Michael Menon, executive director of the Rio Grande Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization, told the Starr County Commissioners on a presentation day that the MPO completed a 30‑day public comment period and has produced both a 20‑year metropolitan transportation plan and a fiscally constrained 10‑year program that aligns with TxDOT’s Unified Transportation Program.

Menon said the MPO programs about $32.4–$32.5 million a year and that, as a result of past mergers of three MPOs, the region had “over programmed” roughly $102 million across a three‑year period. That overprogramming, he said, risks triggering a state action under what he described as a 200% threshold rule that could shift some funds from infrastructure into safety projects and delay or displace local projects.

“We are the steward of the federal and the state dollars that are assigned to TxDOT,” Menon said, explaining the MPO’s responsibility to ensure projects are developed to federal standards and can proceed on schedule. He described a new project‑readiness process and quarterly reporting to the MPO policy board so members and state partners can track where projects are programmed and whether they are ready to proceed.

Menon walked commissioners through the MPO’s required planning documents: the Unified Planning Work Program (a two‑year program of MPO activities), the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (a minimum 20‑year horizon), the Transportation Improvement Program (the TIP, the first four years of the long‑range plan) and the congestion management process tied to Clean Air Act requirements. He noted that nonattainment designations impose additional planning steps and strategies — for example, transit or technology solutions — that must be considered when adding roadway capacity.

He outlined two near‑term actions for Starr County officials to expect: a call for projects (anticipated in January or February) for funding categories that include roadway needs and a planned interlocal agreement the MPO hopes the policy board will approve with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute to build a traffic model of the region’s ports of entry. The freight/ports modeling, Menon said, will allow the MPO to test scenarios — including major port closures — and estimate economic capacity and rerouting impacts.

Menon highlighted State Loop 195 as the largest programmed project in MPO documents and said the MPO will pursue a strategic plan in February to identify major regional priorities for presentation to the Texas Transportation Commission in Austin.

Next steps: commissioners said they will watch for the MPO’s call for projects and related materials; the MPO indicated staff will provide larger printed handouts and produce quarterly project‑readiness reports to the policy board and the public.