The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) Transportation Policy Board (TPB) held a workshop on May 27th to discuss potential project deferments in order to account for $633 million funding reprioritization. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) requested this reprioritization after the Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) updated the state Unified Transportation Plan (UTP) to support the I-35 Capital Express Project in April.
Some active transportation and transit projects, such as improvements to the Red Line Commuter Rail crossing at North Lamar (0914-04-321), are proposed to have their funding maintained under the updated proposal. Others, like expansions to the Walnut Creek Trail system (0914-04-243), are proposed to be partially funded.
However, many vital active transportation and transit projects will potentially be deferred, while expensive highway projects such as $75 million for feeder lanes to the 183A toll road (0151-10-001) are slated to be maintained. Diverting that $75 million could completely fund the next nine highest rated roadway projects on the list, many of which include elements to dramatically improve pedestrian safety and expand pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.
CAMPO is accepting public comments on the proposed project deferments until Monday, June 1 at comments@campotexas.org. The Policy Board will meet again on Monday, June 8 at 2 p.m. to make a final decision about which projects to defer, when members of the public will have an opportunity to call in and make public comments. CAMPO hosts live streams on their website and their facebook page.
We strongly encourage you to send in your your wants, desires, vision, and needs for the regional transportation system by emailing CAMPO at comments@campotexas.org today, and asking your friends, family, and colleagues to do the same, by the end of the day Monday, June 1.
Follow Farm&City on Twitter and Facebook for more information about how these projects might affect the CAMPO service area.
You can support our work to empower all Texans to meaningfully engage in equitable, sustainable regional planning by donating to our summer fundraising campaign, which is partially funding our team of summer interns, who are working hard right now to provide context and analysis to aid in this decision on which project to defer.
[…] meet on June 8th to make a decision regarding which previously approved projects will have their funding maintained or deferred as part of the 2021-2024 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). This decision is necessary after […]