MPO accepts TxDOT’s 2026 Unified Transportation Program planning targets; will use figures to shape the TIP

The Lubbock Metropolitan Planning Organization Transportation Policy Committee accepted the recommended planning-category allocations from the Texas Department of Transportation’s 2026 Unified Transportation Program (UTP) Oct. 21.

Martin Lucero, the MPO’s executive director, reviewed the UTP categories and explained which categories flow to the MPO based on population and which are managed by the TxDOT district. He distributed a one-page ``cheat sheet'' of funding categories and projections and said staff will use the state-provided category totals to program the MPO’s TIP and later the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

Lucero told the committee the red-highlighted categories in the UTP packet are federally funded pots that come to the MPO, while the white categories are district-managed. He emphasized that the committee’s action was to accept the category-level funding pots and not to reprogram or change allocations on individual projects now in the constrained TIP; project-level programming will occur during the TIP call over the next several months.

Policy members asked whether projected formula changes would affect funding already allocated in the current TIP years ('27–'30). Lucero responded that the first two years of the existing TIP are solid and not affected by the UTP acceptance, though later years (2029–2030) will be considered during the next TIP call. The committee voted unanimously to accept the UTP planning targets.

The acceptance is procedural: it confirms the MPO will use TxDOT’s category totals in its local programming and in forthcoming calls for projects.