A Public Meeting by the Regional Transportation Council (RTC) was held on, Tuesday, October 10, 2006, 6:30 p.m. at the Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center in Fort Worth. Byron De Sousa, one of three BikeTexas Safe Routes Coordinators for Fort Worth, attended the meeting on behalf of Texas Bicycle Coalition.

Six members made presentations to those in attendance. Presenters included Dan Kessler, RTC, Assistant Director of Transportation; Michael Burbank, Principal Transportation Planner; Jenny Danieau, Transportation Planner II; Greg Royster, P.E., Principal Transportation Engineer; Alicia Hopkins, Senior Transportation Planner; Christie Jestis, Principal Transportation Planner; and Omar Barrios, Transportation Planner II.

Byron reports that the meeting lasted for 2 hrs and 25 min. and three major items were discussed:

1) Mobility 2030 - Draft recommendations for the newest plan, Mobility 2030, was presented including alternative futures scenarios that examine the impact of aviation, the Trans-Texas Corridor and demographic changes. The TIP is a multi-year inventory of funded transportation projects that includes committed funding from federal, State and local sources within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metropolitan Area. Every two to three years, a new TIP is developed through a cooperative effort of the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), local governments and transportation authorities. Staff highlighted the TIP development process and timeline and discussed new requirements associated with the enactment of SAFETEA-LU, the 2005-2009 transportation funding bill;

2) Air quality - In 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency designated Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall and Tarrant counties as non-attainment areas for the pollutant ozone. This designation imposes a federal requirement known as transportation conformity, or penalties to ensure that federal funding and approval goes to those transportation activities that are consistent with regional air quality goals. Staff explained how transportation conformity relates to air quality and the way communities plan and build transportation projects within the region;

3) Regional Public Transportation Coordination - Staff provided an update on regional coordination activities and presented draft recommendations of the North Central Texas Regional Public Transportation Coordination Plan for review and comment.

The final recommendations will be presented on December 4 and 5 at public meetings.

What is RTC?

Together with the NCTCOG, the Regional Transportation Council (RTC) serves as the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Dallas & Fort Worth metropolitan area. The RTC, which meets the second Thursday of each month, is composed of 40 members: 33 local elected or appointed officials representing cities and counties and seven transportation provider representatives. The RTC is responsible for overseeing the metropolitan transportation planning process.

RTC’s primary activities include:

• Providing guidance for the development of multimodal transportation plans and programs;
• Programming federal and state funds for implementation of transportation improvements;
• Selecting specific federally funded projects and programs;
• Assuring the coordination of services among transportation providers, and
• Ensuring compliance with federal and State laws and regulations pertaining to metropolitan transportation and air quality planning.

What is NCTCOG?

The North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) is a voluntary association of, by and for local governments. It was established to assist local governments in planning for common needs, cooperating for mutual benefit and coordinating for sound regional development. NCTCOG’s objective is to strengthen both the individual and collective power of local governments and to help them recognize regional opportunities, eliminate unnecessary duplication and make joint decisions. NCTCOG serves a 16 county region of North Central Texas, which is concentrated around the two urban centers of Dallas and Fort Worth. NCTCOG has over 230 member governments including all 16 counties, numerous cities, School districts and special districts.