOT has selected 11 projects to benefit from TIFIA at
a budgetary cost of slightly more than $200 million to the federal government,
providing $3.7 billion in credit assistance supporting transportation
investments worth more than $15 billion.
TIFIA
is designed to provide federal credit assistance to major transportation
infrastructure projects that address critical national needs, such as intermodal
facilities, border crossing infrastructure, highway trade corridors, and transit
and passenger rail facilities with regional and national benefits.
Projects eligible for assistance under TIFIA include highways and
bridges; transit facilities and vehicles; intercity passenger bus and rail
facilities and vehicles, including Amtrak and components of magnetic levitation
systems; and publicly owned intermodal surface freight transfer facilities on or
adjacent to the National Highway System.
Projects
thus far selected to receive support under TIFIA include State Route 125, San
Diego, CA; Miami Intermodal Center; Tren Urbano Transit System, San Juan, PR;
Farley-Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Project, New York; Metrorail Capital
Program, Washington, DC; Staten Island Ferries and Terminals, New York; Cooper
River Bridge, Charleston, SC; Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Pierce County, WA; Reno
Transportation Rail Access Corridor, Reno, NV; and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge Project, Bay Area, CA.
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