HOUSTON:HCTRA changes

Freise now works under the businessname WP Engineering Consultants. He has leased space in the HCTRA building and continues to work on some HCTRA projects as a consultant. He says the new management drove a hard deal as landlord: “I’m paying more than other tenants here, but I’ve got good access.”

They’ve put him downstairs. “No longer in the penthouse,” he quips. He says he resigned because as an independent consultant he should be able to put more aside for his retirement. He hopes to continue working on the HCTRA toll road projects he has championed, without overall administrative responsibilities, while taking some new outside work.

(The HCTRA webpage still has Wes Freise Exec-Dir, but who are we to comment on outdated webpages? Ours is an archeological relic!)

Harris County is one of the most populous counties in the US with most of the 3.8m people in the greater Houston metro area. The county’s toll authority was created following a September 1983 referendum of the people who voted 7/3 in favor of toll financing for two major toll roads (1) the 35km (21.6mi) $366m Hardy Toll Road from Loop 610 to just north of the airport where it merges with a parallel I-45, opening 1987-88. (2) the 103km (64mi) $890m Sam Houston Tollway (Loop-8), three-quarters of a box-shaped second beltway, opening June 1988 onward in stages counterclockwise over 10 years.