On August 15, 2018 the Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Department was notified that they had been selected to participate in the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Measuring Multimodal Network Connectivity Pilots Program, an effort aimed at improving pedestrian and bicycle network connectivity in the Houston-Galveston region.

This Pilot Program is part of the FHWA's greater effort to advance the use of analytical tools and performance measures in planning bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. As such, under its Measuring Multimodal Network Connectivity Pilots funding opportunity, FHWA requested cities and regions to test and provide feedback on pedestrian and bicycle multimodal connectivity performance measures. These network connectivity performance measures are presented in FHWA’s Guidebook for Measuring Multimodal Network Connectivity. H-GAC will conduct one or more local pilots to test multimodal connectivity performance measures between September 2018 and September 2019. The pilot would result in a number of deliverables, including: a case study, “How-to” guidance documents detailing how a local government can complete a connectivity performance measurement review on its own, and a final report.

The federal grant funds will be administered through the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). H-GAC is in the process of working with TxDOT to develop an Advanced Funding Agreement and looks forward to beginning work on this project, if authorized by the Board of Directors,  later this month. The City of Sugar Land, City of Houston, and METRO have committed to participate in the effort. Additional participants include members of the H-GAC Pedestrian-Bicyclist Subcommittee.

Federal: $100,000 (FHWA) Local: $25,000 (City of Sugar Land)

No

Request authorization to contract with TxDOT in an amount not to exceed $125,000 ($100,000 Federal, $25,000 Local). (Staff Contact: Alan Clark)