Before adjourning Monday’s meeting of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, chair Will Conley, who has held the chairmanship since first being elected in January 2012, announced his intention to resign from the Transportation Policy Board in the coming weeks. Citing life changes and new directions as reasons for his resignation, Conley noted that, according […]
CAMPO
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is the regional planning organization for Bastrop, Burnet, Caldwell, Hays, Travis, and Williamson Counties. Its membership is drawn from the elected officials of those municipalities, as well as various cities that fall within the region, including the City of Austin. CAMPO’s focus is on regional transportation issues.
Posted inTransportation
State transportation performance goals suggest lack of government solutions
Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Board caught a glimpse of a potentially bleak future in Texas transportation during a routine procedure at the board’s Monday evening meeting. In line with the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, the 2012 transportation reauthorization bill otherwise known as MAP-21, state transportation departments are […]
Posted inTransportation
CAMPO preparing to adopt necessary traffic-reducing strategies
With promises of traffic congestion relief coming from every direction, be it e-scooters, autonomous vehicles, reliable transit or ride-share services, the number of personal cars on Austin streets is still unlikely to decrease in the near future. Until a systematic mobility solution is found, the region will continue to grapple with the problem increasingly on […]
Posted inTransit
Local group launches effort to enhance statewide transit funding
The launch of a grass-roots campaign to expand transit funding across Texas kicked off in Austin Wednesday night with input from regional officials and activists, and, from the audience, some impromptu criticism of the local bus service. Dubbed One Thousand Texans for Transit, the campaign is driven by the nonprofit organization Farm&City. “We have a […]
Posted inTransportation
CAMPO discusses travel demand management
Funding for programs that focus on freeing up existing roadway capacity may yet make the cut in a draft program of regional mobility projects under consideration by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. CAMPO staff’s initial recommendation for the organization’s latest Transportation Improvement Program excluded money for specific programs submitted under the travel demand management category. […]
Posted inTransportation
CAMPO offers the region a TIP
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is taking a draft proposal for more than $400 million worth of transportation projects out for public feedback. CAMPO assembled this latest iteration of the four-year Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP, from a list of projects submitted by governments and agencies across its six-county jurisdiction. Just over half of […]
Posted inTransportation
CAMPO keeps Conley as chair
After legal counsel proposed a unique interpretation of Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization bylaws, CAMPO Transportation Policy Board members voted on Monday to keep Will Conley as chair but removed his ability to vote on policy issues. Although federal statute dictates that board members of powerful planning bodies such as CAMPO must be local elected […]
Posted inTransportation
CAMPO to consider innovative way to keep Conley as chair
A unique proposal is in the works to keep Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board Chair Will Conley in his post despite his departure last year from the Hays County Commissioners Court. Federal statute dictates that board members of powerful transportation planning bodies such as CAMPO must be local elected officials, state officials or “officials […]
Posted inRoads
CAMPO greenlights MoKan study
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Board on Monday evening signed off on a plan to spend $500,000 to study the viability of the MoKan corridor, the largely unused swath of right of way that stretches from Williamson County down to East Austin. That initiative was lumped together with an additional $1.59 million […]
Posted inTransportation
Council to take up street impact fees today
In an effort to help fund public infrastructure made necessary by new development, the Austin Transportation Department is proposing new street impact fees throughout the city. These one-time fees for developers constructing new sites are intended to help pay for road improvements to assist in mitigating traffic in the expanding city of Austin. On Oct. […]
Posted inEnvironment
How climate change could impact the road ahead for infrastructure in Austin
As greenhouse gasses heat the atmosphere, we can expect more severe floods and droughts. That could be trouble for critical infrastructure like bridges and roads in many cities, including here in Central Texas. Take Southeast Austin, where a creek runs under Hoeke Lane and floods happen even during moderate rainfall. “This is the only way […]
Posted inRoads
Park-and-ride plan stalls anew at Travis County
A day after a regional park-and-ride plan took a big step forward, it once again got tripped up at the Travis County Commissioners Court. The surprise decision to again postpone a vote on a potential funding source for the proposed park-and-ride locations came after a lengthy discussion Tuesday and earned new Commissioner Jeff Travillion, who […]