TxDOT seeks public input to help plan for statewide transportation needs
PHARR — The Texas Department of Transportation wants to hear from the state’s residents as it begins to plan how best to meet the transportation needs of the next 24 years.
The agency hopes to gather that input at 36 public meetings it is convening across the state, including two in Pharr.
The meetings will address two major plans that will determine essentially who goes where and how in the state of Texas.
Nine of the 36 meetings will focus on the Texas Rail Plan, a review of all existing rail lines to see what the needs are for future passenger and freight rail service in the state. The plan will also be used to guide public and private spending to expand the mobility of people and goods via rail and will address future population and employment growth.
According to TxDOT’s website, the state’s population distribution will shift away from counties in East, South, and West Texas to the major urban areas along the Texas-Mexico border, the Gulf Coast and the Interstate 35 corridor.
A passenger and freight rail system would help these growing areas by providing cleaner, safer and faster modes of transportation, according to the Federal Railroad Administration.
The meeting to discuss this plan will be 6-8 p.m. Aug. 9 at the TxDOT District Office, 600 W. Expressway 83, Pharr.
The other 27 meetings will address the Statewide Long-Range Transportation Plan, which looks at all of the different types of transportation in Texas, not just the rail system. The plan will become a 24-year blueprint the state will follow for future transportation needs.
“This plan will provide an inventory of all transportation modes and address the need for improvements to roadways, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, transit, freight and passenger rail, airports, water ports, pipelines, and Intelligent Transportation Systems,” said TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz Jr. in a statement.
The meeting to discuss the Statewide Long-Range Transportation Plan will be 4-7 p.m. Wednesday at the TxDOT District Office in Pharr.
Once these public meetings are concluded, the department will draft a final report sometime before October. One last public hearing will be scheduled afterward in Austin, and the final report will be turned in to the Texas Transportation Commission in November.
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Naxiely Lopez covers PSJA and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at 683-4434.
