Public meeting to consider more money for SH99

H-GAC amendment at issue

David Crossley, Jun 07, 11.

A public meeting will be held to consider, among other things, adding more money to the $350 million now allocated to begin new construction of State Highway 99 through the sensitive Katy Prairie wetlands in order to encourage sprawl development.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) recently announced the opening of a 30-day public comment period to give the public an opportunity to review and provide comments on Amendment No. 27 to the 2011-2014 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).

The meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 8, at the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Houston District offices, 7600 Washington Avenue, Houston District Auditorium from 4-6 pm.

H-GAC provided links to these documents:

§ TIP Amendment No. 27
§ Texas Transportation Commission Minute Order No. 112663

The former document would program funds allocated to the TxDOT Houston District by the Texas Transportation Commission to “advance projects of specific importance to the state and that generally promote economic opportunity” including $10.5 million for SH 99.

The ‘Minute Order” allocates $350 million of the State Mobility Fund to begin new construction of segment E of SH 99 from I-10 to 290.

More can be found here.

The public comment period began on Thursday, May 19, 2011 and will end on Friday, June 17, 2011 at 5 pm.
The public meeting will also serve to receive public comments on the June 2011 Out-of-Cycle Revisions to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for FY 2011-2014. The STIP reflects the federally funded transportation projects in the FY 2011-2014 Transportation Improvement Programs (TIPs) for each Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) in the state. The STIP includes both state and federally funded projects for the nonattainment areas of Beaumont, Dallas-Fort Worth, El Paso, and Houston. The STIP also contains information on federally funded projects in rural areas that are not included in any MPO area, and other statewide programs as listed.

The public is encouraged to attend and provide comments to H-GAC. All written comments may be submitted to Transportation Public Information, Houston-Galveston Area Council, P.O. Box 22777, Houston, Texas 77227-2777; .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address); or faxed to (713) 993-4508.
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Commentary
How would you spend $350 million?