By LYNETTE HAALAND, Four Points News
Traffic congestion in Four Points got a lot of attention during the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s public comment period for its 2017-2020 Transportation Improvement Program.
Nearly 90 percent of the comments — or 129 of the 145 total — that CAMPO received during its open comment period that ended June 29 were issues involving RM 620 and RM 2222, said Brian Thompto, who was at the CAMPO transportation policy board meeting last week on July 6.
“The CAMPO board did receive the message from the public,” Thompto said. “We don’t have the funding yet, but it is clear that this project needs funding and seems important to them.”
CAMPO’s response
The local feedback helped put RM 620/RM 2222 improvements back on the CAMPO list of potential near-term projects that could be fast-tracked if funding is identified. The local, Four Points improvements were removed from the 2017-2020 plan recently due to lack of funding.
All projects in the Transportation Improvement Program or TIP must have funding available and be scheduled to begin construction in the four-year TIP window, said CAMPO’s spokesperson Doise Miers.
“While the RM 2222/620 bypass project does have authority for preliminary engineering as it is in the planning stages, it doesn’t currently have construction funding; therefore, it does not meet the criteria to be included in the main list of projects in the 2017-2020 TIP,” Miers said.
However, it is included in appendix G of the 2017-2020 TIP along with other projects that have preliminary engineering, studies, and development work to complete before being eligible to be included in the main body of the TIP document, Miers explained.
