Monday Morning Report
|
Executive Committee Members note: Instead of our regularly scheduled Corridor Council Executive Committee meeting this Wednesday, June 18, we will instead hope to see you at the 'Rebuild America Luncheon' that we are co-sponsoring with the San Antonio Mobility Coalition. Details here on the luncheon or call Sarah at 512-558-7360.
Austin's Capital Area Council of Governments reports that there is a growing movement toward creating Rural Planning Organizations (RPO's) across the state to get representation for areas that do not have metropolitan planning organizations. The National Association of Development Organizations, a champion of RPO's, is conducting a summit on July 10 in Austin in conjunction with TxDOT and other major organizations. For sponsorship opportunities, please call Betty Voights at 512-916-6008.
Notice of Request for Proposals (RFP): The Austin-San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District (Rail District) is seeking proposals from professional firms to provide the Rail District with branding services to establish the Rail District’s identity and communicate its purpose and function. The RFP is available on the Rail District website (www.asarail.org). Responses to the RFP must be received by the Rail District no later than 3:00 p.m. on July 23, 2008 to be considered.
Infrastructure
TxDOT has decided to scale back the Trans Texas Corridor I-69 project and see how much of it can be done along existing roadways. They've also narrowed the 'corridor' for planning and environmental purposes finally; the broad corridor under consideration was making a lot of landowners nervous and stirring up public debate. For details and a cool video showing the smaller planning corridor visit www.keeptexasmoving.com or click here for the press release.
The first phase of a Freight Movement Study of the Austin area by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization has been completed and finds that (no surprise) freight firms believe inadequate roadway capacity, poor light synchronization, accident delay, and congestion are the greatest obstacles to freight movement in the area. An interesting revelation though, is that toll roads are heavily used by shippers to save gas and labor costs, avoid congestion, and provide predictable travel times. See the study here.
An ambitious new traffic management project begins next month along 1500 miles of Interstate 95 from New Jersey to North Carolina. Drivers will be able to access real time traffic information via 800,000 thousand GPS systems aboard vehicles, cell phones, and electronic toll tags. Inrix Inc., a company that already provides real time and predictive traffic data to navigation services such as MapQuest, TomTom and Garmin, will collect the data under a $1 million contract with the 16-state I-95 Corridor Coalition. Details here.
Seguin's city council is thinking about doing a master study of its downtown streets and possible conversion of some from two-way to one-way and/or other reroutes. Here's a Gazette story.
Economic Development
Port San Antonio’s estimated economic impact on San Antonio is now at $3.3 billion, according to the results of a 2008 study conducted by the University of Texas at San Antonio. Port San Antonio’s economic impact in 2007 totaled $2.5 billion, most of which came from the facility's multiple tenants.
Longtime Round Rock Chamber of Commerce president Charlie Dromgoole is resigning his position after six years to lead an East Texas economic development organization, beginning July 9. He will become president of the Texas Forest Country Partnership, a 13-county regional economic development group based in Lufkin.
Work has begun on the new $55 million Cedar Park Events Center, a 181,000-sq ft indoor event center with a 16-acre mixed-use development featuring about 91,000 sq ft of retail and another 91,000 sq ft of commercial development. The new center will be home of the Texas Stars Hockey Club, which will serve as the primary minor league affiliate for the National Hockey League’s Dallas Stars.
The push is on to expand San Antonio’s Information Technology industry, and the San Antonio Chamber presents Congressman Lamar Smith discussing his efforts to ensure that technology continues to flourish. Mark your calendars for Friday, July 18 at the Marriott Northwest Hotel (3222 NW Loop 410), with registration at 7:30 am and the formal program and breakfast from 8:00 to 9:00 am. For information please call 210-229-2129.
“I'm all in favor of keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of fools. Let's start with typewriters.”
- Frank Lloyd Wright