CAMPO to determine region’s priority transportation projects - Asks for community involvement

CAMPO to determine region’s priority transportation projects - Asks for community involvement

Written by Christi Covington Monday, 08 September 2008

In the next few months, Central Texans can give input for what major transportation projects they want built in their communities.

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is preparing to develop its next Transportation Improvement Plan, a short-range budgeting document that will prioritize construction on everything from roads to rails to be built in 2010 through 2013. CAMPO is a federally mandated, transportation planning entity that determines where federal dollars are spent.

“We want people to watch over our shoulder and ask questions,” CAMPO Executive Director Joe Cantalupo said. “We do this on their behalf. I would rather have people say what they don’t want then not have them show up.”

Starting in late September and early October, CAMPO will host workshops throughout Central Texas to explain how residents can get transportation projects included in the future plans.

Proposals for projects will be due Oct. 31, so that by December and January CAMPO can host a series of public workshops where the TIP draft will be presented. When going through project requests, Cantalupo said the staff will look at fiscal restraints and if they are in compliance with the long-term plan that already exists.

Then by February, the TIP will go to CAMPO’s Transportation Policy Board for adoption because it must be ready to go to the Texas Department of Transportation by May, which compiles similar documents from all the metropolitan planning organizations in Texas and creates the State Transportation Improvement Plan. That plan goes to the Federal Highway Administration for approval so federal funding can be determined by the beginning of the 2010 fiscal year, which starts in October 2009.

Every five years CAMPO also updates its long-term plan and the next one is due in June 2010. A formal kickoff of the planning process will take place in January. Cantalupo describes the long-term plan as the “philosophy of transportation” for the region. For the first time, CAMPO will also take future land use into consideration. Cantalupo said that is not because the organization is interested in getting involved with project development, but they do want to make sure the needed infrastructure will be available.

For more information, visit www.campotexas.org.

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