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Home My WebLink AboutR-2008-09 Federal Funding Assistance for State Highway 146 15 -_.---^_.~'_..,..,-_.. .---...--------- REQUES FOR CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM Agenda Date Requested: A 2008 Aoorooriation Requested By: John Joern Source of Funds: Department: John Joerns Account Number: Report: Resolution: X Ordinance: Amount Budgeted: Exhibits: Amount Requested: Exhibits: Budgeted Item: YES NO Exhibits: SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATION Commissioner Garcia's Office invited the cities in her precinct plus other county officials and various groups to meet with an aide from Congressman Lampson's Office to discuss potential federal funding for Transportation Projects. As projects and issues were discussed, State Highway 146 emerged as the groups number one priority. Bay Area Transportation Partnership volunteered to draft a resolution for review and consideration by the various stakeholders. The resolution before you tonight is the fmal draft prepared by the partnership requesting federal funding assistance for State Highway 146. Action Required bv Council: Co "der approval of resolution requesting Federal Funding Assistance for State Highway 146. 5/J1 /ue Date CITY OF LA PORTE RESOLUTION NO. 260 B --Oq REQUESTING FEDERAL FUNDING ASSISTANCE FOR STATE HIGHWAY 146 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE REQUESTING FUNDING FOR BAY AREA REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION CORRIDOR PROJECTS DUE TO THEIR CRITICAL IMPACTS WITH REGARD TO NATIONAL SECURITY, MOBILITY, AND EMERGENCY EVACUATION NEEDS, INCLUDING HURRICANE EVACUATION. WHEREAS, BayTran is a Transportation Management Organization or "TMO" operating as the Regional Advocate for transportation, mobility, and air quality issues in the Houston Bay Area that includes southeast Harris, Brazoria, and Galveston Counties, Municipalities, Academic Institutions, Port Authorities, and Private Sector Participants; and WHEREAS, BayTran has identified and prioritized transportation projects that have a regional impact with regard to national security, mobility, and emergency evacuation. Many major transportation corridors in southeast Harris County and northern Galveston County are too congested to be depended upon for evacuation in the event of an emergency, specifically and including: IH-45, State Highway 146, Old Galveston Road (SH 3), NASA Parkway East, Red Bluff Road, Fairmont Parkway, Bay Area Boulevard, FM 518 and FM 517: and WHEREAS, BayTran is coordinating with the members which include Commissioners of Harris County Precincts One and Two, Galveston and Brazoria Counties, the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region, the Port of Houston Authority, the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and the member cities of Bay town, Bayou Vista, Clear Lake Shores, Deer Park, El Lago, Galveston, Hitchcock, Houston, Kemah, La Marque, La Porte, League City, Nassau Bay, Pasadena, Pearland, Seabrook, Shoreacres, Taylor Lake Village, Texas City, and Webster all of which are within U.S. Congressional District 22; and WHEREAS, there are specific geographic and logistical regional attributes unique to the Houston Bay Area of Texas that distinguish the region from other regions, being that Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, increasing in population by one million every 10 years and ranked fourth with the most traffic congestion, is located on the Texas Gulf Coast, making it susceptible to hurricanes which pose a threat to the economic infrastructure, and is home to four Ports, two major airports, two major railroad systems, oil & gas industries, petro-chemical refineries, the Texas Medical Center, NASA/Johnson Space Center, and Ellington Field (used by the military, government, and general aviation sectors) ; and WHEREAS, this Houston Bay Area is one of the world's largest manufacturing centers for petrochemicals, having nearly 40% of the nation's base petrochemicals manufacturing capacity and home to the $15 billion petrochemical complex at the Houston Ship Channel making it the largest in the United States; and WHEREAS, this Houston Bay Area dominates in the United States production of three major reSIns: polyethylene (37.1 % of U.S. capacity); polyvinyl chloride (37.0% of U.S. capacity) and polypropylene (53.4% of U.S. capacity); and WHEREAS, the famous "Spaghetti Bowl," a complex of several thousand miles of pipeline connecting 200 chemical plants, refineries, salt domes and fractionation plants is located in the Houston Bay Area along with four Ports that make the petrochemicals accessible to the world: and WHEREAS, the Houston Bay Area is home to 43 of the nation's 144 publicly traded oil and gas exploration and production firms, including 10 of the top 25; six of the remaining 15 have subsidiaries, major divisions or other significant operations here with a crude operable capacity of 4.015 million barrels of refined petroleum products per calendar day: 83.3 percent of the Texas total and 24.4 percent of the total for the United States thereby controlling 56.6 percent of the oil pipeline capacity of the United States and 72.8 percent of the natural gas pipeline of the United States; and WHEREAS, the expansions of the Port of Houston Bayport facilities is resulting in an unprecedented construction of additional enormous distribution centers which, in addition to the widening improvements to the Panama Canal is projected to significantly escalate beyond existing capacity along with increasing truck/freight congestion due to the effects of growing cargo and goods demand (both imports and exports); and WHEREAS, with the demands that extreme economic growth is making on the current transportation infrastructure system, the cargo in Houston airport facilities as well as the Port of Houston is expected to triple in the next 17 years, thereby escalating the need for additional railroad expansion in order to provide adequate service and meet the needs of the region; and WHEREAS, all of these facilities are of great national and regional significance and damage to or destruction of which would severely handicap the economy of the entire nation and the protection of the lives of the individuals in the Houston Bay Area who labor to keep these facilities functional is of great import in continuing their operation; and WHEREAS, immediate operational and safety improvements are needed on vanous transportation facilities to remove bottlenecks, to reduce unacceptable accident rates, and update outmoded designs in order to accommodate the size, weight, and operational characteristics of current truck and two major rail operations, that are significantly contributing to rapid pavement deterioration, and WHEREAS, an ever increasing number of trains and trucks traveling to and from the Ship Channel refineries, other industrial businesses in the Houston Bay Area, the Ports of Galveston, Texas City, and Houston's Bayport and Barbour's Cut utilize roads and rail lines with numerous at-grade crossings that pose increasing potentials for train/truck collisions and cause increasing delays to all vehicular traffic; and WHEREAS, many evacuation routes serving the area have repetitively been subjected to considerable flooding including SH 146, Red Bluff Road, and BW 8 service roads, and the Texas City Wye (I-45/SH 146/SH 6 interchange), has caused unnecessary delay during emergency events and pavement deterioration requiring significant reconstruction; and WHEREAS, the safety and security of this area is of national significance the enumerated aforementioned factors but also the impending need for military mobility to deploy personnel and equipment needed to support the United States involvement in the global war on terror as well as the existing and projected rail cargo arriving and departing from the refineries and ports along the Ship Channel and Galveston Bay. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LA PORTE, TEXAS: THA T, on behalf of the Citizens of the City of La Porte, we respectfully request that the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure recommend federal funding the necessary improvements of these major transportation corridors in the regional BayTran service area (i.e., SH146 and others listed above) to reduce repetitive traffic congestion caused by increased population and the Port of Houston expansion; to increase regional safety and national security along the petrochemical and Port of Houston corridors; to provide an adequate means of emergency evacuation for cities within the Houston-Galveston Metropolitan Area; and to provide the Department of Defense a road network capable of serving it's regional needs. 2008. PASSED,APPROVEDANDADOPTEDONTHlsa<S,l DAY OF ~;- , lli~y~ Mayor, City of ATTEST: '--hI AztLLc:;;{/A-