(a) Highway program funding categories. The ten-year unified transportation program (UTP) described in §16.105 of this chapter (relating to Unified Transportation Program (UTP)) will contain the following 12 program funding categories for highway related projects:
  (1) Category 1 Preventive Maintenance and Rehabilitation - preventive maintenance and rehabilitation on the existing state highway system, including:
    (A) Preventive maintenance - minor roadway modifications to improve operations and safety; and
    (B) Rehabilitation - installation, rehabilitation, replacement, and maintenance of pavement, bridges, traffic control devices, traffic management systems, and ancillary traffic devices;
  (2) Category 2 Metropolitan and Urban Corridor Projects - mobility and added capacity projects along a corridor that improve transportation facilities in order to decrease travel time and the level or duration of traffic congestion, and safety, maintenance, or rehabilitation projects that increase the safe and efficient movement of people and freight in metropolitan and urbanized areas;
  (3) Category 3 Non-Traditionally Funded Transportation Projects - transportation related projects that qualify for funding from sources not traditionally part of the state highway fund including state bond financing under programs such as Proposition 12 (General Obligation Bonds), Texas Mobility Fund, pass-through toll financing, unique federal funding, regional toll revenue, and local participation funding;
  (4) Category 4 Statewide Connectivity Corridor Projects - mobility and added capacity projects on major state highway system corridors which provide statewide connectivity between urban areas and corridors, to create a highway connectivity network composed of the Texas Highway Trunk System, National Highway System, and connections from those two systems to major ports of entry on international borders and Texas water ports;
  (5) Category 5 Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement - congestion mitigation and air quality improvement area projects to address attainment of a national ambient air quality standard in the nonattainment areas of the state;
  (6) Category 6 Structures Replacement and Rehabilitation - replacement and rehabilitation of deficient existing bridges located on the public highways, roads, and streets in the state, construction of grade separations at existing highway-railroad grade crossings, and rehabilitation of deficient railroad underpasses on the state highway system;
  (7) Category 7 Metropolitan Mobility and Rehabilitation (TMA) - transportation needs within the boundaries of designated metropolitan planning areas of metropolitan planning organizations located in a transportation management area;
  (8) Category 8 Safety - safety related projects both on and off the state highway system including the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program, Railway-Highway Crossing Program, Safety Bond Program, and High Risk Rural Roads Program;
  (9) Category 9 Transportation Alternatives - transportation related activities as described in Chapter 11, Subchapter G, of this title (relating to the Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Program);
  (10) Category 10 Supplemental Transportation Projects - transportation related projects that do not qualify for funding in other categories, including landscape and aesthetic improvement, erosion control and environmental mitigation, construction and rehabilitation of roadways within or adjacent to state parks, fish hatcheries, and similar facilities, replacement of railroad crossing surfaces, maintenance of railroad signals, construction or replacement of curb ramps for accessibility to pedestrians with disabilities, and miscellaneous federal programs;
  (11) Category 11 District Discretionary - projects eligible for federal or state funding selected at the district engineer's discretion; and
  (12) Category 12 Strategic Priority - projects with specific importance to the state including those that generally promote economic opportunity, increase efficiency on military deployment routes or to retain military assets in response to the federal military base realignment and closure reports, and maintain the ability to respond to both man-made and natural emergencies.
(b) Program funding categories for other modes of transportation and transportation infrastructure. The UTP will contain the following program funding categories for aviation, public transportation, rail, and the state's waterways and coastal waters projects:
  (1) Aviation Capital Improvement Program - projects based on the anticipated funding levels of the Federal Aviation Administration Airport Improvement Program and the Texas Aviation Facilities Development Program for general aviation airport development in Texas;
  (2) Public transportation - projects based on the anticipated funding levels for public transportation including fixed route city bus service, rural demand response service, special transit service for elderly and persons with disabilities, and intercity bus service from city to city;
  (3) Rail - rail related projects including light rail, freight rail, passenger rail, and high-speed rail; and
  (4) State waterways and coastal waters - water related projects including lands, easements, and rights of way for the widening, deepening, and expansion of the main channel of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW), including beneficial use projects of dredged material, and other maritime related projects.
(c) Determination of funding allocations. The commission will use a performance-based process to determine, subject to the mandates of state and federal law, the amount of funds to be allocated to each program funding category described in subsection (a) of this section for the appropriate period of time, in order to achieve established performance outcomes. The commission will determine, subject to the mandates of state and federal law and specific requirements contained in other chapters of this title, the amount of funds to be allocated to each program funding category described in subsection (b) of this section for the appropriate period of time.

Source Note: The provisions of this §16.153 adopted to be effective January 1, 2011, 35 TexReg 8388; amended to be effective November 15, 2012, 37 TexReg 8981; amended to be effective October 12, 2014, 39 TexReg 7945; amended to be effective March 18, 2015, 40 TexReg 1524; amended to be effective January 1, 2017, 41 TexReg 10670