The Houston-Galveston Area Council is accepting public input to update its transportation plan to serve as the framework for future road projects in the Greater Houston area.

"Our vision for the plan is to have a safe multimodal system to increase our region's competitiveness," said Isaac Ramirez, chief transportation planner for the Houston-Galveston Area Council.

The five goals of the 2040 Regional Transportation Plan in the Greater Houston area include—increasing safety, managing and mitigating congestion, strong asset management and operations, strengthening regional economic competiveness as well as conserving and protecting natural and cultural resources.

Ramirez said H-GAC officials began a campaign to solicit community input to update the plan about a year and a half ago. H-GAC officials have met with several leaders throughout the Houston area including Tomball to receive input, and many regions are conducting their own mobility studies. Early this fall, the council is planning to host several public outreach sessions to gather additional input from community stakeholders and residents, Ramirez said.

"In terms of where we are in our planned development process, we are still working on identifying a reasonable revenue estimate [for executing the plan]," Ramirez said. "Our RTP subcommittee is offering input on priorities."

In 2010, H-GAC officials adopted the 2035 RTP Update to address financial concerns posed from the 2008 recession and the effect on future transportation projects, according to H-GAC's website. The plan is typically updated every four years to adequately address new concerns in the transportation landscape of the Greater Houston area, Ramirez said.

"If we were to assume everything stays the same in revenue mechanisms, the $77 billion of our baseline shows we can maybe barely afford our existing plan [from 2010]," Ramirez said.

Ramirez said H-GAC officials have proposed different options to increase the amount of funding for more transportation projects in the region based on whether the Texas Transportation Funding Amendment is passed by voters in the November election. The outcome of the vote for the amendment will determine whether money from oil and gas production tax revenue can be used to help fund the state's transportation projects.

"We are hopeful and optimistic that [the Texas Transportation Funding Amendment] will be successful, but we also have to make sure we're operating at the most optimal outcome with other alternatives," Ramirez said.

Based on the RTP plan update in 2010, the population of the Greater Houston area was 5.8 million, and 65 percent of those residents were located outside Beltway 8. For the 2040 plan, the population is expected to grow to 9.5 million in the area and 71 percent of residents are anticipated to live outside Beltway 8. In addition, employment in the region is expected to increase from 2.7 million in 2010 to 4.1 million by 2040.

Ramirez said H-GAC expects to develop specific recommendations with the help of its committee within the next month and finalize the 2040 plan by early 2015.

For more information, visit www.2040plan.org.