DALLAS TRANSPORTATION

The L.A. Times Technology Blog clued me into a new feature on Google Maps today, and if you are a cyclist in Dallas you'll probably like the news.

Now you can route your trek throughout the city by bicycle, as well as by walking, public transit or driving. I am a little Googled out, to be perfectly candid, but the feature is useful.

Details from the L.A. Times:

The new Google Maps bicycling feature is available in 150 U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City. The tool boasts over 12,000 bike trails. When users look for directions, the company's mapping algorithm weights trails more heavily than roads for safety reasons. If cities have bicycle lanes, those are also weighted more heavily than roads without them.

One of the neatest features built into the Google Maps bicycling tool is its power-exertion calculation. According to the company, biking directions "compute the effort [bicyclists] will require and the speed [they will] achieve while going uphill." Based on those calculations, the tool provides bicyclists with a route that eliminates areas that would require "an unreasonable degree of exertion."

I checked and the maps tell me it will take 38 minutes for me to ride my bike from the office, at 508 Young Street, to White Rock Lake, which is about six minutes a mile for the 6.6 mile trip. (You can go via the Katy Trail and add about seven minutes.)

Why don't you cyclists out there take the map for a test drive. Do its times and suggested routes correspond to the paths you take each day? Let us know in the comments.

The city of Dallas has made a big push to elevate the Trinity River Project, including the toll road, on the priority list for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In June, they went to D.C. to meet with the Corps' commanding general and other high-ranking folks.

And earlier last year, when the city broke the bad news that the levees had failed their inspection, Brig. Gen. Kendall Cox was on hand to reassure folks that he was keeping his eyes on the project.

Cox commanded the Southwestern Division of the Corps, which is headquartered in Dallas and includes a handful of districts, including the Fort Worth District that is directing the Trinity River project. He arrived in 2007.

But in the Corps, command of division headquarters rotate frequently. In news we should have noticed, but didn't, Cox is long gone from Dallas. He is now in Iraq, where there's a war on, and the Army named the district commander in Tulsa to replace him as division commander in September. His name is Col. Anthony C. Funkhouser.

Funkhouser, like Cox a West Point man, has kept his command of the Tulsa district, too, and isn't likely to be around much longer in either of those roles. A Corps spokeswoman in Dallas said he's been slated to go to Afghanistan, where there is another war on, in June.

Meanwhile, the Fort Worth district got a new commander, too, since the all the news of the levees' problems broke last year. Col. Richard J. Morowski is his name, and he started in July. No word on how long he'll stick around.

AT&T is delighted to have its wireless customers texting.

But not while they're driving.

The telecommunications giant has launched an ad campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of texting while driving.

The campaign includes ads in print, on TV, on radio, and online.

The spots are haunting. They include actual texts that people were sending or had received while they were behind the wheel. And they discuss the dire consequences that can occur in such situations.

In the one above, for example, "Where u at?" flashes on the screen, and a mother says, "This is the text my daughter was reading when she drove into oncoming traffic."

"We explored several campaign concepts, but we didn't have our 'aha!' moment until we asked one of our focus groups to take out their devices and read the last text they received," said Cathy Coughlin, senior executive vice president and global marketing officer for AT&T.

"When we asked if that particular message was worth the potential risk of reading while driving at 65 mph, you could have heard a pin drop."

You can see more of the ads here.

Wednesday evening, you're invited to tell them yourselves. Top TxDOT officials will conduct a town hall meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Plano City Council chambers, 1520 Avenue K.

On hand will be Texas Transportation Commissioner William Meadows, TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz, TxDOT Deputy Executive Director Steve Simmons, and Michael Morris, transportation director of the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

From a TxDOT release:

TxDOT, along with NCTCOG and other local transportation representatives, will be on hand to answer questions and provide information on projects and funding, including a brief perspective on regional infrastructure requirements for the future.

Citizens are encouraged to attend these meetings and provide feedback on regional transportation issues. The information received will be used to help Texas plan and develop an efficient transportation system-one that is sophisticated enough to meet the needs of future generations.

And here's a wrinkle for those who can't fight the traffic to get there:

A webcast link will be available on the TxDOT home page. Viewers can participate in the town hall via the Internet and have an opportunity to submit questions during the meeting.

You should be able to view the webcast by clicking here.

You can bet that TxDOT's lack of money to do critical projects is going to be a central theme of this meeting. State transportation officials have said consistently over the months that no new state highway projects will be started as of 2012, given current funding levels.

The Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition today named the well-connected Rider Scott as its new executive director.

Scott has worked in key government roles from Austin to Washington, as a lawyer representing North Texas cities and counties, and as an Austin lobbyist with a long list of clients.

