CAMPO approves active transportation plan

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization now has a plan for the future that doesn’t include cars. On Monday night, the agency’s Transportation Policy Board approved its 2045 Regional Active Transportation Plan, the first CAMPO blueprint to focus exclusively on bicycling and walking. It features an inventory of active transportation facilities across CAMPO’s six-county boundaries, guidance on facility design, recommended networks and an implementation plan. The effort to create the document launched in July 2016 and recently made its way through the last round of public input. Despite that, several advocates urged CAMPO’s board members to delay approval for at least another month. Heyden Black Walker from Austin’s Pedestrian Advisory Council pointed out that the full PAC was never given a chance to formally weigh in. Former Council Member Chris Riley joined her and Bicycle Advisory Council Member Tom Wald in asking the board to give both the PAC and the BAC the opportunity to review recent changes to the document. Despite their requests, the board ended up unanimously approving the plan.