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City presents draft master thoroughfare plan; online survey finds congestion hotspots on Veterans Boulevard and Main Street
Summary
City planning staff and consultants presented a draft master thoroughfare plan and scheduled a public workshop; an online MPO congestion survey drew 551 responses identifying Veteran Boulevard and Main Street intersections as the top congestion points.
City planners and consultants gave the MPO an overview of a draft master thoroughfare plan and public outreach results on Wednesday, and invited board members and the public to a workshop scheduled the same day.
Suzelle Figueroa, MPO communications staff, reported an online traffic-congestion survey that has so far received 551 responses and 357 textual comments. Respondents most frequently pinned congestion at Main and Bibb streets, Main Street and Veterans Boulevard, Veterans Boulevard and El Indio Boulevard, and Veterans Boulevard and Del Rio Boulevard. Figueroa said 98.37% of respondents described traffic congestion as significant; 85.98% reported daily congestion during peak windows (7–9 a.m., 12–1 p.m. and 4–5 p.m.); and 99.19% reported primarily using personal cars. Common suggested fixes included adding lanes, improving signal coordination and implementing dedicated turn lanes.
City consultant Ignacio Hossa (Dura Engineering) summarized the draft master thoroughfare plan's scope: mapping existing conditions, classifying roadways (marginal, minor, collector, arterial), projecting growth and modeling future traffic to 2045. He said the plan incorporates developer master plans and looks at future ETJ and county areas that feed city roads. The draft includes an off-model level-of-service analysis showing most key corridors would degrade to worse service if no additional capacity is added.
Hossa and Placido Madera said the public workshop that evening would include an open question-and-answer session and a presentation at 6:30 p.m., and staff planned to keep the public comment period for the master thoroughfare plan open for about a month after the workshop. The draft anticipates coordinating with TxDOT on major corridors including State Loop 480 and U.S. 57, and addresses safety and multimodal connections.
The board was shown graphics of crash patterns and bridge wait times at ports of entry, and staff noted some corridors already show level-of-service C or worse and that crash rates per vehicle miles traveled exceed the statewide average in the five-year analysis. City staff emphasized the plan is a guiding document and not a construction-level design, and that updates will be needed every five years.
