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Committee Named to Examine Transportation Needs Through 2030

Public hearings will gather Texans views on the future of transportation

AUSTIN - A new committee is coordinating a comprehensive update of Texas transportation needs through the year 2030. The new “2030 Committee,” which is comprised of experts in business and transportation, will hold public hearings beginning in Austin on July 24. The committee is charged with presenting an estimate of the state’s transportation needs in the context of today’s economic reality.

The 12-member committee will issue a report in December 2008 on the state’s transportation needs. Although the committee will not attempt to calculate available funding or identify funding solutions, it will work to quantify and describe the need for infrastructure investment over the next 20 years and beyond.

Deirdre Delisi, Chair of the Texas Transportation Commission, formed the committee which held its first organizational meeting in Austin on June 24. “In recent years I have seen a sharp rise in the discussion about the transportation challenges we face in Texas,” said Delisi. “From the everyday commuter to large shippers, most everyone seems to understand that something needs to be done. However, before we solve the problem we need to define the problem so we can properly align our limited resources.”

The 2030 Committee is developing plans for five public meetings to hear from Texans about their perspectives on the state’s transportation needs in the coming decades. The first public hearing will be held on the evening of Thursday, July 24 at the J.J. Pickle Research Campus in Austin with additional hearings to follow in communities across Texas.

“The vitality of any economy is linked to a viable transportation system. To meet the growing competition from others, Texas must protect our prior investment in the transportation infrastructure while addressing the mobility needs of an expanding population,” said 2030 Committee Chairman C. Michael Walton. Walton holds the Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. “The charge of the 2030 Committee is to define the transportation needs of Texas.”

The 2030 Committee is working with professionals from the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University.

“I congratulate Texas Governor Rick Perry and Deirdre Delisi for making the commitment to the future of our state by coordinating the 2030 Committee. By doing so, they have taken important steps to assess Texas’ Transportation needs and to have suitable and responsive plans in place, before those needs become critical,” said David Marcus of Marcus, Fairall, Bristol + Co., LLP in El Paso.

Marcus serves as Vice Chair of the 2030 Committee. “It is exciting to be a part of the planning process and contribute in any way I can toward securing the unencumbered movement of people and freight across Texas over the next two decades,” he said.

2030 Committee Members

Ken Allen, San Antonio H-E-B	David M. Laney, Dallas Law Office of David M. Laney, PC
Ruben Bonilla, Corpus Christi Port of Corpus Christi Commission	David Marcus, El Paso Marcus, Fairall, Bristol + Co.,LLP
Jon Cannon, Dallas FedEx Kinko's	Drayton McLane, Jr., Temple McLane Group
Drew Crutcher, Odessa Landgraf, Crutcher & Associates, Inc.	Roger Nober, Fort Worth Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation
Judge Ed Emmett, Houston Harris County Commissioners Court	Gary Thomas, Dallas Dallas Area Rapid Transit
Tom Johnson, Austin Associated General Contractors of Texas	C. Michael Walton, Austin The University of Texas at Austin

The Texas Department of Transportation

The Texas Department of Transportation is responsible for maintaining nearly 80,000 miles of road and for supporting aviation, rail and public transportation across the state. TxDOT and its 15,000 employees strive to empower local leaders to solve local transportation problems, and to use new financial tools, including tolling and public-private partnerships, to reduce congestion and pave the way for future economic growth while enhancing safety, improving air quality and increasing the value of the states transportation assets. Find out more at www.txdot.gov.