November 15, 2018 600 AM
PRESIDIO, MARFA – On November 7 and 8, Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) representatives returned to Marfa and Presidio following an initial public meeting this summer to continue to engage the community on the project to revamp U.S. 67, or the U.S. 67 Corridor, as the state is calling it.
Chris Weber, longtime Alpine resident and TXDOT area engineer, gave a presentation to cover the impetus for the project, the proposed timeline, and what was done since the last public meeting.
Weber said, “The public asked for a presentation to summarize the public comments and what has happened between the last meeting and now. What thoughts and ideas have been developed, and what is the best way [forward]. In my 21-year tenure for TXDOT in Alpine, I’ve never seen or heard of a project with an opportunity for local input like this.”
He outlined the stages of the project as identifying needs, developing a master plan, getting the project funded and then implementing the solutions. TXDOT proposes completion of the initial study by Fall 2019.
The project covers 142 miles of U.S. 67, and was initiated after crash data analysis showed from 2010-2017 the highway is over the rural average for crash rates in Texas, with the highest cause of crashes as single car road runoff.
Weber said because it’s not fully clear why this crash rate is so much higher than other rural roads, they are “…engaging the public and elected officials to try to figure out why.” He said, it’s clear there is not “…one solution or one specific problem, so we are asking the public for help.”
Following the initial meetings requesting public input, there were 523 public comments received. TXDOT staff compiled these comments, ordered them by priority based on volume, and presented the issues and potential solutions during the meeting. Chris said safety came out as the top priority for all communities in the region. Environmental concerns were also one of the most popular categories.
All of the comment and images of the graphs presented can be viewed here:
https://maps.viewprogis.com/vp/US67#
There is still one additional public meeting today, November 15th , in Alpine from 5-7 p.m. at the Alpine Civic Center.
