MPO amends UPWP: electric vehicle study deleted, resiliency improvement plan added

On March 18, 2025 the Lubbock MPO Transportation Policy Committee approved Resolution 2025‑06 to delete task 5.1 (electric vehicle study) from the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) and add a new subtask, 5.5.0.1, to develop a Resiliency Improvement Plan as part of the safety improvement planning work.

LMPO staff explained the change responds to current federal priorities on resiliency and to uncertainties in federal programming and funding for EV studies. The proposal moves funding previously allocated to task 5.1 — cited in the packet as $11,198.90 (packet formatting included commas and separators in speech) — into the resiliency subtask so a single product can feed into the MPO’s safety improvement planning and vulnerability assessments.

Staff framed resiliency work in light of recent extreme weather events that affected West Texas and national guidance encouraging MPOs to integrate resiliency and vulnerability assessments into planning. The memorandum in the packet referenced FHWA Order 5520 and federal encouragement for MPOs to consider resilience in planning products; staff said FHWA does not presently mandate resiliency planning but has strongly encouraged it in recent certification conversations.

A motion to approve Resolution 2025‑06 was made by Commissioner Dolby and seconded by Council Member Martinez Garcia. The chair called for the question; the motion received a single recorded opposition from Mr. Atkinson (the meeting record indicates an opposed vote by Mr. Atkinson was noted before the motion carried). The amendment passed.

The approved change removes the EV study description from UPWP Task 5.1 (the task number will be held in reserve) and creates the resiliency improvement subtask under the safety improvement plan; staff will roll the product into future planning and seek funding/implementation as appropriate.