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Trinity Parkway
Due to growing transportation needs and limitations in state and federal funding, more and more projects in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are being considered as tollways. One way to build roadways faster, and stretch federal and state money further, is to consider new roadway projects as tollways. This allows tolls to be collected to help pay for construction, operation and maintenance. Even though this method can construct a new tollway much faster than a typical highway, the process can take 6 to 10 years before the tollway is open to traffic. The diagram below shows the entire process from project development through construction. We are presently in the environmental and schematic part of the process.
What are the Steps?
After the region determines a roadway is needed, a governmental agency can request the NTTA study the roadway as a potential tollway. After a project shows feasibility as a tollway, the NTTA will enter into participation agreements with local governments and other agencies such as the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on the potential funding of the project study. This can take 2 to 4 months.
Once participation agreements are complete, the next step includes the development and evaluation of alternatives, public and agency involvement, environmental studies, schematic design, and cost estimates. These more detailed planning studies will help to determine if a transportation project is feasible and to identify potential effects on the community and environment and inform the decision makers and affected communities of these impacts. These studies usually average 60 months.
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Once the environmental studies and schematic design are completed and approved, another more detailed financial feasibility study is conducted. The more detailed cost estimates and traffic volumes from the planning studies are used to determine if the project can pay for itself in a reasonable period of time. If financially feasible, the NTTA will obtain funding agreements from local governments and other agencies such as the TxDOT, and the FHWA and issue bonds to pay for construction. Final feasibility of the project may be dependent on participation funding agreements. In the event that it is determined by the final feasibility study that the project cannot pay for itself or the necessary funding arrangement cannot be made, construction will be delayed until these problems are solved or when it can be built as a tax-supported project.
The next step is to develop detailed construction plans and acquire the needed right of way. This can take 18 months to three years to complete. When the plans are complete, right of way acquired, and funding secured, construction can begin. As with most large projects, new tollways may be built in phases that could take two to more years.