Texas Transportation Commission Holds Meeting at TAMIU

Transportation leaders attended the Texas Transportation Commission Meeting held in Laredo Thursday, February 27th at the Texas A&M International University Student Center Ballroom (2nd Floor).Important projects were discussed at the meeting involving various counties including, Webb, Hidalgo, Collin, Bell, Brazos, McLennan, Potter, Travis and Williamson. The Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) and the Loop 20 to I-69 designation were among the key items on the agenda affecting Webb County and the City of Laredo.

The new RMA will give the Laredo region the authority to finance, acquire, design, construct, operate, maintain, expand or extend transportation projects.

"As home to one of the busiest ports in the U.S. and major trade corridor from Mexico, it only makes sense for the Laredo region to have more local control of priority transportation projects," said Chairman Ted Houghton, Texas Transportation Commission. "This is a great day for the Laredo area and we look forward to working with this growing community to enhance mobility and trade."

Laredo is in need for an RMA due to the rapidly increasing population of Webb County and the City of Laredo. 250,304 persons were reported in Webb County in the 2010 Census and that population total will increase to 437,726 by 2030. Another contributing factor is the growth that international trade levels will continue to bring to Laredo. There were approximately 3.5 million international truck crossings in 2013.

Representative Richard Peña Raymond passed legislation allowing Webb County and the City of Laredo to create an RMA. As a result of Rep. Raymond's bill, the RMA was one of the items on today's agenda for approval which passed unanimously.

"Today's approval for the Webb County-Laredo RMA is a step toward improving the transportation needs of Laredo's rapidly growing population and growing international trade and trucking business" said Rep. Raymond.

The initial board of directors for the RMA shall be composed of nine members, with four directors appointed by the Webb County Commissioners Court, and four directors appointed by the City Council of Laredo, and the presiding officer appointed by the Governor.

The Webb County-Laredo Loop 20 to I-69 transportation plan on today's agenda re-designates a segment of State Loop 20 as US 59 from the World Trade Bridge to the junction of State Loop 20 and US 59 in Laredo, a distance of approximately 10.9 miles and redesignates a segment of US 59 as BU 59-Z from the junction of State Loop 20 and US 59 to the southern terminus of US 59 in Laredo, a distance of approximately 3.6 miles. This begins the process of designating US 59 concurrent with the I-69 system in Laredo.

For more information www.txdot.gov
(Abigail Delgado is a reporter may be contacted at abigaildelgado@dusty.tamiu.edu)