Texas Turnpike may take over road project, sell revenue bonds.

DALLAS -- The Texas Turnpike Authority is considering taking over a 25-mile highway project north of Dallas that could more than double the size of the metropolitan area's tollway system and result in the issuance of about $400 million of revenue bonds next year, an official said Friday.

At a meeting scheduled for Thursday, the authority plans to discuss whether it should commission engineering, traffic, and revenue feasibility studies for state highway 190, the east-west road that would run through north Dallas suburbs from state highway 78 to Interstate 635.

In addition, the authority will consider sending out requests for qualifications to investment bankers who might be interested in underwriting the bonds, said Jerry Shelton, the authority's director of administration.

"None of this is certain now," Shelton said. But "if all this is approved, we could sell the bonds next spring and begin the design in the summer of 199-5 and have everything built ... by 2001."

The Route 190 projects has been on the Texas department of transportation's list for funding for years to relieve traffic on Interstate 635 and to provide another development corridor for the booming suburbs, where housing construction and business expansion have increased.

But because state fund shortages are expected to delay the project well into the 21st century, a coalition of suburban Dallas officials is asking that the project become part of the Dallas North Tollway system operated by the Turnpike Authority. If incorporated, the toll road system would expand from 21 miles after an extension project is opened in September to 46 miles.

The coalition officials, who hail from Collin County as well as the communities of Richardson, Plano, and Carrollton, "think it is better to get a toll road faster than wait for the Texas department of transportation," Shelton said.

To that end, the suburban officials have talked with three Turnpike Authority board members who comprise the new projects committee as well as agency staff members. In addition, the coalition, let by Collin County Judge Ron Harris, are taking the proposal to other municipalities affected by the project, including Farmers Branch, Garland, and Dallas County.

If the project garners support and gets approval from the various transportation agencies, it will cost an estimated $700 million, Shelton said.

He said about $400 million of the funding could come from the Turnpike Authority, primarily from the sale of 30-year revenue bonds.

The balance would come from the state department of transportation, which could provide interchanges and right of way for the project as well as loans to the Turnpike Authority, Shelton said. The details won't be determined until the project is further along and feasibility studies are completed.

"All this is in flux," he said. "We don't know what the board will do."

Shelton said the board would consider using Howard Needles Tammen Bergendoff to do the engineering study and Wilbur Smith Associates for the traffic and revenue study. The studies could take take six months to complete if authorize by the board, Shelton said.

The authority board also will discuss whether it should ask the transportation department to share in the cost of the studies. Department officials could not be reached for comment Friday.

If all progresses smoothly, plans call for completing the first 20-mile stretch by 1999. That part would run from state highway 78 in Garland west through Richardson and Plano and then hit a small section in Dallas, Farmers Branch, and Carrollton to Interstate 35.

The second part of the project would provide a five-mile connection with 1-35 and Interstate 635 and could be completed by 2001.

If finished, the highway is expected to provide a more accessible route to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, which is the second busiest airport in the world, after O'Hare International in Chicago.

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