At its May meeting, the Transportation Policy Council approved more than 300 minor amendments to the 2045 Regional Transportation Plan. These amendments are mostly administrative modifications to the plan that clarify certain improvement project descriptions or their timelines. They did not receive any public comments. The Houston-Galveston Area Council held a series of public meetings in December 2020 and April 2021 regarding amendments to the 2045 RTP as well as air quality conformity determination. Thirty-six amendments received 107 (141 total, 36 duplicate) public comments. Because these amendments received so much feedback and engagement from the community, H-GAC scheduled them for policy council review at a future meeting while they thoroughly analyze each public comment received.
 
The regionally-significant amendments would add improvement projects along eight major corridors to strengthen and improve connectivity of the region's transportation network. They will also better align transit projects with the MetroNext Plan. A preliminary analysis revealed most of the public comments received concerned improvement projects along Highway 36A, Hempstead Highway, segments of IH 10, IH 610, SH 35, and SH 99, and segment 3 of the North Houston Highway Improvement Project. For more information about the RTP amendments and to view a full list of the submitted public comments, visit 2045trp.com.
 
Additionally, the council received informational updates regarding several ongoing transportation plans and initiatives. These included a quarterly status report of the Transportation Improvement Program as well as presentations about the Regionally Coordinated Transportation Plan, public transportation agency safety performance measures and targets, and the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on transportation in the region.
 
In some committee organization items, the council approved new members to fill vacant seats on the Transportation Advisory Committee and the Transportation Safety Committee. Heather Jinkins Cantu, deputy director of policy, compliance, and stakeholder engagement at the Harris County Toll Road Authority, and Dr. David Abraham, green infrastructure and sustainability planner at the Harris County Toll Road Authority, will serve as the primary and alternate members, respectively, of Transportation Advisory Committee’s Toll Road position. On the Transportation Safety Committee, Norma Palma with Mothers Against Drunk Driving will serve as the alternate member in the Healthcare/Education/Social Service/Advocacy Groups or Interested Citizens category, and Reece Hardy with the Houston Police Department will serve as the primary member in the Law Enforcement category.
 
The council also unanimously approved a resolution recognizing the service of outgoing members Natalie Picha, Seabrook City Councilmember, and Paul Reitz, district engineer of the Texas Department of Transportation - Yoakum District. Picha joined the Transportation Policy Council in 2018 as an alternate member representing smaller cities. She also served as chair of the Nominating Committee in 2021. Reitz served on the policy council as an ex-officio representing the TxDOT - Yoakum District from 2016 to April 2020. 
 
The next TPC meeting is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m., Friday, June 25. The meeting agenda can be view online at h-gac.com/transportation-policy-council/meeting-agendas. To view or listen to the video recording of the latest TPC meeting, click here.