Texas Administrative Code › Title 43 - TRANSPORTATION › Part 1 - TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION › Chapter 16 - PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS › Subchapter A - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 16.2 - Definitions and Acronyms

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) The following
				  words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings,
				  unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Chief financial officer--The chief
				  financial officer of the department, or that officer's designee.
(2) Clean Air Act (CAA)--The Clean Air Act of
				  1970 and Amendments of 1990 (42 U.S.C. §
												7401 et seq.), including procedures that
				  apply to all transportation plans, programs, and projects as they relate to air
				  quality.
(3) Commission--The Texas
				  Transportation Commission.
(4)
				  Conformity--Clean Air Act requirements that ensure that federal funding and
				  approval are given to transportation plans, programs, and projects that are
				  consistent with the air quality goals established by the State Implementation
				  Plan.
(5) Corridor--A broad
				  geographic band with no predefined size or scale that follows a general
				  directional flow, providing for the movement of people and freight and
				  connecting major sources of transportation trips. It involves a nominally
				  linear transportation service area that may contain a number of streets,
				  highways, rail, utility, and public transportation route alignments.
(6) Department--The Texas Department of
				  Transportation.
(7) District--One
				  of the geographic areas into which the department is divided in order to
				  conduct its primary work activities.
(8) District engineer--The chief
				  administrative officer in charge of a district, or that officer's
				  designee.
(9) Environmental
				  Protection Agency (EPA)--The agency of the federal government with broad
				  responsibilities for environmental protection and enforcement, including air
				  quality, as it relates to this chapter.
(10) Executive director--The executive
				  director of the department or the executive director's designee.
(11) Federal discretionary programs--Programs
				  that provide the U.S. Department of Transportation with discretion to award
				  funds for specific projects outside of the normal transportation fund formulas.
				  The U.S. Congress may designate the projects that are eligible for
				  discretionary program funds and the scope of discretion may vary depending on
				  the applicable statutory provisions.
(12) Federal Highway Administration
				  (FHWA)--The federal agency primarily responsible for highway
				  transportation.
(13) Federal
				  Railroad Administration (FRA)--The federal agency primarily responsible for
				  railroad transportation.
(14)
				  Federal Transit Administration (FTA)--The federal agency primarily responsible
				  for public transportation.
(15)
				  Governor--The governor of the State of Texas.
(16) Letting--The official act of opening
				  contractors' bids for a proposed highway improvement contract to construct,
				  reconstruct, or maintain a segment of the state highway system, or to construct
				  or maintain a building or other facility appurtenant to a building.
(17) Local transportation entity--An entity
				  that participates in the transportation planning process. The term includes but
				  is not limited to:
(A) a metropolitan planning
				  organization;
(B) a rural planning
				  organization;
(C) a regional
				  tollway authority organized under Transportation Code, Chapter 366;
(D) a regional transportation authority
				  operating under Transportation Code, Chapter 452;
(E) a metropolitan rapid transit authority
				  operating under Transportation Code, Chapter 451;
(F) a rural transit district as defined by
				  Transportation Code, §
												458.001;
(G) a coordinated county transportation
				  authority operating under Transportation Code, Chapter 460;
(H) a rural rail transportation district
				  operating under Transportation Code, Chapter 172; and
(I) a commuter rail district operating under
				  Transportation Code, Chapter 174.
(18) Metropolitan planning organization
				  (MPO)--The organization or policy board of an organization created and
				  designated under
				  23 U.S.C. §
												134 and
				  49 U.S.C. §
												5303, as amended, to make transportation
				  planning decisions for the metropolitan planning area and carry out the
				  metropolitan transportation planning process.
(19) Mexican ports of entry--Connections
				  between Mexico and the State of Texas at international bridge crossings of
				  5,000 vehicles or more average daily traffic.
(20) Mobility projects--Transportation
				  projects that add additional mainlanes to an existing highway facility or
				  construct lanes on a new location and have a length of at least one mile, or
				  any projects that otherwise improve transportation facilities for highways,
				  public transportation, or other modes of transportation to decrease travel time
				  and the level or duration of traffic congestion, and to increase the safe and
				  efficient movement of people and freight.
