Central Texas transportation agencies are adjusting their vision

From Impact News, May8, 2009...

Central Texas transportation agencies are adjusting their long-range planning strategies this year to reflect the needs of a region that has been reshaped by rapid growth and accelerated economic development. As Austin and its surrounding communities have become increasingly interconnected over the last decade, agency leaders are working to create systems that will enhance urban mobility and support an emergent commuter population.

The quick pace of growth presents challenges for the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority and other agencies as traffic congestion builds steadily each year, said CTRMA Executive Director Mike Heiligenstein.

“Our transportation model has changed radically over the last 10 years,” he said. “Right now we’re in one of those evolutionary phases of transportation where it’s really hard to get anything put on the ground without a lot of funding mechanisms.”

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CTRMA project update

From Community Impact, November 21, 2008...

Higher-than-anticipated usage of Toll 183A has bumped up the date for expansion of the road by six years. The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is finalizing negotiations for the design work now. Originally, an extension was to be complete in 2017.

Steve Pustelnyk, CTRMA’s director of communications, said the authority hopes to begin construction by late 2009 and anticipates less than 18 months until completion.

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CAMPO, CTRMA seek feedback on 290 finance proposal

From Austin Business Journal, November 6, 2008...

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, together with the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, is seeking public input on creating a financial system that allows toll revenue from U.S. Highway 183A to help finance a planned portion of U.S. 290 East.

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CTRMA offers scratch-offs to promote cashless Toll 183A

From Community Impact, October 24, 2008...

During November, Toll 183A drivers will receive a scratch-off ticket when they pay cash at the Park Street Main Toll Plaza.

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority planned the promotional giveaways, which reveal up to $100 in prepaid TxTag tolls, to make customers aware the road is going cashless Dec. 1.

Instead of slowing down to go through the cash lane at a toll plaza, drivers without a TxTag can remain in the main lanes. Cameras mounted above those lanes will photograph each license plate and the vehicle’s registered owner will receive a bill in the mail. A $1 processing fee is charged per bill, and bills are sent out every 15 days.

Scratch-off tickets will also be available without purchase at community events, the TxTag Customer Service Center, 12719 Burnet Road in Austin, and by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, 301 Congress Avenue, Ste. 650, Austin, TX 78701.

The CTRMA and Magic 95.5 will be at Lowe’s, 1495 US 183 in Leander, from 11 a.m.- 1 p.m. Nov. 1 and at Circuit City in 1890 Ranch, 1335 E. Whitestone Blvd., from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Nov. 15.

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CTRMA holds open house to discuss Manor Expressway toll road

From Austin Business Journal, August 6, 2008...

Residents who want to learn the details of a $529 million project to expand and toll U.S. Highway 290 east between U.S. 183 and State Highway 130 will get their chance at an open house this evening.

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority is hosting the open house to inform the public about the plan. On Aug. 12, CTRMA will hold another meeting to collect public input.

Traffic on U.S. 290 has increased more than 78 percent since 1990 as Manor and surrounding cities increase in population, according to CTRMA.

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Toll booths will be eliminated on 183A

From Austin Business Journal, June 25, 2008...

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board has voted to eliminate cash collection on the toll road by the end of this year.

Roughly 80 percent of those who use 183A pay via TxTag, according to CTRMA. Consequently, it costs the authority nearly as much to operate the cash booths as it collects from those drivers.

Cashless toll collection on 183A is expected to take effect as early as November 2008. Once it begins, those drivers who do not have TxTags, Tolltags or EZ-Tags will still have to pay -- only later. CTRMA will implement a pay-by-mail program where cameras will take pictures of drivers' license plates and send them a bill in the mail for the toll.

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MoPac managed lanes may go further south

From Austin Business Journal, May 30, 2008...

Transportation leaders are talking about whether the two managed lanes planned for MoPac Expressway, approved by the Capital Metropolitan Planning Organization for its short-term transportation improvement plan, should be extended further south than originally planned. The project, estimated to cost $110 million when CAMPO approved it last year, calls for the lanes, one in each direction, to run from Parmer Lane to Lady Bird Lake.

Recently, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority began discussing the possibility of whether extending the lanes further south past the river near Capital of Texas Highway or U.S. 290 would also make sense, says CTRMA executive director Mike Heiligenstein.

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Questions Answered About Cedar Park and Leander’s First Toll Road

From Community Impact March 24, 2008...

Although currently only 4.5 miles of tolled road, Toll 183A is a stretch of pavement that has become a big topic of conversation.

The road, which opened in March 2007, starts at Toll 45 in Northwest Austin and runs northward, ending just past RM 1431. Future expansion will take the road farther north through Leander, past RM 2243, ending just south of the South Fork San Gabriel River. Frontage lanes have already been built to the river, north of Leander. They are open and free to use.

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Portion of 183A Could Be Video-Tolled

From the Austin Business Journal Januaary 30, 2008...

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority will change its tolling system to video tolls along U.S. 183A in order to cut down on cash users and inadvertent toll violators. The video tolls could be installed in March or early April.

Steve Pustelnyk, CTRMA spokesman, says with the video tolling, drivers who go through the tolls without paying would be mailed an invoice instead of a fine and given an opportunity to pay the toll, which would be 20 percent above the TxTag toll rate and include a $1 handling fee.

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CTRMA Looks For Funding Support For Toll Projects

From the Austin Business Journal January 11, 2008...

The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority has put out requests for proposals among firms to help finance the next round of toll projects that the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization approved in October, and is keeping a watchful eye on the transportation funding crunch's potential effects on those projects.

Steve Pustelnyk, director of communications for CTRMA, says the RFP will come back in March or April, and at that point, the authority will know more about whether or not additional cutbacks will be needed or if the planned toll road package can move forward in its present form.

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