The DRMC voted to authorize the governance committee to negotiate a personal services contract with Scott, who will serve as director while keeping his law practice as a partner in the Collin County office of Strasburger & Price.

From the DRMC news release:

Scott brings to the DRMC 30 years of legal experience and leadership gained from every level of government service, from local to federal agencies. "Rider is one of the most knowledgeable leaders in Texas when it comes to high-stakes transportation issues and government affairs, and we expect his insight and experience to help take the Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition to a new level of performance," said Rob Franke, co-chair of the DRMC and mayor of Cedar Hill. "We look forward to drawing on Rider's deep expertise to forge powerful partnerships and to help our region achieve its most important transportation policy and funding objectives on a local, state and national level."

Scott previously served as first assistant district attorney for Dallas County, as general counsel and chief of staff to Gov. William P. Clements, Jr. and as a special assistant to U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr in Washington, D.C., before returning to Dallas to enter the private practice of law.

His 2010 list of lobby clients from the Texas Secretary of State's office includes: the city of Celina, city of Willow Park, Clear Creek Watershed Authority, Collin County, Denton County, Dallas County Schools, Dave & Busters Inc., Denton County Transportation Authority, Destructors Inc., Las Colinas Association, and the North Texas Crime Commission.

The DRMC represents the interest of Dallas, Collin, Denton, Rockwall and Ellis counties. It is the counterbalance to the Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition.

The twin advocacy organizations mirror the twin TxDOT districts based in Dallas and Fort Worth. Does it sound like there's a traditional rivalry here?

Of course, and it's heating up some with the North Texas Tollway Authority's coming decision whether to take on the Southwest Parkway-Chisolm Trail project -- the first toll road that the agency would build in Tarrant County (with part of it in Johnson). One beef in the east is that tolls collected over here will be helping to finance roads in the west -- much like tolls collected on the North Dallas Tollway helped push the road into Collin County.

The Southwest Parkway question is a huge deal on the west, as our friends at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram would tell you. They just don't want any more playing around.

Some people on the Dallas side think that Tarrant County has the edge now, because Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley chairs the policy-making Regional Transportation Council this year; the metroplex's representative on the Texas Transportation Commission is Bill Meadows,, a former Fort Worth City Council and NTTA board member; and Gov. Rick Perry's appointment to the NTTA (which must be from an adjacent county) is Robert Shepard from Weatherford, which adds weight to the west.

The east added muscle today.

The North Texas Tollway Authority looks to be serious in its efforts to scale back its dependence on the giant legacy firms that have held key consulting roles there for decades.

This year, all five major contracts -- including for outside general counsel, general engineering consultant, traffic and revenue engineers, bond counsel and financial advisor -- are up for rebidding. The contracts are awarded for five years, and together cost tens of millions of dollars each year.

In an exclusive report last fall, we showed thatthose same five firms were frequently relied on for tasks easily accomplished by in-house personnel or by less-expensive competitors. The cost to NTTA, who raised toll rates steeply last year, was measured in the tens of millions.

New executive director Allen Clemson vowed to make changes.

"I am new at this organization," Clemson said then. "I don't have a single relationship with anybody in the law firms or the engineering firms. So we are going to make sure that our request for proposals are properly structured, and cover the body of work that we need to have, and don't have a bunch of tricks in them. I want to encourage, and hope to get, good firms to compete. We will evaluate them in very open and transparent way and see what happens.

"I would think that of all the times these contracts have been in place, that this is a very likely time for changes to happen."

Apparently, he meant what he said. The staff proposals for awarding the new bids make significant changes.

brooks county rest area.tiff

Updqate: TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott has sent information outlining the agency's recent cost-cutting. The department has reduced operating expenses significantly, according to a summary provided by Lippincott. In the two last years, annual operating and capital expenses by the districts were cut by about $200 million total. This year and next the budget should be reduced again by about $250 million. Attrition and other factors -- including a 'hiring chill,' but no lay offs -- have reduced TxDOT's headcount by the equivalent of 1,711 full-time spots, with more trims coming.

Gov. Rick Perry has been arguing for months that Texas under his watch has fared much better than most other states, all those places with the miserable luck not to be Texas.

He loves to make fun of California, as colleague Christy Hoppe pointed out this is fine piece, and of course he revels in contrasts with Washington, D.C. And judging from the New York Times this morning, he may soon start trash-talking Arizona, and why not?

The good people to our west have, according to the Times, the largest deficit as a percentage of the state budget in the U.S., and spending cuts have been announced throughout state government. What's got the Grand Canyon States all hot and bothered, though, and who can blame them, is the state decision to shut down rest stops along the highways.

The state Department of Transportation was $100 million in the red last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state's 18 highway rest stops.

