Two major subjects were discussed at the CAMPO Policy Board meeting of November 14th: CAMPO TIP Amendments and the STP-MM funding decision.

CAMPO TIP Amendments

At many CAMPO Policy Board meetings, the board considers amendments to the CAMPO Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The TIP includes transportation projects receiving federal funding that the CAMPO board has approved within the five-county CAMPO region. Sometimes project sponsors, such as TxDOT, make changes to previously approved projects.

At Monday’s meeting, there were a few projects in the public hearing phase of consideration for TIP amendments. (This was Item 2 on the agenda.) Two of the projects were segments of SH 195, projects sponsored by TxDOT. Per the CAMPO 2035 Plan, roadway reconstruction projects in bike and ped priority areas such as these, should include bicycle and pedestrian facilities as part of the project, if the cost is less than 20% of the total project cost. TxDOT specified only shoulders for bicycle mobility, and confirmed via email that these shoulders will be ample, at 10-feet wide. TxDOT did not specify pedestrian facilities, and confirmed via email that they did not consider inclusion of a shared-use path as part of the project.

Tommy Eden is a long-time attendee and participating citizen speaker at CAMPO Policy Board meetings. He has a keen eye for identifying missing bicycle and pedestrian facilities in roadway projects. He spoke at the meeting to highlight that this project should have pedestrian facilities but none have been specified.

I also spoke to the board on this issue. I reported to the board what I learned via email with TxDOT: that 10-foot-wide shoulders would be provided, that a shared-use path had not been considered. I reminded the board that CAMPO 2035 Plan Policy 19 specifies that pedestrian facilities should be built as part of the project. I pointed out that a few other citizens had just spoken in favor of long-overdue sidewalks on North Lamar (just south of Parmer Lane), a street built long ago without sidewalks that currently requires the wheelchair-bound to share the main lanes of the street with fast moving motor vehicles. If we build pedestrian facilities as part of SH 195 now, then we can avoid a disaster such as happened on North Lamar. The CAMPO 2035 Plan policies were created to prevent these mistakes.

The public comment period on the CAMPO review of SH 195 closes very soon. You can take an online survey here. These SH 195 projects will be at the CAMPO Policy Board for decision at the December 12th meeting.

CAMPO STP-MM Funding Decision

The CAMPO Policy Board is in the midst of deciding which metro area transportation projects will receive STP-MM funding, a category of federal funding. You can read more about the background of the process at a previous A2W post on the Oct. 31st work session.

The debate continued about whether to honor the authority and values of our metropolitan planning organization, CAMPO, or to disregard regional planning and leave transportation planning decisions to individual municipal and county jurisdictions within the five-county metro area.

Sarah Eckhardt, Travis County Commissioner, spoke in favor of a formula that preserves much of the CAMPO values, including those valuing spending in urban centers and on bike/ped funding. Will Conley, Hays County Commissioner, questioned CAMPO’s stated values by asking how a trail project in an urban center of one jurisdiction can serve regional needs, even if that project meets the stated regional values.

Bill Spelman, Austin City Council Member, moved that a decision be made piece-by-piece to move the process along. The motion was to approve the CAMPO staffing set-aside ($1.53M), a revised Bastrop County set-aside ($0.96M), plus the TAC-preferred “Regional” projects, for a total of $18.6M. The motion passed by a 18-1 vote.

Next, a motion, then a substitute motion, was made to fund at $8M (plus $2M local match) a study for the Lone Star Rail District, which stretches from the southern San Antonio metro area, through Austin, to Georgetown. The actual rail project’s initial capital costs are expected to be several billion dollars, with a service start date of at least seven years from now. The motion passed by a 14-5 vote.

Conley moves that the remaining STP-MM funding be spent geographically. Eckhardt proposes a substitute motion to use most of the remaining funding using CAMPO regional values as manifested in the point scoring system (those with at least 65-point score) for a subtotal of roughly $22M, with roughly $14M remaining for geographic distribution by population per county. Spelman seconds.

Chris Riley, Austin City Council Member, offers an amendment to remove Project BP24 – Loop 1 Shared Use Path to protect STP-MM funding for other bike/ped projects. This project, actually two shared-use paths, originally arose as bike/ped components to be funded as part of the MoPac Improvement Project. However, since the project rated high in CAMPO’s predetermined STP-MM funding system, Eckhardt and Spelman (the motion’s first and second) were hesitant to establish an exception. The proposed amendment is dropped.

Clara Beckett, Bastrop County Commissioner, points out that urban centers projects are not given enough consideration, even under Eckhardt’s motion. Beckett asks for a friendly amendment that centers projects be prioritized with a lower point threshold of 48 vs. 65. This would spend down all of the geographic distribution. (This amendment is later approved into the Eckhardt-Spelman motion.)

At about three hours into the meeting, a five-minute recess is provided for calculations.

George Garver, Mayor of Georgetown, speaks eloquently about the objective of a regional planning board, which is to make decisions on a regional basis, rather than jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction.

Other CAMPO Policy Board members ask Long what projects Williamson County may swap, if geographic distribution is approved. The response comes from Long and Bob Lemon, Mayor of Cedar Park. They would want to swap the 183A shared-use path for roadway improvement on I-35 and an arterial, Baghdad Road.

Despite the actual and potential implications of disapproving a motion that affirms the metropolitan authority and values of CAMPO, the Eckhardt-Spelman-Beckett motion is voted down 8-10-1.

The board considers the Conley-Long motion. Lee Leffingwell, Mayor of Austin, asks to clarify if geographic choices would come back to CAMPO Policy Board for ultimate decision. Conley confirms and accepts that as a friendly amendment. The Conley-Long-Leffingwell motion passes by 10-7-2. (I recall that Leffingwell nevertheless voted against the measure.) If the above story preceding this vote was hard to follow, I’ll be clear: This was an unfortunate vote that hurts regional planning and bike/ped mobility.

So the decision about whether the remaining $36M of STP-MM funding will really be decided on a geographic basis is technically deferred to the December meeting. However, the likely result is that a significant amount of federal transportation funding intended for the metropolitan authority (CAMPO), will actually be allocated by sub-jurisdictions of the CAMPO area.

If you live in Williamson or Hays county, be sure to sign up for the League of Bicycling Voters email list. We expect to be sending out action alerts soon, to ask residents to urge their elected officials to preserve bike/ped funding in their respective counties.