DALLAS — Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a partial moratorium on privately financed toll roads Tuesday as a regional transit authority neared a decision on the largest project of that type in the state’s history. The North Texas Regional Transportation Council will hear presentations tomorrow from two bidders for the $5 billion State Highway 121 toll project in Denton and Collin counties, north of Dallas.Private developer Cintra, Concessiones Infraestructuras de Transporte of Spain will compete with a proposal from the North Texas Tollway Authority, a subdivision of the state. The council is scheduled to choose the winner on Monday. The SH 121 tollway was exempted from SB 792, a transportation measure that Perry signed Tuesday. Although the bill was originally intended as a moratorium, numerous projects were exempted, including all projects in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a section of the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor between Austin and San Antonio, and the proposed Interstate 69 toll project across much of South Texas. “Under this legislation, every planned road construction project will move forward as scheduled,” Perry said. “Local leaders will have more authority to build new toll roads and all toll revenue will be used for transportation projects in the area it was raised.” SB 792 gives local toll authorities the first option to build new toll projects and allows them to use state rights of way as needed. Before the state Legislature passed the provision last month, Cintra had already been awarded the SH 121 project in competitive bidding against other private developers. Amid protests from some lawmakers about turning over highways to private owners for 50 years or more, the Legislature began seeking ways to limit private highway development measures that had been approved in previous sessions. Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, intervened in the SH 121 project, asking that the NTTA be allowed to compete against Cintra. The North Texas Regional Transportation Council in March invited NTTA to submit a proposal. In less than a month, NTTA had a proposal that called for $3.3 million in up front payments for the project. Because the project would double NTTA’s debt load, ratings agencies warned of possible downgrades if the toll authority were to win. “If the proposal is accepted, the rating could be placed on CreditWatch with negative implications,” Standard & Poor’s wrote in a bulletin last week. The credit is currently A-plus with a stable outlook. Analysts at Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings said their analysis of the data provided by NTTA indicates that the authority could retain at least an A credit rating if it proceeded with the deal. Moody’s currently rates the agency A1 and Fitch rates it A-plus. Both have developing outlooks. The NTTA has promoted its proposal as a way to keep investment dollars circulating in the North Texas economy. Under a protocol worked out by the Texas Department of Transportation, the NTTA was to have served as SH 121 operator and toll collector after Cintra built the 23-mile highway. That protocol was preempted by the decision to let authority compete with Cintra. The North Texas Regional Transportation Council is a consortium of local governments in the region that makes decisions on transportation projects. Each RTC in the state operates under the guidance of TxDOT. Under SB 792, local toll authorities can propose that needed state roads be built as toll roads. Under previous law, only TxDOT could initiate such a proposal. Perry said the provision will allow toll roads to be built sooner. The bill also limits comprehensive development agreements to 50 years. CDAs are the term used in Texas for public-private partnerships. SB 792 also allows TxDOT to issue $3 billion of bonds to borrow against future gas tax revenue. The provision allows TxDOT to use the bonds as toll equity for state toll roads.
