texas transportation commission

AUSTIN, Texas - When the Rio Grande Guardian exclusively interviewed Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño, Jr., last week he alluded to some big news on the horizon.

Asked what 2024 might have in store, Treviño said: “We’re hoping to end (2023) with a bang and thankful for all of the progress and development that we’ve had over this past year. Hopefully we’re going to start the new year with some very exciting development and, as soon at it happens, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I don’t want to jinx it.”

Now we know what the judge was referring to. On Tuesday, the Texas Transportation Commission approved a minute order that adds a future roadway, State Highway 104, to the state highway system. The designation opens the door to additional funding sources to accelerate development and construction of the South Padre Island 2nd Causeway project. SH 104 will be built between FM 106 and Park Road 100 on South Padre Island. 

Treviño was at the TTC to hear the news. Indeed, he spoke at the meeting just before the new minute order was unanimously approved. Other speakers from the Rio Grande Valley included TTC Commissioner Alex Meade, and RGV Metropolitan Planning Organization Chairman David Fuentes.

Here is a podcast that features their remarks.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

AUSTIN, Texas - Cameron County’s general aviation airport will benefit greatly from the construction of a second causeway to South Padre Island, according to Cameron County’s commissioner for Precinct Three.

David Garza spoke in support of additional funding for general aviation airports in the public comment portion of a recent Texas Transportation Commission meeting in Austin. One of the agenda items dealt with additional funds for aviation appropriated by the 88th Legislature. 

Garza started his remarks by saying he has had many meetings and encounters with the TxDOT’s aviation division. 

“We have been the recipients especially of the grant program over the course of years.”

Garza said that when he first became a county commissioner he “inherited an overgrown, pretty much abandoned airport.” He said that with with the help of the TxDOT’s aviation department, Cameron County has been able to clean up the Port Isabel-Cameron County Airport.

“We've been able to, at this point, clean it up to the point where it is immaculate,” Garza said. “We've done major capital projects that they (the aviation division) has been part of.”

Garza referenced state Sen. Robert Nichols, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation. Nichols had earlier spoken about funding for general aviation airports at the TTC meeting.

“From our perspective, it's very evident that he and Chairman Canales were very receptive to hearing our needs and (the need to) increase the funding.”

State Rep. Terry Canales is chairman of the House Committee on Transportation.

“General aviation airports play a key economic role in our communities,” Garza said. “They are critical. They’re unheralded, pretty much, in the state of Texas. If you don't fly in or fly out or know about them… it’s not on your radar.”

Editor's Note: The attached podcast features remarks on general aviation airports by state Sen. Robert Nichols and Cameron County Commissioner David Garza at a recent Texas Transportation Commission meeting. 

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

AUSTIN, Texas - The director of TxDOT’s freight, trade and connectivity section says she is looking for some “quick wins” as the new Texas-Mexico Border Transportation Master Plan starts to get implemented.

Caroline Mays spoke about the new plan at a recent Texas Transportation Commission meeting. 

The BTMP is a comprehensive, multimodal, binational long-range plan crafted by the Texas Department of Transportation. The 400-page plan identifies transportation issues, needs, challenges, opportunities, and strategies for moving people and goods efficiently across the Texas-Mexico border, the border regions, and beyond.

TxDOT hosted a series of meetings throughout the border region to gather public input for the BTMP. It was formally adopted at TTC’s March meeting.

Laura Ryan, a TTC commissioner, asked Mays when Texas might see some tangible results. Mays responded:  “We are under the procurement process right now. Hopefully we can complete that within the next four months. But, we are not waiting for that procurement to be done.”

Mays said she met recently with the Border Trade Advisory Committee, which helped craft the new plan.

“We started discussions with them. What does implementation look like so we can start doing some quick wins? We also have an internal TxDOT border task force made up of the three district engineers and then some of the divisions. We had a meeting with them last week also and we started discussing what are some of the high priorities they would like to see.”

Mays added: “We are already working on identifying those and moving forward and we are going to, in some instances, use some of the capacity we have in existing contracts to start facilitating advancing of some of the recommendations that the districts have already highlighted. So, we are not waiting four months to start working. We are already working it right now.”

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.

PHARR, RGV - For this week’s wrap-up on the news we feature three events:

1. A USMCA forum hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership and Futuro RGV and held in Pharr
2. A Texas Transportation Commission meeting held in Austin
3. A diabetes forum hosted by Unidos Contra la Diabetes held in Weslaco

The trade forum featured two panel discussions, one with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, and the other with Luis Bazan, director of Pharr International Bridge, Brownsville Navigation District Commissioner Ralph Cowen, and Keith Patridge, president of McAllen Economic Development Corporation.

The transportation meeting included approval by TTC of the Unified Transportation Program, which included $2.1 billion over ten years for the Pharr TxDOT District.

The diabetes forum featured the results of a new study by Dr. Belinda Reininger, dean of the UTHealth School of Public Health-Brownsville.

To read the new stories and watch the news videos of the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service go to www.riograndeguardian.com.