On February 26, the Texas Transportation Commission adopted the 2030 Committee’s Texas Transportation Needs Report. The 221-page report concludes that meeting Texas’ transportation needs between 2009 and 2030 will require $315 billion, or about $14.3 billion per year.
The 2030 Committee is comprised of 12 Texas business and civic leaders appointed in May 2008 by Texas Transportation Commission Chair Deirdre Delisi. She charged the committee with providing an independent, comprehensive analysis of the state’s future transportation needs. In addition to TTI’’s substantial contribution, researchers from the Center for Transportation Research at The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas at San Antonio also conducted research for the report.
The report forecasts costs and the resulting benefits in 2008 dollars from highway maintenance (pavements and bridges), urban mobility, and rural mobility and safety. The committee’s timeframe did not allow for an in-depth analysis of other transportation modes that could complement traditional highway capacity, but the report includes overviews of public transportation, freight and intercity passenger rail, ports and waterways and airports, along with recommendations for further study.
TTI researchers wrote chapters on urban mobility, rural mobility and safety and the overview sections. TTI staff edited and designed the report and executive summary, as well as built and maintained the committee’s website. In addition, TTI organized the 2030 Committee meetings and public hearings, while also monitoring and compiling public comments during the report’s nine-month development period.
“It was a personal privilege to have the opportunity to be engaged in this important effort with such an outstanding group of fellow Texans,” says Dr. C. Michael Walton, chair of the committee. “Each gave freely of their expertise and their time in the highest interest of Texas and transportation needs for our state.”
“I am extremely proud of our overall involvement in this independent review of Texas’ transportation needs over the next two decades,” says TTI Executive Associate Agency Director William R. Stockton. “This is one of the most important and visible projects that TTI has ever undertaken, and the individuals who developed and produced the report spent countless hours to ensure it was accurate and understandable by the public.”
