HBA-JEK C.S.H.C.R. 89 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.C.R. 89
By: Oliveira
Transportation
3/14/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Transportation legislation enacted by the United States Congress over the
last decade has identified 43 highway corridors as being nationally
significant for moving people and commerce.  Five of these corridors are
located wholly or partially in Texas, and are eligible for priority
construction and increased funding. Various Texas segments of High Priority
corridors 18 and 20 are part of a proposed multistate highway that has been
officially designated as Interstate Route I-69.  This highway is federally
certified as a natural route for trade under the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA), and is a vital transportation corridor for the
interstate and international trade of Texas and the United States.  

The Texas portion of the proposed 1,800 mile long highway extends more than
950 miles.  The expansion of the Texas segment of High Priority Corridor 18
alone will cost $593 million dollars and will extend I-69 along U.S.
Highway 281 and U.S. Highway 77 in the lower Rio Grande Valley and Laredo
connecting them to U.S. Highway 59.  The Texas Transportation Commission
states that it can fund just 33 percent of all needed road improvements for
this project.  While Texas can draw from a variety of funds for this
project, an infusion of additional federal funds may help move the
corridor's date of completion forward. 

Construction on the Texas portion of I-69 cannot begin until the
environmental study is completed in 2007, even though the Rio Grande
Valley's and Laredo's increasingly stressed transportation infrastructures
will continue to accommodate the significant freight traffic arising from
NAFTA during this time.  C.S.H.C.R. 89 urges the U.S. Congress and the U.S.
Department of Transportation to give priority funding to the construction
of the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo portions of I-69 in an effort to
complete its construction ahead of schedule.   

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this resolution
does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.C.R. 89 urges the Congress of the United States and the United States
Department of Transportation to give priority funding to the construction
of the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo segments of Interstate Route I-69. 

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.C.R. 89 differs from the original resolution by adding references to
the City of Laredo in relation to the Interstate Route I-69 corridor.