Transportation Reinvestment Zone Training Materials (0-6538-P1)

A funding crisis exists for financing much-needed transportation infrastructure projects across the nation, and Texas is no exception. Texas has responded to the crisis by passing several bills allowing innovative financing and alternative options for project financing. Among these is Senate Bill 1266 (SB1266), which is a landmark legislation and was passed in 2007 as part of the 80th Legislature. It provides the legal backdrop for the creation of the Transportation Reinvestment Zone (TRZ) to facilitate value capture of the tax increment from a future transportation project. This project produced various training materials, including a handbook, Tier 1 user manual, and a geographic information system (GIS) user manual. The TRZ Handbook is a practical and easy-to-use reference for the Texas Department of Transportation and other local governmental entities at all levels and with a variety of backgrounds. Policy makers can also use the handbook to review the key elements associated with various aspects of TRZ projects. The topics covered in the handbook represent a full range of topics that are of interest to practitioners including initiating a TRZ or issues in zone formulation.