(21) On-system--The system of highways in the
				  state included in a comprehensive plan prepared by the department's executive
				  director under the direction and with the approval of the commission in
				  accordance with Transportation Code, §
											201.103.
(22) Planning organization--A metropolitan
				  planning organization, a rural planning organization, or, for an area that is
				  not in the boundaries of a metropolitan planning organization or a rural
				  planning organization, a district.
(23) Public transportation--Transportation of
				  passengers and their hand carried packages or baggage on a regular or
				  continuing basis by means of surface or water conveyance by a public or private
				  entity that receives financial assistance from the Federal Highway
				  Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the Federal Railroad
				  Administration, the department, or a local political subdivision.
(24) Routes--All or a portion of a selected
				  course of travel between two specific geographic locations.
(25) Rural planning organization (RPO)--A
				  voluntary organization created and governed by local elected officials with
				  responsibility for transportation decisions at the local level, including an
				  organization established by a council of governments or regional planning
				  commission designated by the governor pursuant to Local Government Code,
				  Chapter 391, to address rural transportation priorities and planning and
				  provide recommendations to the department for areas of the state not included
				  in the boundaries of a metropolitan planning organization.
(26) Rural transportation improvement program
				  (RTIP)--A staged, multiyear, intermodal program of transportation projects and
				  public transportation projects developed by the department, in consultation
				  with local officials, for areas of the state outside of the metropolitan
				  planning area boundaries. The RTIP includes a financially constrained plan that
				  demonstrates how the program can be implemented.
(27) State Implementation Plan (SIP)--The
				  latest approved version of the state adopted plan promulgated for each
				  nonattainment or maintenance area to achieve or maintain compliance with the
				  national ambient air quality standards required by the federal Clean Air
				  Act.
(28) Subarea--A geographic
				  area with no predefined size or scale that is located within the boundaries of
				  a designated metropolitan planning area.
(29) Surface Transportation Program
				  (STP)--The funding program established by
				  23 U.S.C. §
												133.
(30) Texas Commission on Environmental
				  Quality (TCEQ)--The state agency responsible for coordination of natural
				  resources and air quality for the state, including development of the State
				  Implementation Plan.
(31) Texas
				  Highway Trunk System--A rural network of four-lane or better divided roadways
				  that will serve as a principal connector of all Texas cities with over 20,000
				  population as well as major ports and points of entry, not to exceed a total
				  system mileage of 11,500 centerline miles.
(32) Transportation control measure
				  (TCM)--Any measure used for the purpose of reducing emissions or concentrations
				  of air pollutants from transportation sources by reducing vehicle use or
				  changing traffic flow or congestion conditions.
(33) Transportation management area (TMA)--An
				  urbanized area with a population over 200,000 as defined by the U.S. Bureau of
				  the Census and designated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, or any
				  additional area where transportation management area designation is requested
				  by the governor and the metropolitan planning organization and designated by
				  the U.S. Secretary of Transportation.
(34) Transportation project--The planning,
				  engineering, right of way acquisition, expansion, improvement, addition, or
				  contract maintenance, other than the routine or contracted routine maintenance
				  of a bridge, highway, toll road or toll road system, or railroad, enhancement
				  of a roadway that increases the safety of the traveling public, air quality
				  improvement initiative, or transportation enhancement activity under
				  23 U.S.C. §
												101.
(35) Transportation reinvestment zone
				  (TRZ)--An area created and designated by a municipality or county under
				  Transportation Code, §§
											222.106
				  -
				  222.108,
				  to promote and fund one or more transportation projects as authorized under
				  that section.
(36) Unified Planning
				  Work Program (UPWP)--The governing planning document, prepared by an MPO on an
				  annual or biennial basis, which identifies the transportation planning work to
				  be undertaken within the metropolitan planning area for the applicable
				  period.