But the move has unleashed a torrent of telephone calls and e-mail messages to state lawmakers, newspapers and the Department of Transportation deploring the lost toilets -- one of the scores of small indignities among larger hardships that residents of embattled states face as governments scramble to shore up their finances.

The Times' notes that other states have closed rest stops too, including . Colorado, Georgia, Vermont and Virginia.

My story last fall detailed just how dependent NTTA has become on a handful of super well-entrenched firms, especially five that have held major roles at the toll authority and its predecessor agency for decades.

Executive Director Allen Clemson vowed to give each of those firms a good scrubbing this year when the authority must sign new five-year contracts for a general engineering consultant, outside law firm, bond counsel and more.

Today at a series of committee meetings, staff will present a report about the coming procurements, and we may glean a bit of insight into how NTTA plans to approach what could be a very delicate task.

In addition, the NTTA committees will recommend a handful of contracts related to the Southwest Parkway / Chisholm Trail project -- a toll road the board has not yet officially accepted.

The times of each committee meeting and links to their agenda is on the jump.

Her three opponents tried mightily to use her transportation proposal against her, but Keller Republican Vicki Truitt still kept her vote totals above the 50 percent mark and avoided a runoff.

Up until the end, the right end of the political spectrum had been trying to rally votes against her because of her hard push last year for the local-option bill for transportation projects. Monday afternoon, this came from Michael Quinn Sullivan's Empower Texas/Texans for Fiscal Responsibility group:

You'll recall that State Rep. Vicki Truitt said repeatedly a year ago that she would "fall on my sword" to push for the "local option" gas tax hike and fee menu. She pledged to keep fighting in 2011 for this boondoggle funding plan.

But a funny thing happened on her way to raising your taxes: Thanks to you, Empower Texans let voters in her district know about what she was trying to do. Through mail, e-mail and phone calls, we demonstrated that she wasn't in Austin who she claimed to be in her district.

The result? Three people opposed her for re-election. We didn't endorse in that race, and stayed out of it, precisely because there were too many good candidates from which to choose. (If there is a run-off, we'll likely participate.)

What's the lesson from the Truitt victory despite a hard push to unseat her? For me, it's that voters respect somebody who sees a problem, offers a solution and works like crazy to put it into play.

(I consistently disagree with our friends on the hard right who maintain that the local-option bill is a tax bill. No, it's a local-control bill that lets voters decide whether to raise more money to make improvements in their communities. Bond packages that are placed on the ballot do the same thing -- let the public have the last word.)

Another person who offered politically risky solutions in the campaign -- and DID come out for a tax -- was Sen. Bob Deuell of Greenville. He said he'd back a dime-a-gallon increase in the gas tax, because it's needed to keep up the state's transportation system. That's a helluva remark to make when Tea Partiers are listening across a large district that goes well into small-town and rural Texas. But it's a matter of responsible government, Deuell said. I think voters respected that when they gave him 70% of the vote.

The Dallas County commissioners clashed this morning over an idea to create a county toll authority at meeting frequently punctuated by sarcasm and shouting.

Commissioner Maurine Dickey wants the county to create a county toll authority, a move that would give it the legal authority to work with private companies or other local governments to finance and build toll roads.

"This puts another tool in our toolbox," she said, noting that state and federal tax dollars for roads are increasingly inadequate.

NTTA was formed in the 1990s by county commissioners in Dallas, Tarrant, Denton and Collin counties to address regional transportation issues. But Dickey said NTTA has borrowed so much money -- all at the request of local governments -- that it's ability to build more toll roads is in question, at least for another five years or so as it pays down some of its debt and some of its most recent roads open fully to traffic.

"This is about creating a new paradigm," she said.

But Dickey was unable to answer a question posed by Commissioner Mike Cantrell, who called the idea a mistake and a "slap in the face" of regional partners. "I guess what I am asking," he said, "is what is the benefit of doing this? You say it's another tool, well what benefit would that toll bring?"

But Dickey said it's too soon for details, and declined to name a particular project the county authority would be tasked to build. She said it would allow the county to form new partnerships with other counties, cities or even private companies -- like the Spanish toll builder Cintra with which TxDOT has worked so closely -- to build area toll roads while NTTA is paying down its debt.

Commissioner Ken Mayfield said he supported Dickey's idea, noting that just because the county establishes the authority doesn't mean it has to use it. He and Dickey said it would be wise for Denton County and Tarrant County to do so as well, given that they expects lawmakers could take the authority to do so away when they meet in 2011.

NTTA spokeswoman Sherita Coffelt said the authority had backed legislation in the last session that would give it primacy over any local authority. That legislation was withdrawn, but it's expected that NTTA would support a similar bill again should local authorities be created.

