Government Affairs Update

To meet the region’s transportation needs, the Authority continues to lead and partner on multiple regional projects. Currently, the NTTA is working on more than $1 billion in available construction funds to support these efforts.  Projects include:

• The President George Bush Turnpike Eastern Extension
• The President George Bush Turnpike Western Extension (SH 161) in Dallas County
• The Sam Rayburn Tollway (SRT, formerly SH 121) in Collin, Dallas and Denton counties, including construction of the SRT/U.S. 75 interchange
• Conversion of the Dallas North Tollway to all-Electronic Toll Collection

In addition, the NTTA expects to deliver the Southwest Parkway/Chisholm Trail Parkway in Tarrant and Johnson counties. Priority corridors that are also under development and study include the Trinity Parkway in Dallas, SH 360 in Johnson, Tarrant and Ellis counties, SH 170 in Tarrant and Denton counties, and the extension of the Dallas North Tollway in Collin County.

The NTTA also completed in the last year the Lewisville Lake Toll Bridge in Denton County, a $122 million critical east-west connector in Denton County.

In 2010, approximately 488 million toll transactions are expected, generating $377 million in toll revenues.

The NTTA’s 2010 operating budget is $102 million, with an additional $167 million in debt service payments.

To support its robust financial system, the NTTA is advancing the following key initiatives:

• The NTTA has begun development of its 2011 budget process, including a rigorous budget management plan begun last year to maximize efficiencies, support the projects it is leading, and build up a reserve of funds.
• The Authority is projecting a 10 percent increase in revenue with a goal of a very minimal increase in operating cost to allow us to accumulate additional funds for needed capital improvements.  
• The NTTA Board of Directors recently adopted a Rainy Day Fund, which will include a $50 million cash reserve to be established in NTTA’s Capital Improvement Fund over the next three years.
• In July, NTTA staff will present the Board with a five-year capital plan, which will demonstrate the NTTA’s financial capacity and needs over the next five years.  The model will look at the NTTA’s existing flow of funds, financial commitments, operations and maintenance, debt service, reserve maintenance funds and traffic and revenue projections.  The five-year forecast is expected to demonstrate that the NTTA, in addition to its rainy day reserves, can meet all of its committed and planned obligations. While projections show a doubling of the NTTA’s debt service over the next five years, they also show a doubling of revenue, which is expected to allow the NTTA to meet its debt service requirements.      

The NTTA continues to maximize its capacity to deliver these many projects to the North Texas region, while appreciating the role that economic and financial market conditions will play in meeting these goals.  For your convenience, you can access additional information about the NTTA’s finances, including the 2010 budget and traffic and revenue reports, at www.ntta.org/AboutUs/Investor+Information.