Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta was elected chairman of the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Policy Council in January. Sebesta will lead the group that allocates federal and state funding for thoroughfare projects in the region.

One of the longest-tenured members of the TPC, Sebesta will serve for a 10th year.

“It’s a committee I enjoy being on,” he said. “Most of the transportation projects for the region come through that committee. It’s good to have that knowledge of what’s going on and to have a little bit of a say on the projects. It’s a great honor to be selected by the other members of the committee to be chairman.”

Every few years, H-GAC puts out a call for projects, Sebesta said. The Transportation Advisory Committee reviews submitted projects and ranks each based on factors such as economic benefit and traffic count. The committee then presents recommendations to the TPC.

“There’s always many more projects than there are [available] dollars,” Sebesta said.

Sebesta said he hopes funding from voter-approved state constitutional amendments—Propositions 1 and 7 in 2014 and 2015, respectively—will ease traffic congestion problems he sees continuing in the region.