Cantrell said the move would send all the wrong messages, given that Dallas County has worked so closely with other counties to form NTTA and on the Regional Transportation Council.

"I was not elected regionally," Dickey countered. "I was elected by Dallas County." (note: I left out the 'not' by accident in an early version of this post.-ML.)

Mayfield shouted at Cantrell, railing at him for his role on the RTC in 2007 and the support her gave to requiring NTTA to pay to the region $3.2 billion in return for the SH 121 contract. "That was leveraged on the backs of the people who drive those toll roads," he thundered.

But it was unclear how supporting the creation of a new toll road authority, just as the NTTA has announced it will slow its pursuit of new roads for a few years, would lessen the region's reliance on toll roads.

Rodger has details below on an idea floated by Dallas County Commissioner Maurine Dickey, namely to form a county toll authority that she says would enable the county to advance toll roads even as the regional toll authority, NTTA, takes a pause for a few years to pay down its debt.

The idea will be kicked around -- but not voted on -- at the commissioners' meeting tomorrow, but we don't have to wait till then to know it will face opposition if and when it does reach a vote.

Commissioners Mike Cantrell and John Wiley Price told me this afternoon they think it's bad idea indeed. I asked Cantrell a few minutes ago whether he think she's on the right track with the idea.

"No sir, I don't. And for a number of reasons. I will ask her this tomorrow, but I know a lot of disadvantages of doing it, and for life of me -- and I have spoken to nearly everyone in transportation circles about this -- and I can't for the life of me figure out what the advantage would be."

I called Dickey's office earlier today, but haven't heard back yet. I'd like to get her thoughts on this, to supplement what she's told Rodger below. (See below as well for Sen. John Caron's office's reply to Rodger's post. Collin County Commissioner Joe Jaynes has weighed in, too.)

That's an idea that County Commissioner Maurine Dickey is going to bring up tomorrow to other members of Dallas County Commissioners Court.

With the North Texas Tollway Authority near its debt limit, Dickey wants to make sure the county is positioned to advance road projects if it needs to. She points out that NTTA Chairman Paul Wageman said last week that his agency has the financial ability to do maybe one more project; that probably will be the Southwest Parkway-Chisholm Trail in Fort Worth and Johnson County.

Dickey told me this morning that she assumes the possibility that the Legislature could continue to tighten laws that allow for development of toll roads. That could make it impossible for the county to form its own authority, she said. Having all the "tools in the toolbox" is the goal, she said. "We don't want the toolbox closed on us," she said.

Potentially at risk is a list of $19 billion in projects that might go unbuilt without new ways of financing them, she said. Two major projects are the southern portion of Loop 9 and the Trinity Parkway.

Collin County established its own toll authority two years ago, for two pressing reasons: 1) to make sure the DNT extension doesn't go into Denton County, and 2) to advance work on the Loop 9 project in that county's northern tier. At the time, critics faulted the county for abandoning the spirit of regionalism; our newspaper ran an editorial to that effect.

In last year's legislative session, Sen. John Carona introduced a bill that would have given NTTA veto power over aspects of a county toll authority. That bill was ultimately was scaled back, and the Collin County agency didn't lose authority to take on a project in NTTA's back yard.

In Austin, Wageman and Carona were openly critical of the county's move, and Florence Shapiro tried to play the mediator, according to the Collin County Observer:

In his testimony, NTTA Chairman Paul Wageman of Plano said that it made no sense for two public agencies to be at loggerheads over the same project without some level of cooperation.

Wageman then charged that, "Judge Self and the commissioners have had on their agendas, at least twice over the last few months, essentially court orders to issue contracts on elements of our system that are either owned entirely by the NTTA or under contractual arrangements."

Senator Florence Shapiro (R-Plano) tried to set the stage for a compromise, saying, "surely there is one way we can meet in the middle." Shapiro seemed surprised to learn that the county had tried to expropriate a part of the DNT.

Senator Carona jumped in, asking to be part of any negotiating team, saying, "I don't think Collin County plays nice lately. I don't think they have a regional concern, but only for provincial Collin County".

Dickey said she initially thought the Collin County move did not help regionalism, but now things are different, because NTTA is getting stretched so thin.

My take is this: With money increasingly scarce, you'll see more lines being drawn. Collin County officials have said they wanted to make sure tolls collected in the county didn't end up somewhere else and building someone else's roads.

That's part of Dickey's motivation, I'm sure. During last year's debate over the local-option bill in Austin, she was greatly concerned that new revenue could be raised through taxes or fees and then banked somewhere else. She wanted that revenue within control of the very commissioners court that placed the new taxes and fees on the ballot.

