(The following editorial appeared on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website on July 8, 2010.)
FORT WORTH, Texas — The U.S. Transportation Department is taking applications for a second round of national infrastructure projects to be funded out of federal coffers. According to the application website for the TIGER II grants, priority for distributing $600 million will be given to transportation improvements that have a “significant impact on desirable long-term outcomes for the nation, a metropolitan area or a region.”
Secretary Ray LaHood, allow us to re-introduce you to Fort Worth’s Tower 55.
The intersection of east-west and north-south rail lines in the heart of downtown is one of the busiest rail junctions in the United States, BNSF CEO Matt Rose said Wednesday during a train tour through the chokepoint.
About 100 freight trains pass through the Fort Worth exchange daily, some on their way to and from the nation’s largest seaports in Long Beach and Houston and others bringing western coal to Texas power plants. Given President Barack Obama’s increased emphasis this week on his National Export Initiative, one would think the ability to efficiently move U.S. manufactured goods to the point of export would catapult Tower 55 improvements to the top of the funding list.
Put a check in the application square marked “economic competitiveness.”
Adding a second at-grade north-south rail line won’t just relieve miles of clogged freight traffic; it will help alleviate vehicle traffic at road crossings that today must wait as long as the trains wait for their turn to traverse the Tower 55 exchange. Those idling trains also serve as barriers for pedestrians — particularly children walking to and from Nash Elementary School in north Fort Worth — who make the dangerous decision to climb under and between the stalled rail cars.
Put checks in the application squares marked “livability,” “environmental sustainability” and “safety.”
BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad are partnering in the effort to fund the $93.7 million project. BNSF has pledged $17.8 million; Union Pacific has $15 million in the pot. The Fort Worth Transportation Authority has ponied up $2.5 million. Tower 55 funding is the Texas Department of Transportation’s top infrastructure priority in the state for TIGER II dollars.
Put a check in the application square marked “partnership.”
“Collaboration is the only way we’re going to solve the problems we face,” said Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley. “We have got to do more collaboration among government, private industry and nonprofits because no one group can shoulder the burden of getting stuff done.”
Fort Worth was passed over for $60.9 million in the first TIGER grant application from the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
“The last time, it was presented as a regional rather than a national project,” Whitley said. “But this means so much to the states around us — moving goods from Louisiana, for example, and up to Kansas City and out west.”
It’s worth noting that the TIGER II funding is not a congressional earmark. The states are engaged in a competitive process. That said, these are discretionary funds, and although $600 million may sound like a lot of money, the pot is considerably smaller than the $1.5 billion available in the first round.
Texas’ congressional delegation has a role to play — making sure Ray LaHood has the full picture of the national importance of improving Tower 55.