The Houston-Galveston Area Council board of directors voted Tuesday to allocate additional funding to a new program that, when launched, will send tow trucks to move broken-down and stalled vehicles off Houston highways.

The $178,800 approved will pay for an education outreach campaign to alert the public about the program, said Alan Clark, director of transportation planning.

Although Clark could not provide a definite start date for the program, he said it should begin “within months.”

Clark said H-GAC, which distributes federal dollars to local transportation projects, is finalizing agreements with the city of Houston and putting together details of the program.

“The purpose of this is to reduce crashes and delays and to protect public safety,” Clark said.

 

Job funds accepted

The board also voted to accept about $10.5 million from the federal government that will be used to fund temporary work for people who lost their jobs due to Hurricane Harvey.

In addition to creating the temporary work positions, the money will pay for job training as well, said Mike Temple, director of human services.

Temple estimated the money would fund about 400 full-time jobs that would last about one year.

“The bulk of this money will go to wages and benefits and assistance to those temporary workers.”

Temple told the board similar funding was received after Hurricane Ike.

“It took a while to get that program moving, but it went well in the end,” he said.