Of interest will be Carona's and Wageman's take on the Dickey idea for Dallas County.

UPDATE: From Sen. John Carona's blog, his commentary on the news about Maurine Dickey's toll authority idea:

Senator Carona has always been a strong supporter of regional transportation solutions and fewer infrastructure agencies instead of more, and throughout the 81st legislation session worked to ensure the cohesiveness of future transportation plans in the region.

The compromise language between the Collin County Toll Authority and the North Texas Tollway Authority was ultimately removed from legislation. As a result, Senator Carona is observing how the relationship progresses over the interim, and depending on that outcome, may proceed with appropriate legislation in the 82nd session.

Pap Pas

Today, the nine directors of the North Texas Tollway Authority will decide, at long last, whether the authority should add State Highway 161 to its growing network of toll roads. The board meeting began at 9 a.m.; the vote could come at any time. (Follow developments on twitter (@lindenberger) or look for updates on www.dallasnews.com.)

The decision carries high stakes for the toll authority, which since 2007 has borrowed some $5 billion to transform itself from a small agency primarily focused on two major toll roads in Dallas and Collin counties into the region's most important provider of highways, in many ways eclipsing in terms of local relevance the much larger Texas Department of Transportation. (See map at right for a view of just how many area roads are NTTA roads.)

Most of that money was borrowed to win the enormously controversial contract to build SH 121 toll road, now called the Sam Rayburn Tollway, and to borrow heavily against its existing toll roads' revenues to pay an unprecedented $3.2 billion payment to the state, all of which is dedicated to uses selected by the North Texas Council of Governments on local projects.

Since then, the authority has struggled with an enormous debt load, though its credit rating has remained high, and passed a 32 percent increase to toll rates last year to offset lower-than-expected revenues due to the lingering recession.

By taking on SH 161, which is already open in part and still under construction, NTTA would borrow $1.4 billion, and pay nearly $900 million in construction costs, including $258 million to reimburse the North Texas Council of Governments for work now underway. It would also pay $200 million as a bonus of sorts to the region for use on other roads.

NTTA has all along said it would finance SH 161 as a stand-alone project, meaning that it will not pledge its revenues from other roads to guarantee the new debt. That has made obtaining AA credit rating on the new project difficult. To do so, it has asked TxDOT to guarantee the bonds with its gas tax fund.

On Wednesday, the Texas Transportation Commission formally agreed to do so, well over a year after striking a deal indicating they would. But the commissioners also inserted terms in their approval that will require NTTA to refinance the loans within 10 years, or begin paying TxDOT a penalty that could total $161 million over the life of the debt.

NTTA officials, including both chairman Paul Wageman and Victor Vandergriff, have called that provision and a similar one requiring interest payments "onerous," and a potential deal breaker.

The 11.5-mile toll road is expected to make the NTTA a great deal of money, but as this chart to the right shows not until it pays off most of the debt, some 30 years from now.

NTTA has formally pursued the road since 2007, soon after it emerged victorious from scrapes with the Texas Department of Transportation in the 2007 Legislature with a powerful new mandate from lawmakers who expressly named the authority as the region's primary provider of toll roads, giving it first right of refusal on any toll project in the region.

But it's decision this morning isn't a foregone conclusion. (For a primer, click here.) It takes just two members of the NTTA board voting no to prevent the deal. Several have expressed reservations, and members from Tarrant County will be worried about whether taking this project will impede its ability to borrow what is needed to build another major toll road, Southwest Parkway, in Tarrant County. That decision will likely come due later this year or very early next.

Update 3: 6 p.m. I meant to add this third and one would hope final update earlier, but I've been chasing the NTTA story all day. But Gene Rice of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called this afternoon to say that the Corps did send DART a letter granting partial approval for construction near the Irving levees. What it withheld is approval for a plan that would let DART crews build a pad on top of beams laid into the levee. The pad would be where they sit a crane. Because there is a water line near the area - and because a burst water line caused all kinds of havoc over in Dallas' levees -- Rice said the Corps was being extra cautious, and wants to see a better plan and more details about how the pad will be constructed. It doesn't sound like a big deal, or a likely cause of delay for DART. But Rice did add that both the city of Irving and the local flood control district has to sign off on it, too.

Update No. 2: On the latest issue of Corps work affecting the Orange Line, I sent DART's Morgan Lyons written questions including this one:

Does it look likely at this point that the Corps scrutiny will slow the project down beyond the deadline?

And he sent back this response:

No, we will not be delayed by this. No, the Corps has not denied our 208 request. The Corps approved what we asked them to approve. There are two steps in the Corps 208 approval process and we've already received approval on the first one. We received approval for the first step, the substructure (below ground and column work) on February 11. I'm assuming that's the letter you're referencing.

