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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1.19.16 TTAC Minutes APPROVED MPOJC TRANSPORTATION TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2016 -10:30 AM EMMA HARVAT HALL, IOWA CITY MEMBERS PRESENT: Coralville: Scott Larson, Vicky Robrock, Ellen Habel Iowa City: Jason Havel, Ron Knoche, Mark Rummel, Geoff Fruin, Johnson County: Tom Brase, Greg Parker North Liberty: Dean Wheatley Tiffin: Doug Boldt University Heights: Wally Heitman University of Iowa: Brian McClatchey Iowa DOT: Catherine Cutler RTBC: Terry Dahms ECICOG: None FHWA: None STAFF PRESENT: Brad Neumann, Darian Nagle-Gamm, Sarah Walz, Emily Bothell 1. CALL TO ORDER; RECOGNIZE ALTERNATES; CONSIDER APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES Neumann called the meeting to order at 10:30 and recognized Ellen Habel as an alternate for Kelly Hayworth (Coralville) and Scott Larson as an alternate for Dan Holderness (Coralville). Dahms moved to approve the minutes for the meeting on September 22, 2015; Knoche seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 2. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA None 3. CONSIDER A RECOMMENDATION TO THE MPOJC URBANIZED AREA POLICY BOARD REGARDING FEDERAL TRANSIT ADMINISTRATION SECTION 65307 TRANSIT OPERATING FORMULA FUNDING APPORTIONMENT FOR FY2016 AND TRANSIT STATISTICS FOR FY2015 Neumann discussed the annual apportionment of FTA 5307 operating assistance for FY16. The $2,426,386 in funds are apportioned to Iowa City Transit, Coralville Transit, and University of Iowa Cambus. Apportionment is based on an approved MPO formula including operating and maintenance cost, locally determined income, revenue miles, and fare revenue. Transit performance statistics based on DOT approved numbers are provided with the memo. In 2015, transit ridership in the metro area was over 7,000,000. The recommended apportionment will be sent to the Board. Knoche moved to approve the recommendation to the Urbanized Area Policy Board; Wheatley seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. 2 4. CONSIDER A RECOMMENDATION TO THE MPOJC URBANIZED AREA POLICY BOARD REGARDING AMENDMENTS TO THE FY16-19 MPOJC TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (TIP) Neumann noted that the DOT had requested two amendments to the FY16-19 TIP. Both amendments are state projects slated to begin in 2019. The projects are the Reconstruction of Forevergreen Road between Park Road and Jones Boulevard and the expansion of I-380 from 4 lanes to 6 lanes from I-80 north through the future Forevergreen Road interchange. Wheatley moved to approve the recommendation to the Urbanized Area Policy Board; Larson seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. 5. CONSIDER A RECOMMENDATION TO THE MPOJC URBANIZED AREA POLICY BOARD REGARDING APPOINTMENT OF A REPRESENTATIVE TO THE STATEWIDE URBAN DESIGN AND SPECIFICATIONS (SUDAS) BOARD OF DIRECTORS Neumann explained that every two years a representative is appointed to the SUDAS Board of Directors which maintains Iowa manuals for public improvement design standards and specifications. The minimum candidacy requirement is to be an engineer working for one of the MPO communities. Scott Larson is the nominee for reappointment. Parker moved to approve the recommendation to the Urbanized Area Policy Board; Wheatley seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. 6. UPDATE ON MPOJC LONG RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLAN (LRTP) REVISION PROCESS AND CONSIDERATION OF SCORING CRITERIA FOR PROJECT NEEDS ASSESSMENT Nagle-Gamm discussed the Long Range Transportation Plan: Future Forward 2045. The LRTP will be the culmination of a multi-year planning process. Last autumn, staff gave several presentations to interested groups. Public workshops will be conducted this spring. Right now, the LRTP has 9 draft goals: economic opportunity, environment, quality of life, system preservation, efficiency, modal choice, safety, health, equity. Staff will seek to tie these goals to policies and projects in the LRTP. In the upcoming weeks, communities will be asked to provide a list of capital transportation projects for years 2017-2045. Staff will check if projects on the lists comply with complete streets policies, observe planning boundaries, indicate matching funds are available, and are eligible for federal funding through the MPO. Project lists must be submitted by resolution or with a letter of approval from an appropriate authority. Nagle-Gamm explained that the LRTP is required to be “fiscally constrained” meaning that all projects in the plan can be covered by projected revenue in the plan timeframe. To accommodate this requirement, projects will be scored according to the Surface Transportation Program’s (STP) scoring criteria which have been adapted to coincide with LRTP’s goals. Using these scoring criteria helps prioritize projects onto two lists: funded and unfunded. There are a few deviations from the STP’s criteria, for example the criterion associated with Economic Opportunity awards points to projects that improve or provide direct access to planned growth area jobs and retail. The criterion associated with Health awards points to projects that address a critical gap in the regional trail network. There are two criterion associated with Equity. The first awards points to projects that improve the transportation network in lower income neighborhoods, and the second awards points to projects that correct ADA non-compliance. Fruin inquired about the weighting of the criteria. 