20200310-03A: Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) 2045 Transportation Plan — original pdf

Recommendation

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION Urban Transportation Commission Recommendation Number 20200310-03A: Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) 2045 Transportation Plan WHEREAS, The Austin Strategic Mobility Plan calls for Austin to reach a goal of 50% of Austinites commuting by walking, biking, transit, or any other non-drive-alone mode by 2039, from today’s current 24% of Austinites using non-drive-alone modes; and WHEREAS, The Austin Strategic Mobility Plan further reaffirms the Vision Zero goal the City of Austin set in 2016, to reach zero traffic fatalities by 2025; and WHEREAS, Texas Transportation Commission has set a goal of zero traffic fatalities by 2050 and cutting deaths in half by 2035; and WHEREAS, Our current climate crisis calls for us to make changes to the way we live and plan our cities, and our pattern of continued sprawl and road construction is neither safe nor sustainable; and WHEREAS, Continued patterns of sprawl and road construction are also not sustainable from a fiscal standpoint, as the TxDOT and federal highway budget crises continues to deepen; and WHEREAS, The City of Austin is in the process of revising our Land Development Code to allow more dense and equitable housing; and WHEREAS, Capitol Metropolitan Transit Authority, through its Project Connect planning process is on the verge of approving a Locally Preferred Alternative that represents a generational, comprehensive transit plan; and WHEREAS, The Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) is in the process of creating its federally mandated 2045 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP); and WHEREAS, Over the years CAMPO has consistently underestimated urban housing and job growth and overestimated suburban housing and job growth; and WHEREAS, The road construction dictated in CAMPO’s 2040 RTP feeds into the 2045 modeling, predicting increased sprawl and exurban traffic, creating a negative feedback loop; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Urban Transportation Commission urges CAMPO to: ● Adopt a regional Vision Zero goal to end regional traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2045; ● Ensure that the Project Connect Locally Preferred Alternative is included in the RTP; ● Plan for most of our region’s job and people growth to occur within the City of Austin, and in consideration of the new Land Development Code adjust their model to add additional jobs and people in dense, walkable urban spaces. Date of Approval: March 10, 2020 Record of the vote: 7-0 with Hennessey, Runas, Somers, and Wilfley absent Attest: Emily Smith, Staff Liaison