Bike, pedestrian, transit, and livability funding could come this week

TPC to decide on Friday

Jay Blazek Crossley, Mar 21, 11.

[Note: Contains analysis and commentary]
The Houston - Galveston Area Council‘s Transportation Policy Council could decide on Friday to allocate more funding to bike, pedestrian, transit, and livability infrastructure (alternative modes & planning) at its meeting this Friday, March 25, following a month of listening to the public on their preference for allocating several pots of federal funding that local elected officials have extraordinary discretion to put toward community priorities.

H-GAC has prepared four options for allocating this funding, but local activists, nonprofits, and neighborhood groups have stated that none of these options sufficiently address the needs of the Houston region moving forward. Houston Tomorrow has prepared an Option 5 - explained in this primer (pdf) - that would allocate the full pot of these discretionary funds according to the principle of no more than 55% for roads, in accordance with the 2035 Regional Transportation Plan. Several other groups have weighed in, including an Option 6 from the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition which calls for spending all the remaining funds on “alternative modes,” and a Bike Houston proposal to spend no more than 55% of the remaining funds on road projects. The TPC has wide discretion to choose how to use these funds at their meeting on Friday.

H-GAC has published all of the public comments received on this issue on their main page on the TIP, and - as of publication of this article - no one has argued for the allocation of most of this funding for road building and only 3 people reference specific road projects that they believe are worthy of funding, while all of the other comments argue in favor of “alternative modes.”

Houston Tomorrow has a petition - that over 2,128 people from across the region have signed - asking for the TPC to allocate no more than 55% of this funding to “Mobility” projects - mostly roads as well as some amount of freight rail projects - and allocating the rest to “air quality,” “alternative modes,” and “planning” projects. For this round of funding, all of the air quality projects are already set in a statewide plan, so the 10.8% already allocated for those is not up for debate, but the remaining funds may be allocated however the people of the region feel will have the most benefits.

The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding should be used for projects that actually address regional congestion issues and improve the air quality. The Surface Transportation Program - Major Metro (STP-MM) funding stream is a fairly open-ended federal transportation funding source meant to allow metropolitan regions to develop infrastructure to meet their particular needs.

Activists in favor of “alternative modes” are expected to show up in force at the meeting on Friday. There will be a workshop for members of the TPC starting at 8:45, which is not open to public comment while citizens are allowed to attend, followed by the regular meeting of the TPC, beginning with public comment, in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act (pdf).

The petition in support of “alternative modes” and “planning”
Houston Tomorrow Primer (with Option 5 Proposal)
League of American Bicyclists Letter to the TPC
Citizens’ Transportation Coalition Letter to the TPC