By ZEN T.C. ZHENG
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Fort Bend County officials Tuesday approved the designs and project cost estimates for the expansion of three Katy-area roads despite two county commissioners’ concerns that the prices far exceed what voters had approved.
The three roads — Greenbusch, Katy-Flewellen and Katy-Gaston — are among 47 projects in the $156 million mobility bond package voters supported in May 2007.
Of those, 27 are in unincorporated areas and coordinated by the county, and the rest in the jurisdiction of municipalities. Ron Drachenberg, assistant county engineer, said the three Katy-area roads are among 17 county-sponsored projects under contract for design.
The expansion would rebuild a 2.7-mile segment of Greenbusch from Falcon Landing to Pin Oak, a 1.5-mile stretch of Katy-Flewellen from Katy-Gaston to Pin Oak, and a 1.7-mile section of Katy-Gaston from Cinco Ranch Boulevard to FM 1093 — all currently two-lane country roads with open ditches — as four-lane boulevards with divided medians, curbs and gutters.
Greenbusch would be widened in two phases to minimize the impact of construction on local traffic, said Floyd Scurry, an engineer with Cobb Fendley. With construction projected to begin in early 2009, the road would be expanded first from Katy-Flewellen to Mills Manor Drive, which could take up to a year to finish; and then enlarged from Mills Manor to Falcon Landing, which could take another year to complete.
The Katy-Flewellen project involves substantial relocation of utility lines and pipelines. The road, which is in the floodplain, also needs to be raised and a bridge built.
Construction on both the Katy-Flewellen and Katy-Gaston projects is projected to start in January, with the two roads set to reopen in summer of 2010.
Commissioners debate costs
The bond plan earmarked $11.25 million for Greenbusch, $7.5 million for Katy-Flewellen and $8.75 million for Katy-Gaston. However, consultants from three different engineering firms — Cobb Fendley & Associates for Greenbusch; Chiang, Patel & Yerby, Inc. for Katy-Flewellen; and Jacobs for Katy-Gaston — added $3.08 million, $1.65 million and $1.37 million, respectively, to the widening of the roads.
The consultants attributed the increases in the costs to the need to acquire additional land, address drainage issues and relocate utility lines and pipelines.
County engineer Jesse Hegemier and Precinct 3 County Commissioner Andy Meyers, whose precinct includes Katy, said when a mobility bond planning committee formulated the bond package a year ago, committee members understood that the price tags they came up with were for the design and construction of the projects and did not include the costs for right-of-way acquisition nor utility line relocation.
Precinct 4 County Commissioners James Patterson disagreed.
“(The) county judge was chair of that committee and I was assistant chair of that committee. That discussion didn’t go on,” Patterson told Hegemier. “So don’t put yourself in a bind because we have to go out to buy somebody’s house and we’ve got to move a million dollars worth of pipeline. We can’t ignore it. So don’t say what the committee said without asking at least the chair and assistant chair.”
County Judge Bob Hebert, however, defended Meyers’ and Hegemier’s claim.
“We intentionally didn’t create a big amount of money towards the right of way (acquisition) and utility (relocation) based on lack of knowledge of what those costs would be,” Hebert said. “But I don’t believe anybody on the committee anticipated that there wouldn’t be (additional) cost there.”
Patterson questioned Keith Neshyba, an engineer with Chiang, Patel & Yerby, on the need for 9-inch thick concrete paving for Katy-Flewellen, believing six inches would suffice. Patterson asked him what that design was based upon.
“We looked at major thoroughfare sections over here,” Neshyba said, adding 9-inch paving would handle major truck traffic.
Patterson said mostly school traffic, instead of major truck traffic, traverses Katy-Flewellen.
Patterson also questioned why there hadn’t been a traffic study on Katy-Gaston before the consultant designed the paving to be eight inches thick.
Mike Rudd, a Jacobs engineer, said a geotechnical study will be conducted that would include a traffic analysis before the firm presents a detailed design plan.
Median width challenged
Patterson also questioned the proposed 31-foot wide median for Katy-Gaston, comparing it to 14-foot-wide median design in the other two projects. With the Jacobs design, Katy-Gaston would be enlarged to 100 feet wide. Patterson said reducing the median width would cut back on the need for additional land to be acquired and the project cost.
Meyers and Rudd said the proposed 31-foot width was consistent with other boulevards in the vicinity.
Patterson disparingly said that the design was “for the look.”
“We are looking at a shortfall of $1.6 million from the bond issue for this project,” Patterson said. “A 14-foot-wide median is a wonderful, safe median. Our bond is about safety and mobility. A 30-foot median is not about safety and mobility.”
Precinct 2 County Commissioner Grady Prestage suggested that acquiring substantial right of way now would address future needs of the area, which he said would continue to grow, a point that Rudd reiterated afterwards.
Prestage said Katy-Gaston could not be extended beyond where it ends.
“A 30-foot median may look better, but we don’t have a budget anywhere. So you know why I’m gonna vote against this,” he said, noting that there was $6 million over what was earmarked by the bond initiative for all three projects.
Precinct 1 County Commissioner Tom Stavinoha said he agreed with Patterson.
Meyers, visibly upset, said in a raised voice, “I don’t think we are gonna save $6 million just by narrowing the median. You can vote against it if you wish. That’s fine. That’s your privilege to do so. We make a promise to our voters when we made a promise to our taxpayers, We are gonna do something. We need to keep our promises.”
Rudd also attributed the high cost of the project to a requirement of the county’s drainage district that the planned road expansion not worsen flooding that has affected the area. A 9,000-foot long drainage system would have to be constructed to prevent runoff from draining toward FM 1093, he said.
“Then just remember, when we get to Harlem Road (another bond project), and we don’t have any money to build it, then our promise goes up in the wind,” Patterson said.
While giving the nods for the Greenbusch and Katy-Flewellen projects, Patterson and Stavinoha voted against the Katy-Gaston design. Hebert, Meyers and Prestage endorsed all three projects.
Funding to come from two sources
Meyers said after the meeting that the additional expenses for the three road widening projects will come from two sources — about $5 million earmarked for right of way acquisition in the 2007 mobility bond package and a so-called right-of-way fund, which is replenished with tax revenues each year.
Hebert said an average $5 million is allotted to that fund as part of the county’s operating budget. The current fund balance is about $3.5 million.
The Texas Department of Transportation is expected to reimburse the county an additional $2 million toward land acquisition for roadway projects which the state agency is responsible for but were carried out by the county due to the state department’s lack of funds.