We are continuing to work with the Corps on the superstructure (bridge elements above the columns) approval. Last year, in anticipation of the time required to get all approvals, we developed a work schedule that would let us continue making progress on the bridge and maintain our overall schedule. The Corps has been a great partner through this process.

The bridge is just over a mile long and begins shortly after the Green Line/Orange Line junction near Bachman Station and goes west over Interstate 35E, continuing west over the Trinity River and levee and touches down in Irving just east of Texas Stadium.

When Morgan says "will not be delayed by this," I take him to mean by the Corps alone, since the TxDOT/utilities obstacle still poses a problem.

Update: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed this evening that it has withheld full permission for DART construction near its Irving levees, finding that plans submitted by the transit agency were not sufficient to convince the Corps that the Orange Line rail construction would not adversely affect its levees. The opening segment of the Orange Line is due to be complete by 2012.

The Corps, which has also brought to a halt major work near the Trinity River near downtown Dallas, sent a letter to Feb. 11 informing DART that it could only give partial approval to a work plan submitted by DART, said spokesman Clayton Church. The Corps has asked DART to supply more information about a plan that involves laying beams either near or on the levees as part of the rail lines construction. Until then, it has withheld what is called a Section 208 permit -- a permit very similar in its requirements, Church said, to the Section 404 permit that is required for projects that impact the waters of the United States.

DART spokesman Morgan Lyons, reached early Thursday evening, said he was not aware of the letter from the Corps, and would check with engineers involved in planning Friday. At this point it is unclear whether the Corps decision to not approve DART's full construction plan, as it related to their levees, will slow the project down.

DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said this morning that the transit agency is not certain it can meet its deadline for the Orange Line service to Irving, even if TxDOT completes its utility relocation work on time.

"That's because we still need information from TxDOT," Lyons said. (Photo at right shows Orange Line construction on Feb. 24.)

But, I asked, what if TxDOT manages to do everything it needs to to give DART crews access they need to complete their work on time? Is DART still on schedule?

"I am not going to engage in an hypothetical situation," he said.

I asked the questions this morning because Michael Morris, the council of governments' transportation director, told me last night that before he'd recommend to the RTC that it advance the $10 million TxDOT says it will need to stay on schedule, he'd insist on two assurances. One, he wants to make sure TxDOT is sure the money will get it back on track. (TxDOT has said it's 80 percent sure, and he'll probably want more certainty than that.) Secondly, he wants to make sure DART would be able to keep its commitment to open light rail service to Irving by December, 2011 if TxDOT keeps its schedule.

That struck me as a little strange, because in the statement DART released Tuesday night, the transit agency put all the blame for the delay on TxDOT's shoulders. It sent alarm bells a-ringing in Irving, where city officials have been eagerly awaiting light rail service for years.

It's also where a political furor erupted two years ago when DART announced it would not be able to afford to bring the trains there on time. (Photo at left shows Mayor Herb Gears in the audience at DART meeting.) DART soon reversed itself, and promised it could.

Lyons wrote to answer whether DART can be sure to keep its schedule, even if TxDOT gets back on its own.

"It's too early to say. We discussed these issues last week with Michael Morris in a meeting at COG with representatives from DART, TxDOT and Irving. The $10 million for TxDOT only regains one (May 2011) of the original two construction milestone access dates, which could leave an estimated eight-month delay on the second access date (September 2010).

New access dates can't be finalized until utility relocations become more definite. We hope TxDOT will be able to finalize them in the next week or two. Once that happens then TxDOT can give us firm access dates by which we can determine the impact to our Orange Line contractor. We have to have firm dates before determining the magnitude of any delay. When we have the firm dates we can finalize efforts to mitigate schedule delays."

This morning's story about the Texas Transportation Commission reports that the state highway bosses have agreed to give NTTA a loan guarantee that could save the authority hundreds of millions in financing costs on the State Highway 161 toll road.

But I spoke to chairman Paul Wageman and vice-chairman Victor Vandergriff last night, and both were troubled -- and that is a pretty mild descriptor -- by terms attached to the loan guarantee in Austin. The nine-member NTTA board has to vote Friday whether to accept the deal, and it would only take two votes to kill it.

Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, told me yesterday he understands that NTTA's dismay at the terms imposed Wednesday. But he said the TxDOT commissioners were trying to treat all regions fairly, and were mindful that they were creating a precedent for future arrangements with other toll authorities in Texas.

"I am going to do everything I can between now and Friday to make this work," said Morris, who added that he was relieved, at least, that the commissioners stipulated that any fees paid by NTTA would be spent in North Texas.

