CATC Mobility Headlines

A Managed Lanes Open House hosted by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has been rescheduled for Tuesday, February 20, 2007 from 6:00 to 8:30 PM at the Thompson Conference Center at UT. The open house will provide information about managed lanes, a new approach that provides options for freeway travel.  The informal structure will allow attendees to come and go at their own pace by visiting various display stations and interacting with managed lane experts.

Brief presentations on managed lanes will also be provided every 30 minutes and fact sheets with other printed resource material will be available to attendees.  Information on successful managed lane facilities in San Diego, Minnesota, Denver, Houston, and Orange County, California will be featured at the open house.

If you have any questions, please contact Ginger Goodin at g-goodin@tamu.edu (TTI).

CAMPO’s final public hearing before the February 12 vote on the TIP and CAMPO 2030 Plan amendments is this Monday, January 22.

Two ways to register your opinion:

1. Attend the January 22 CAMPO public hearing (map). [The meeting is being held at the University of Texas J. J. Pickle Research Campus in The Commons Building - please note that this meeting is not at the usual CAMPO Board meeting location.]
2. Submit comments to CAMPO: 

• Email the CAMPO Transportation Policy Board
• Fax a letter addressed to the CAMPO Transportation Policy Board to: (512) 974-6385
• Mail a letter addressed to the CAMPO Transportation Policy Board to: P. O. Box 1088
  Austin, Texas 78767

This evening’s CAMPO Board meeting has been CANCELLED.

The meeting been rescheduled for Monday, January 22^nd at 6:00 PM at the same location (please note this is NOT the usual meeting location):

The Commons Building University of Texas - J.J. Pickle Research Campus, 10100 Burnet Road, Bldg. #137, Austin, Texas

The January 18 CATC Executive Committee meeting is CANCELLED.

We had planned to go ahead with tomorrow’s meeting, but as the Austin Club is not expected to open until mid-morning, we’ve decided to forgo it until we can provide protection from the elements for attendees.

We’ll let you know how/when we can re-schedule discussion and consideration of the agenda items.

Due to the inclement weather, the Managed Lanes open house scheduled for this evening has been CANCELLED.

We’ll post the re-scheduled date when it is available.

No word yet regarding Wednesday’s CAMPO Board meeting.  If the show goes on, we encourage you to attend.   We’ll have more details tomorrow.

View the newest issue of the Texas Transportation Researcher (Vol. 42, No.4), a premier quarterly magazine on transportation research, implementation and education published by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), a member of the Texas A&M University System.

Of interest:
Webinars - Online transportation workshops from the comfort of your office.

80^th Annual Transportation Short Course - Annual meetings highlight infrastructure, planning and funding of transportation in Texas.

Governor Rick Perry has appointed two new commissioners to the Texas Transportation Commission to fill the vacancy left by newly-elected Texas State Senator Robert Nichols and allowing John Johnson, whose term expired in 2005, to step down.

Fred Underwood, president and CEO of Trinity Co., a cotton bale storage facility, takes Nichols’ former office while Ned Holmes, chairman and CEO of Parkway Investments, a real estate management/development company, will replace Johnson.

More changes on the Commission could be coming soon. Both Commission Chair Ric Williamson and member Hope Andrade’s terms expire in February.

For more information, see the Austin American-Statesman article at: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/09/9commisioners.html.

In other Statesman news, CATC Board member Jim Skaggs weighs in on the air quality debate in the commentary section of the Op-Ed page. The article can be read here: http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/01/09/9air_edit.html

TXDOT press release (below) announces details about the January 16 event.

________________________________________________________

Event Will Showcase New Concept for Improving Traffic Conditions

AUSTIN – The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) will hold an open house next week to provide information about managed lanes to drivers, local residents and other interested parties.

Managed lanes utilize various combinations of flexible pricing, vehicle eligibility, and controlled access to maintain a steady traffic flow, particularly during periods of high congestion.

“Managed lanes have been effective at offering travel choices on several urban highways around the country,” said Ginger Goodin, research engineer at TTI. “Managed lanes hold promise for providing congestion relief on several Texas highways, including MoPac and I-35, but most Texans are unfamiliar with them because they are a relatively new concept,” she added.

“We want to provide the community with information about managed lanes in an informal setting so people can comfortably explore the topics and issues they’re most interested in,” Goodin said.

The open house structure allows attendees to learn about managed lanes at their own pace by visiting various display stations. Personnel from TxDOT and TTI will be available to answer questions about managed lanes and mobility.

A brief presentation on managed lanes also will be provided every 30 minutes at the open house, and printed resource material will be available to attendees. Information on managed lane facilities in San Diego, Minnesota, Denver, Houston, and Orange County, California will be featured at the open house.

The managed lanes open house will be held Tuesday, January 16 at the Thompson Conference Center at UT from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

TXDOT press release

As of January 5, the free ride is over for the Central Texas Turnpike Project drivers without a TxTag.

TxTag users, however, will not be charged for using the roads until February 1 and as a bonus, TxTag users will only be charged 1/2 the toll in February. Thereafter, TxTag users will receive a 10% discount over cash payers. The Dallas TollTag and Houston EZTAG are accepted on Austin area roads, and drivers with those electronic toll tags will also receive a 10% discount over cash payments.

Want to take advantage of the TxTag discounts? TxDOT extended the customer service center hours this weekend. The customer service center on Mopac, just north of Parmer Lane, will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

TXDOT is also offering to CTTP users a third way to pay - cameras that have been tested during the tollroads’ initial phase will now be used to mail bills to the registered owner of the vehicle driving through without paying. Until the end of January, those without a TXTag who forgo the the cash line will only be billed for the exact amount of the toll. However, the Texas Transportation Commission is expected to approve a higher rate - which could be as much as 30% - for those choosing to pay by this way.

Link: KXAN Jan 5 story, KXAN Jan 4 story

In the wake of the Chamber’s Task Force report press conference, CAMPO Executive Director Michael Aulick emphasized the importance of getting accurate information to the CAMPO Transportation Policy board so they can make solid policy decisions in an interview with the Austin Chronicle.

For example, with regard to the toll-road plan, Aulick syas the CAMPO board needs to understand the enormity of the funding shortfall as well as what tolling means in terms of what other transportation infrastructure could be built with the revenue.

Accurate information has been hindered by misinterpretation and misunderstandings. Recently much has been made of November 2006 study by the Governor’s Business Council on the competitiveness of Texas’ metropolitan areas that included road issues. Toll road opponents latched onto reports that claimed the study indicated that an indexed gasoline tax could pay for additional roads. That is not true.

“What most newspaper reports missed, though, was that the gas tax was intended to close the gap between toll roads and overall need, Aulick said.” In fact, the gas tax could only cover a fraction of the projected needs of eight Texas urban areas.

The fallout due to the backlash over inaccurate reports concerning the study carried over to the CAMPO Board members who subsequently began question the need for the Phase II toll roads. To reduce future incidents, Aulick recommends, in accordance with the Chamber’s Task Force report, is a stronger and more involved Technical Committee which the Board can rely on for guidance.

Austin Chronicle article: Chamber Recommends CAMPO Reorganization