Clean Air for All
In recent years, the air quality message has spread as more people have begun to understand its effect on quality of life. Going green has become popular with all age groups and in several industries. But the abundance of information can be overwhelming. <More>

Graphic: DART

Region Looks to Austin for Help
A Message from Michael Morris, Transportation Director
The 81st session of the Legislature began January 13, and the Regional Transportation Council has adopted a legislative approach
it hopes will improve congestion throughout the region. Expansion
of the region’s passenger rail system is one part of the focused plan designed over the past several months. <More>

An explanation of the RTC’s five-point plan follows.

Chief Likes Multimodal Approach
Regional Transportation Council Member Profile
Mike Leyman, Councilmember, City of Mansfield
Mike Leyman is in his office talking about his responsibilities as police chief of a 31,000-student school district. He’s not dressed in his familiar police uniform, but he has an excuse. Later this day, he has a City Council meeting. When he wraps up his day at the school district police department, he’ll make his way to City Hall. He won’t be
presenting anything on behalf of the Mansfield school district. Instead, he’ll take his place beside his council colleagues. <More>

Leyman sees the improvement of traffic in Mansfield as a
multi-step process. The main lanes of SH 360 and rail will
both play important roles, he said.

Road to Less Congestion
Dallas-Fort Worth leaders have developed alternatives to the traditional financing mechanisms that built many of today’s highways. In past years, state and federal gas taxes could be combined to
pay for the construction and maintenance of many of the freeways existing today. <More>

Web Site Provides Traffic Details
If you’re curious about just how congested your commute to work is – or you want information about a particular intersection in the region – a new NCTCOG traffic Web site may be able to help. The North Central Texas Council of Governments has developed the new Historic Traffic Counts Web site using the latest technology to display geographical data on the Internet. <More>

Stationary Engines Fall Under New Rule
Stationary engines operated in the nine county nonattainment area now have to comply with a new environmental rule. The rule requires record keeping, testing, and reporting to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) stationary engines operated in one place for more than a year. <More>

Answers to Recently Received Questions
Q: Interstate Highway 635 will undergo a massive expansion over the next several years, with the construction of new managed HOV lanes underneath the existing freeway. How many additional passengers will be able to travel on LBJ Freeway when construction is complete?

Q: Could you elaborate on the LBJ-to-IH 35E project?

Q: In Austin, the elevated freeways created a nightmare of air and noise pollution, whereas in Houston, this did not seem to be the case. Is that a result of design or just a different environment?

<More>

More Transit
Most respondents to the poll in the previous newsletter said the best way to reduce traffic congestion in the region would be to increase access to transit.

Meeting Calendar

The Transportation Department has begun offering RSS, or really simple syndication, allowing visitors to the Web site to subscribe to specific topics and receive notices as new information is posted. To learn how RSS works or to subscribe, visit www.nctcog.org/transrss.

Editor's note: FWTAransportation Department wishes to thank Lara Kohl for her five years of service as program manager of public outreach. Lara has elected to take another job in our region. We thank her for her commitment to improving mobility and air quality in North Central Texas.