3 Nagle-Gamm replied that the LRTP’s criteria used roughly the same weighting as the current STP criteria, except for the new criteria, and that the criteria and weighting can be changed. Wheatley made an argument to reduce the weighting of the newly introduced low income neighborhood criterion due to it not reflecting the core purpose of the plan. McClatchey agreed with Wheatley’s suggestion of reducing the low income neighborhood criterion due to the assumptions implicitly attached to it. Fruin made an argument for a greater weight on system preservation due to the realities of aging infrastructure. Wheatley asked if the new criteria will become part of the STP criteria. Nagle-Gamm responded that the criteria in question will be used only for long range planning purposes at this time. The LRTP criteria are not specifically tied to funding. McClatchey asked if the LRTP is required to demonstrate that it is not negatively impacting low income or minority areas. Nagle-Gamm replied that there is no burden of proof, but it is part of the guidance to avoid doing so. Knoche asked about the long range planning schedule. Nagle-Gamm responded that this process will repeat itself every five years at which time all the projects will be resubmitted by MPO entities and rescored. Neumann reminded the Committee that there are always opportunities for amendments. Dahms stated that his first impression of the proposed criteria is that trails would receive high scores, but it’s difficult to tell until you actually score projects. Nagle-Gamm expounded that the current scoring criteria merged both the Surface Transportation Program (STP) and Transportation Alternatives (TAP) funding criteria. However this does not mean STP and TAP projects compete with each other. There will be some projects, such as buildings for which the criteria will not apply. McClatchey commented that pedestrian safety is a growing area of concern. Nagle-Gamm related that there are criteria that attempt to address that specifically. Fruin asked if staff had seen criteria that had a flat weighting with one point available per criterion. Nagle-Gamm replied in the affirmative but explained that in such cases the criteria tends to be overly lengthy. In addition, she expressed that weighting allows for policy to place emphasis on problems as they change over time. As an example, in the past a great emphasis had been placed on new construction, while recently more emphasis, from a federal perspective, is being placed on system preservation. The Committee was encouraged to continue suggesting aspects they feel should be emphasized. Habel commented that since criteria can often be categorized under more than one goal, the criteria should not be categorized under a single goal but rather tagged with their applicable goals. Formatting in this manner might prevent the undervaluation of certain criteria. Fruin commented that although he would personally place more emphasis on modal choice he believes, regardless of the criteria, that the complete streets policy ensures considerations of mode choice during project development. 4 Nagle-Gamm clarified that the Committee will make its final criteria recommendation to the Board for consideration at their March meeting. After acquiring public input, the projects will be scored and prioritized for approval by the Urbanized Area Policy Board in May. 7. UPDATE ON THE MPOJC FY17 TRANSPORTATION PLANNING WORK PROGRAM AND FY17-20 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM Nagle-Gamm explained that the Transportation Planning Work Program is a document developed each year to identify which projects will be addressed by the MPO during the following fiscal year. It includes all ongoing projects, routine projects, and special projects requested by member entities as well as all required planning processes and documentation as required by the Federal Highway Administration. The MPO is going to begin soliciting for FY17 work program projects in February. Please feel free to discuss any special projects you have in mind with MPO staff. A draft work program is due by April 1st to Iowa DOT, FHWA, and FTA. The Board will approve the final Work Program in May. Nagle-Gamm noted that the Transportation Improvement Program is a programing document for federally funded transportation projects in the urbanized area. It formalizes when and which projects are to receive federal funds. The Board considers approval of the annual TIP after recommendation from TTAC. In our metro area, funds are distributed every two years. In 2015, the Board apportioned $5.4 million of STP funds and $890,000 of TAP funds. The Board will adopt the FY17-20 TIP this June. 8. UPDATE ON THE IOWA DOT I-380 CORRIDOR TRANSPORTATION STUDY Neumann explained that MPOJC, Coralville, and Iowa City have representatives on a committee investigating the feasibility of express bus service as well as van/car pool services between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. This is being done at the request of the Iowa State Legislature. The committee sent out requests for information regarding a provider for a service for an express bus. DOT sent out about 40 to public and private transit providers and received one return with interest. Right now DOT is looking into following up on why this is the case. Iowa DOT may give a presentation to the Board in March. 9. UPDATE ON FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION LEGISLATION Bothell noted that after numerous extensions to the former bill, the FAST act was passed on December 5th, 2015. The FAST act is a 5 year funding Bill. The Surface Transportation Program is renamed the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBGP) and the sub-allocation of funding to local governments will increase by 1% per year through 2020. The Transportation Alternatives Program is rolled into STBGP and renamed the set-aside. It is possible for regional planning agencies to use up to 50% of this funding for other infrastructure projects. The act also includes new initiatives for freight programs. The DOT will provide us guidance about how the new Bill will affect the MPO. 10. OTHER BUSINESS Wheatley updated the Committee of their project on Penn Street from Kansas back to Alexander Way as well as an upcoming project at the intersection of North Liberty Road and Dubuque Street. Knoche updated the Committee that the Gateway Project will begin in April and that the DOT is in the process of acquiring right of way. 5 Havel updated the Committee that the grade separation project on First Avenue continues through the winter and that completion is expected toward the end of 2016. A Washington Street reconstruction project in downtown Iowa City may begin this year. Larson updated the Committee that the Coral Ridge Avenue Project is wrapping up this spring by finishing an underpass trail. On the horizon is a project located on First Avenue between Sixth Street and Ninth Street which aims to get the existing overhead utilities below ground in preparation for its reconstruction. 11. ADJOURNMENT Fruin moved to adjourn; Knoche seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 11:30.