The Courier of Montgomery County reports that the County is getting nearer to taking action on making use of escrow funds totaling $56 million out of the County’s pass-through toll program with the state for projects on roads.
During a meeting Tuesday, commissioners okayed putting together a list of projects in each precinct that will be submitted to TxDOT. During their September 12th meeting, they will take a look at that list.
Commissioners have passed along that it would have a braided ramp and the widening of FM 2854 from Loop 336 to Texas 105 Montgomery on it. However, the actual project list on Friday was not available.
In order to aid in getting road projects done, the state approved the state pass-through program around 20 years ago to provide encouragement for counties to fund projects for state roads. Reimbursement came by the state reimbursing counties per vehicle mile or per vehicle. Seven cents per mile was the reimbursement rate.
Although the program is no longer in use by the state, an escrow account with funds in it has been around for many years.
The TxDOT guideline on this is that the money must be implemented to improve state roads or on projects used for traffic improvement on state roads.
During the Tuesday meeting, Commissioner Gray said, “It’s a good move for the court, it’s a good move for the County.
Getting the county to make use of the money in getting the projects construction ready, to get the state to approve, was suggested by Commissioner Riley.
The commissioners have talked about using the funds many times since 2016, but did not come up with a project list.
