An innovative $80 million financing arrangement will finally allow relocation of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad west of Fort Worth Alliance Airport, clearing the way for runway expansions.

It represents the type of cutting-edge thinking that area officials say must be done more often if North Texas is to meet its transportation needs.

Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, calls it an example of the "West Coast offense." The approach, which Morris says is used in some Qestern states, calls for pooling money from various revenue sources for use on whatever transportation projects are most needed. Currently in Texas, each source of money is dedicated to a specific use, such as motor fuel taxes being devoted to build highways.

Expect to see more "West Coast offense" in North Texas, especially if the Legislature approves a plan being assembled by local officials to finance a regional rail transit system. In fact, that plan could allow money from a single revenue source (say, a new sales tax on gasoline) to be used to build rail lines in Tarrant County but road construction in Dallas County.

Alliance Airport executives have long wanted longer runways to accommodate bigger airplanes making longer flights. The $80 million to move the railroad tracks will be a loan from the $3.2 billion that the North Texas Tollway Authority paid for the right to build the Texas 121 toll road in Denton and Collin counties. The FAA will repay the loan, at the rate of $10 million a year.

Confused? Get used to it.

That same $3.2 billion pot of gold from the toll road sale will also be the source of $248 million in funding to help pay for a planned rail line from Denton to Carrollton, connecting with the Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail system.

Who decides which projects get funded? The Regional Transportation Council, which is made up of 33 elected or appointed city and county officials and seven transportation providers (including NTTA and the Texas Department of Transportation).

The rail transit network expansion plan that is expected to be presented to the Legislature in January will include a "menu" of funding options, from a bit of sales tax to a bit of gasoline tax to an "impact fee" for new Texas residents to even a bit of property tax. The final list would be put to a local-option vote, either county-by-county or one big vote covering all of North Texas.

And finally, local officials are looking at forming a "metropolitan mobility authority" to collect this revenue and pool it to be doled out by Regional Transportation Council decision-makers.

That’s a lot to absorb in one sitting. Expect to hear more about it in the next few months.