State to end $600M earmarked for road safety
A $600 million down payment on making Texas roadways safer is coming to an end, as highway officials pivot to putting potentially life-saving projects back in the same pile as congestion relief and other priorities.
Members of the Texas Transportation Commission last week agreed to a spending plan for the Texas Department of Transportation that does not include money set aside specifically for safety projects. The plan is not final, however, until the biennial budget for TxDOT is set in August.
For the past two years, TxDOT officials have committed $300 million annually to accelerate safety projects, such as cable barriers to keep vehicles from swerving into oncoming traffic on highways, intersection improvements and fresh markings so drivers are aware of the potential for pedestrians.
Instead, commission members said they are content combating what still is a safety crisis on state highways by making safety improvements part of most — if not all — road expansions, maintenance and rebuilding.
“I do agree we cannot perpetuate continuous carve-outs,” said Transportation Commissioner and Houston resident Laura Ryan, who led the effort for the $600 million set aside. “What I don’t want to do is lose the momentum we
have started with the carve-outs.”
Whatever momentum has built behind increased safety efforts, however, has failed so far to yield many of the benefits on various fronts. Despite historic declines in driving because of the COVID-19 pandemic, roadway deaths in Texas increased last year, erasing a three-year trend of fatalities decreasing. At least 3,929 people died on Texas roadways last year, according to a crash database maintained by TxDOT, up from 3,684 in 2019.
The state’s increase mirrors that of the Houston region, which also ended 2020 with a record number of deaths, 722, up from 637 in 2019. Both locally and statewide, safety experts and transportation officials blamed the increases on numerous factors, notably drivers taking advantage of open roads to recklessly drive faster. As a result, crashes declined with fewer drivers out there, but the severity of those remaining crashes increased.
Meanwhile, many projects paid for with the $600 million have yet to break ground, officials said. Of the 233 projects chosen for funding through the program, five have been completed, all related to roadway “lane departures,” such as when someone misses a curve or swerves into oncoming traffic. Barriers or cables have been improved along Interstate 45 toward Huntsville and in some places south to Galveston.
More than half of the projects, representing roughly two-thirds of the money, still are not approved for construction. That includes many intersection and pedestrian projects in Houston area, including various upgrades along FM 1960 and FM 2920 northwest Harris County and others along Texas 6 in Galveston County.
Nonetheless, officials said that in a state with vast transportation needs they cannot keep allocating money specifically for safety projects when most road-widening projects or changes come with some inherent safety upgrades.
“If you can get to more divided four lane roads around the state, that is for sure improving safety,” Transportation Commissioner Alvin New of the San Angelo area said, noting divided highways remain a priority in rural communities.
Safety will be an ingrained part of maintenance projects and other construction jobs, officials said. Roadway safety also is one of the 12 categories of the state’s unified transportation program, which acts as TxDOT’s long-range budget. For the next decade, officials plan to spend $74.6 billion on transportation, $3.7 billion of which is dedicated to safety.
Unlike the current $600 million, however, that money usually is wrapped into large projects and not directed solely at projects judged by where severe crashes are happening.
The combination of increasing fatalities and lack of dedicated safety money rankled some safety advocates as transportation officials tout hundreds of millions in upcoming road widenings.
“We have long radically underinvested in safety,” said Jay Crossley, executive director of the nonprofit Farm&City and active with Central Texas Families for Safe Streets, an Austinbased safety organization.
Crossley pleaded with officials to keep diverting money specific to needed safety projects.
“We can’t stop now, we have to continue,” he said.
Officials said the investments will continue, not only through typical means but also with dozens of funded projects making their way toward construction.
All of the projects are scheduled to have construction approvals by the end of August — the conclusion of TxDOT’s fiscal year — said Michael Lee, director of engineering and safety operations for the agency. Projects must be completed by August 2022, Lee said.
The lack of progress is particularly pronounced in the two areas given the smallest share of the safety money: Pedestrian safety and technology upgrades. Though officials approved 15 percent of the money for the two categories — 10 percent for pedestrian and 5 percent for technology — spending so far for the two only reaches $64 million, or 11 percent of the total budgeted. Three-quarters of all the pedestrian and technology projects remain in the planning stages.
“It is becoming more obvious to me we need to be focusing on … the pedestrian and cycling aspect of these fatalities,” Transportation Commissioner Robert Vaughn of Dallas, said.
Lee last week assured transportation officials that plans remain to add more pedestrian and technology projects. About $7.2 million remains from the $600 million set-aside, all of which will go to the two categories, he said, for things such as new buttons to activate pedestrian crossings and flashing lights triggered by motion detectors to help make drivers aware of turns and stop signs.
“They are really effective at night to tell you there is a curve there,” Lee said, noting the flashing lights add visibility to the more common reflective signs.