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Courtesy TxDot,

AUSTIN – Today marks another milestone in planning the I-35 corridor in Texas . Citizens spoke and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) listened. A comprehensive mobility plan, known as MY 35, was presented to the Texas Transportation Commission and TxDOT Thursday to guide future I-35 corridor development. The I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee and four segment committees were responsible for the plan’s creation, which includes near, mid-range and long-range initiatives.

The Texas Transportation Commission created the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee and the four segment committees in 2008 in response to a call for increased citizen participation in the transportation planning process for the I-35 corridor. Members of these committees include representatives of cities, counties, metropolitan planning organizations, chambers of commerce, economic development councils and the Texas Farm Bureau.

“The citizen-driven MY 35 effort is a broad, grassroots approach to transportation planning that has never been attempted elsewhere,” said Bill Meadows, member of the Texas Transportation Commission. “The citizens who participated in the process live and breathe I-35 every day. Who better to craft a plan for the corridor’s future than those who are impacted by it daily?”

Each of the four I-35 segment committees focused on identifying long-term multimodal recommendations derived from regional and local needs, encompassing more than just highway improvements. As part of this process, segment committees held 20 public involvement workshops attended by 331 Texans throughout the corridor in September 2010. Once complete, the workshops and online comment opportunities yielded 610 responses to questionnaires on the segment committees’ recommendations for the final plan.

“As chairman of the I-35 Corridor Advisory Committee, our charge was to ensure locally-generated ideas and concerns were included in the corridor-wide MY 35 Plan,” said Tim Brown, Bell County Commissioner. “MY 35 identifies future I-35 improvements, studies and needs based on results of these public outreach initiatives.”

Brown also noted that the committee will continue to refine the plan over the coming months.

While citizens planned for the future of the corridor, TxDOT, local governments, the Texas Legislature and members of Congress have partnered to upgrade the existing I-35 footprint. Thanks to support from the private sector, a number of critical projects are underway in the Dallas / Fort Worth region to improve I-35 connections to I-820 and I-635. Additionally, in 2009 the Texas Transportation Commission committed approximately $1 billion in Proposition 12 bond funding, made possible by voters and the Texas Legislature, and nearly $135 million in federal stimulus funding to expand I-35 to a minimum of six main lanes between San Antonio and the I-35 east-west split in Hillsboro .

For additional information on the I-35 corridor or to read the MY 35 plan, visit www.my35.org.