How bad were the terms imposed in Austin? Wageman and Vandergriff found them 'onerous.' I am not sure I agree that the terms themselves were that significant. But the basic rub is that from NTTA's perspective, this whole thing was a long-negotiated deal, one in which they had agreed to spend big money to relieve the state of major construction responsibilities, saving tax payers a small fortune. But the commissioners never looked at this as anything other than a request to help out a struggling junior partner. By imposing a few additional terms at the end, the wounds have been salted.

But now I want to ask you, dear readers, what you would do if you were on NTTA's board: Would you accept the project, or pass?

Fortunately, as a journalist I don't have to make any hard decisions. We just watch and keep score of the chaos. But doing that does give me a pretty close view of the landscape, and so what I wanted to do is spell out some of the pros and cons of taking the road. Follow me to the jump, and meanwhile, cast your vote in the comments.

The Texas Transportation Commission has agreed to offer a $4.1 billion line of credit to the North Texas Tollway Authority, a mostly technical move that will greatly reduce the borrowing cost associated with building and operating the State Highway 161 toll road.

The commissioners voted unanimously to take the unprecedented move to use gas-tax funds to backstop NTTA's toll road, but not before expressing a range of concerns about the "momentous precedent" the body was making, in the words of Commissioner Ned Holmes of Houston.

The move brings to an end nearly three years of fighting between TxDOT and NTTA over who should build the toll road, 11.5 miles between Grand Prairie and Irving.

But it doesn't seal the deal for the road, not yet.

NTTA nine board members must vote to accept the project at its meeting Friday, and two terms included in the loan agreement today could sink the project. The commissioners want a penalty assessed to NTTA after 10 years, if it has not yet refinanced the bond package in a way that takes TxDOT off the hook.

That fee was strongly opposed by NTTA chairman Paul Wageman and vice chairman Victor Vandergriff in an interview earlier this week. They both said it could be a deal-breaker.

In addition, Holmes offered an amendment to require NTTA to pay interest on any amounts it must pay as a penalty for keeping the department on the hook for the loan. Commissioner Bill Meadows objected and offered a substitute motion, but failed to receive a second.

Commissioner Ted Houghton of El Paso told Fort Worth Council member Jungus Jordan, who is also secretary of the Regional Transportation Council, that he would now need to turn his lobbying efforts to NTTA, if he and the region wants the road to be built. "We're not the final say, the NTTA is."

I'll get in touch with Wageman and his associated and try to find out how difficult a task that may be.

This chart above shows that after the first 15 years or so, NTTA stands to make a whole lot of money on the Southwest Parkway/Chisholm Trail toll road, money it says can then be used to pay to build other roads or, presumably, to reduce the needs for future rate increases. The green is the money it would earn over expenses and debt service.

The chart below shows SH 161, which shows that NTTA will have to wait a lot longer before it begins to make big bucks on that road.

The Texas Transportation Commission is about to decide whether to give NTTA a big line of credit, and it's getting sticky. I'll have more on that as soon as there is a vote.

But in the meantime, I got a question for you: How much are you willing to pay to drive on State Highway 161?

Financial experts say it's a whole, whole, whole lot.

TxDOT CFO James Bass is explaining just now why the department should give NTTA a big line of credit to help it build the SH 161. (The line of credit makes it cheaper for NTTA to borrow the money it needs to build it.)

One reason it's a safe bet that NTTA would never really need the line of credit, Bass says, is because traffic and revenue estimates show that NTTA could raise the rates on the road by "a considerable" amount before doing so would discourage enough drivers from using it. (The rates will be the same as they are elsewhere, unless revenues are too low and NTTA has to raise it, something it won't do unless it runs into problems.)

In other words, there is a great deal of "toll elasticity." The idea is this: If you raise your rates 20 percent, and lose 20 percent of your customers, you're even. If you raise them 100 percent, and lose only 20 percent, you're golden.

So Commissioner Ted Houghton of El Paso wants to know what the studies show is the actual market rate, what people here would actually pay. Bass apologizes but he can't say. It's a secret that only NTTA can release.

So let's have some fun. How high would rates have to go on NTTA's roads -- let's say the DNT for a common talking point -- before you'd stop. They are about 14.5 cents a mile now.

The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Senate easily passed the big jobs bill this morning. Five Republicans, including Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, voted with Democrats to end debate earlier this week, clearing the way for the vote on the issue.

Transportation advocates quickly wrote to point out that an agreement by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that the massive overhaul of federal transportation policy --and spending -- would be taken up later this year, helped ink the deal.

Indeed, the Post says Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., helped build support for the bill by rallying transportation lobbyists in its defense.

The story also says "retiring Sen. George V. Voinovich (R-Ohio) was more specific, announcing Monday that he had agreed to back the jobs measure after getting a "commitment" from Reid that the Senate would take up a long-term reauthorization of the highway bill in 2010."

