MOTOR closer to plan

The Midland Odessa Transportation Organization, the metropolitan planning group for the area, is moving closer to developing a plan for the Permian Basin’s future transportation needs.

The organization’s policy board met Monday night and identified around seven or eight projects in both Ector and Midland counties, as well as three “regional” projects that affect both Odessa and Midland. Odessa City Councilman James Goates, the policy board’s chairman, said the projects are considered priorities for the area’s transportation needs over the next 25 years.

“We’re looking at the 5, 10, 25 year transportation needs of Odessa-Midland,” he said.

Many of Odessa’s requested projects involve Loop 338, while those in Midland largely focus on Loop 250, Goates said. Traffic and development demands have made improvements to those roads necessary.

“As we work through the next few years, these are the projects we will bring up,” he said. “As money becomes available, that’s what we will do.”

Overall, Goates said the estimated costs of the projects is around $100 million over the next 25 years.

The public has also had a say in the long-range transportation plan.

MOTOR has completed three of four workshops in which residents give input about the area’s transportation needs, which identifies what transportation projects will be needed where as the area grows over the next 25 years.

Melba Owens, executive director of the planning organization, said residents seem to feel that 40 percent of available money should be prioritized to bring system capacity improvements, such as new highway connections and public transportation services.

She said system efficiency, which is designed to reduce congestion on existing roads and system quality, which would add aesthetic improvements like landscaping along streets and increase amenities like bicycle paths, should receive about equal portions of the remaining funds.

“That all kind of broke out nicely,” said Robert Wall, transportation director for MOTOR and West Texas Opportunities.

Getting public input has been important to the process, Owens said.

“We feel this has been a very valuable exercise to create a vision plan for many years to come,” she said.

Consultants will now review the transportation plan, Goates said. It will be returned by Oct. 7, after which a 30-day public comment period begins.

The final public event will be an “open house” in November, at which residents can get a look at the final plans, Owens said.

A final adoption of the results of the 18-month study will be made by MOTOR’s policy board before being submitted to the Texas Department of Transportation’s Transportation Planning and Programming Division. Owens said the plans are due by Dec. 7.

After going through Austin, the transportation plan will be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration.

“Once we deliver it, it should not be that far into the new year,” when the plans are reviewed, Owens said.

Though it’s called a “25 year” plan, MOTOR actually compiles a priority list every three years. Goates said past projects that have been on the list and have been completed include the extension and addition of overpasses on JBS Parkway, improvements to West Loop 338 and construction on Faudree Road.

“It doesn’t mean they’ll all get done,” Goates said of proposed projects. “But over the years, a lot has gotten done.”