The Texas Transportation Commission held a meeting to consider the posted agenda. The commission discussed the 2016 Unified Transportation Program and requirements of HB 20 (84R).
Opening Comments
- TxDOT has met with all 7 Houston mayoral candidates to brief them on TxDOT operations in the Houston area
- Google is performing a worldwide demonstration of their self-driving cars in Austin; TxDOT would like to partner with them to develop such concepts and ease the transition into new technology
- Commissioner Moseley has began a partnership with DPS to study and improve roadway safety
- Commissioner Bugg has been appointed as the liaison of cost efficiency studies
- 45% of TxDOT traditional funding comes from federal funds (primarily fuel tax); Commissioner Austin has been assigned as the liaison for interactions with the federal government
- Commission Bugg has been assigned to oversee and manage statewide roadway congestion issues
- Commissioner Lewis has been assigned to be the energy sector liaison for TxDOT
- Commissioner Austin, TxDOT – we need the ability to quickly respond to high need projects and to allocate money for these projects in a timely manner
- Commissioner Moseley, TxDOT – would like to open dialogue with Mexican officials on toll tag operations in regards to heavy truck travel
Development of the 2016 Unified Transportation Program (UTP) – the UTP is a 10-year statewide plan for transportation project development; staff will provide an update on the ongoing development of the 2016 program.
- James Koch, Transportation Planning, TxDOT
- The UTP is required by TAC and approved by the Texas Transportation Commission annually
- UTP is fiscally constrained based on cash flow forecast; Organized into 12 funding categories which are further broken down into state, federal, and nontraditional funding
- 2016-25 assumes no increase of federal funding at the Map 21 level, Prop 1 funding, SJR5 funding, or Prop 7 funding
- TAC requires ranking of project priority as tier 1,2,3
- 2016 UTP draft document released July 10th; over 160 people participated in meetings; have received 5 comments from the public; will continue receiving public comment through august 17
- HB1/Rider 44 funding breakdown – 45% for mobility and capacity projects; 25% for regional connectivity
- Commission consideration for final adoption is August 27th
- Commissioner Vandergriff, TxDOT – will Prop 1 allocation specifics be released by November?
- Yes
- Commissioner Austin, TxDOT – assuming Prop 7 passes, when will be get additional updates on the UTP?
- After November elections
- Commissioner Austin, TxDOT – elaborate on the public input process? How do we notify the public and what feedback are we getting?
- We’ve increased social media outreach and email blasts
- Commissioner Austin, TxDOT – 2 TWDB allocations will affect us; I want to make sure our districts are ready to collaborate and facilitate the projects approved by the TWDB
- Preliminary funding levels
- Preventative Maintenance – $12 billion
- Metro and Urban Area Projects – $2 billion
- Nontraditionally Funded Projects – $6 billion
- Statewide Corridor – $603 million
- Congestion – $1.6 billion
- Structure Replacement – $3 billion
- Metro Mobility – $2.9 billion
- Safety – $1.8 billion
- Transformational Enhancements – $483 million
Metrics – Overview of status and process underway to review TxDOT's vision, mission, values, goals and related strategic performance metrics; and the process to respond to the requirements of HB 20.
- Darren Anderson, TxDOT – the OSP (Office of Strategic Planning) conducted 5 internal focus group meetings statewide; distributed an agency wide survey to allow all employees to participate in order to evaluate TxDOT vision mission, values, goals, and initiatives/strategies of performance measures
- Core Strategy Team – Debra Richmond, Travis Milner, Jessica Butler, Moses Garcia, Laura Kolstad, Sarah parker…
- July 31 – OSP will provide recommended values and mission statement
- August 21 – OSP will give recommended goals to support the mission statement
- August – Fall – performance metrics will be developed and considered by the Commission to ensure recommendations are feasible and useful in measuring TxDOT performance
- Commissioner Bugg, TxDOT – Customer service has been highlighted, needs to be “baked into the cake” of everything discussed
- Mark Williams, Director of Planning, TxDOT – TxDOT is beginning to respond to HB 20, relating to the operations, planning, and expenditures of TxDOT
- HB 20
- Removes policing state highways from State Highway Fund
- Requires performance-based planning on part of TxDOT
- Requires 10 year plan development
- Sets stipulations on design build contracts
- Report required: revenue, funding, and performance-based decision making study
- Continuing report (March 31, 2016): alternative financing methods, performance metrics and measurement tools, collaboration with elected officials and other agencies, statewide rules or plans, benefits of zero-based budgeting, any other “appropriate” matter
- Participating committees and workgroups: legislative staff, planning organization stakeholder committee, customer stakeholder committee, TxDOT core strategy team,
- Planning Organizations Stakeholder Committee: support development of implementation of HB 20, and provide further input in to development of cash flow projections
- August 1 – working draft of Initial Report on HB 20 will be shared with committee
- August 6/12 – Initial HB 20 draft report
- August 26 – formal review and approval of Initial Draft report by the commission