LA Streets Blog has more details on the compromise, and what it might mean for reauthorization.

The jobs bill as written would also keep the ailing Highway Trust Fund solvent until the end of this year.

House Democrats have pushed to consider the massive five-year reauthorization bill -- which House transportation chairman says could cost $500 billion, or about $140 billion more than current taxes would produce -- but the Obama Administration has said it wants to wait until 2011.

The Senate compromise would add another big issue to an already full plate for the Obama Administration in 2010.

Update: DART spokesman Morgan Lyons has responded to a few questions. The questions and his answers are on the jump.

DART told its board yesterday that delays by TxDOT in relocating utilities could mean that it might be late in opening its first two segments of the Orange Line, maybe by as much as eight or nine months.

Here's a brief story about it. I am sure this isn't going to go over well in Irving, where city's public works director told my colleague Brandon Formby they were blind-sided by the news yesterday evening.

On that latter point, I asked DART president Gary Thomas yesterday evening, whether DART had shared news of the delay with Irving officials, or whether it had happened so suddenly there had been unable to. He answered directly that the city had been told of the delay.

Brandon, who covers Irving for our paper and for the Irving Blog, also writes: "There's been mention that $10 million is needed to keep the project moving on schedule. What that's for or why it is are still unclear this morning. Lopez said that's one of the areas the city and the other agencies were working on."

Here's what Bill Hale told me about the $10 million last night. He said that because of the delays in getting federal environmental clearance, which came last fall, work on the utility relocation was behind. He said TxDOT's deal with DART was to have its contractors' work done in time for DART to finish its work to open the line by December of 2011.

To meet that deadline, TxDOT has been working with the contractors to expedite their work, but that involves paying them move to cover over-time and various other costs associated with speeding the project up so significantly.

That cost comes in at about $10 million, Hale said. TxDOT, he said, is not responsible for paying that cost. It would be up to DART, one of its partners, or someone else to find the money, he said. He noted that there is a discussion underway at the North Central Texas Council of Governments about whether the $10 million could be advanced as a loan using money the region has in the bank as a result of the State Highway 121 deal from 2007.

If the money is found, he said, he is 80 percent sure he can keep the utility work on schedule, and allow DART to keep its schedule -- assuming DART isn't behind for some other reason, of course.

DART made no mention yesterday, either in the conversation I had with Thomas or in the press release it hurriedly sent out soon afterward, of the $10 million. It's release simply said it had been "officially" informed by TxDOT of the delay, and that it would likely mean a delay to the Orange Line until August, 2012.

If you haven't read my story this morning on DART, I wish you would. It takes a gloomy snap shot of the agency, which is faced some significant hurdles even as it completes one of the most ambitious light rail expansions in the country, and is doing so on time and within budget.

Customers gave it failing marks in the last three months of last year, as evidenced by the number of complaints (they went up), and the number of tickets sold (that went down.) The trains were also more likely to be late, or to be involved in accidents, than a year before.

The recession is finally hitting DART, too, and its finance chiefs told the board that tough decisions about the 20-year plan are ahead -- even though, if you can believe it, the executives, including the president, would not tell board members how bad the picture looks.

And finally, delays on TxDOT's part in relocating utilities are likely going to slow down Irving's Orange Line, according to DART president Gary Thomas.

None of that is good, and neither is this: This morning, two daily riders sent me a note about longer than usual delays getting to work today. Rodger Jones, my colleague on this blog, writes to say:

Regular riders have gotten used to delays, but today's were longer and more numerous than usual. We sat on the tracks at least once in Richardson for a long time, and another time in the tunnel beneath Cityplace. We had several long delays downtown. The driver blamed them on trains stopped ahead and one time on problems with traffic signals. I'd guess we were 10-15 minutes late. When that happens, riders typically break out their cell phones to let work know. I was sitting in front of one guy who sounded like he was a teacher at El Centro and had students waiting for him.

It has become clear that DART has a problem on its hands with the crowding of its rail lines downtown. The service levels have significantly dropped since the opening of the Green Line, and months of scrambling and "temporary fixes" have not yet solved those problems. It appears that they are usually minor problems, but fairly regularly turn into the kind of 10 or 15 minute headaches that Rodger writes about from this morning.

(This is just one guy's opinion, but I get the need for caution, because the staff was still vetting some of the gloomy sales cast forecasts and other very complicated data. But when they tell the board chairman they can't answer his question about how bad the numbers look for 30 days, isn't that just the same as telling him he's not bright enough, and the public who was listening, is not bright enough, to handle some of the still uncertain aspects of the numbers?