Everett Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

TAC MINUTES February 19, 2015 In attendance: Members Staff Guests Victor Harris Michael Brick, Public Works Keri Moore (Sno. Health District) Tom Norcott Jeffrey Marks, Public Works J.T. Dray Tim Miller, Public Works William Weber Ryan Sass, Public Works Edward Koltonowski Trevor Townsend, Police Shawn Smith Ken Dorn, Police Kris Hausmann George Baxter, Transit 8:15 a.m. William Weber called the meeting to order.  Approval of January 2015 minutes postponed until corrections are made. Announcements & Requests to Add Agenda Items  Victor requested an update on the Mukilteo multi-modal project connected to the ferry dock.  Victor also requested information on the zone parking around the Trinity Lutheran Housing proposal, as well as an assessment of parking on Broadway for other low income housing and maintaining a pedestrian orientation focus. Citizen’s Comments  None. Engineering Report  Ryan informed the committee that the Broadway Bridge project was going well. Timelapse video showed the demolition of the bridge. Ryan stated that the contractor works within a 6 hour window and that the demolition went smoothly.  Ryan stated that the 2015 pavement maintenance project is the largest he can recall., at $4 million. $1 million is being provided by federal funds, with additional funding coming from Snohomish County and WSDOT. Projects will begin this summer. Tom asked if there was a determination on which roads are to be paved. Ryan replied that there is a Pavement Maintenance System for prioritizing pavement maintenance.  Tim Miller briefly spoke about the crosswalk and bus stop located at the Performing Arts Center on Wetmore. There has been some talk with Transit to possibly move the bench. Police Report  None.   J.T. reported he had heard the Mayor say Police would have a permanent location at Everett Station. Sgt. Dorn replied that this may occur once staffing is back to a proper level. In the meantime, a kiosk is being set up at 12th and Rainier. Victor talked about his time as a cab driver and witnessing disturbances in that particular area. Sgt. Dorn stated that Police attention is being provided to the neighborhood.  Additional discussion ensued about the transients underneath the overpass at the Gospel mission near 36th.  Edward asked about the Broadway Bridge SB detour route on California heading eastbound. He wondered if there was more cut-through traffic with higher rates of speeding. Sgt. Dorn stated he had not heard of anything. Transit Report  George announced that Transit is beginning to look at the routes/schedules for changing in August. He stated that the budget was not flush; however, it wasn’t bleak, so revisions will only be minor. Transit will be looking to shift hours from non-productive trips. Route 7 will be reviewed (College Station through Broadway, Evergreen to the Everett Mall Station), as this route transports 50% of ET’s daily ridership. There will be public outreach in the coming months for these service level changes.  George also talked about ET vacating the Durham lot on Everett Ave and Pine. Transit will be looking at ways of reducing operational costs, and this is one of the things on the table. Transit’s goal is to maintain sustainable budget levels.  Discussion ensued about the CT bus zones. George said CT bus zones in the City are maintained by ET. ET and CT share many of the same bus stops.  It was revealed that the North Broadway Improvement Project was being discussed in Olympia this week, which will address bus bulbs in the corridor. The bus bulbs only need to be long enough to cover both doors. This will result in less parking impact than at present. George said Transit will need support from traffic engineering for the project.  Additional discussion came up about the Swift 2 project, going from Canyon Park up 527 and across Airport road to Seaway. It was mentioned that the BRT project is contingent upon CT raising their sales tax, which is twice as much as collected in Everett. ET will be working with CT on this project, as it touches Boeing. Tom asked if the sales tax increase would be permanent, or just for construction. George said typically such increases were permanent, but he couldn’t say for certain if that was CT’s plan.  There was additional discussion on the proposed bus bulbs on North Broadway. George said that ET would need to review each current bus stop and where to relocate to mitigate impacts. ET will have to work with traffic engineers to make this happen. Ed stated that the bus bulbs on Broadway requires a larger discussion, as Broadway is the last 5-lane arterial in Everett. George stated 43 buses have been struck on N Broadway while stopped at bus zones. He recalled how Colby and Rucker used to have more lanes, but are now reduced. He felt the decision needs to be made at a philosophical level at the bus bulbs may affect the roadway capacity Ryan mentioned previous studies showed Broadway has a cut-through rate of about 35%.  Victor asked about the potential changes to Route 7. He wondered if there could be a Route 7 Express from downtown to the Mall that would not conflict with Swift. George replied that ET and Swift have different destination stops, so there shouldn’t be any conflicts. He also stated a modified Route 7 is a possibility, and that ridership on Route 7 and Swift along these routes  has increased. J.T. asked for more clarification on the Route 7 corridor. George stated there may be service increases on Route 7 because the current articulated buses have reached their end of life. They will be replaced with standard 40’ coaches.  There was additional discussion surrounding the Northwest and Delta Neighborhoods regarding parking with the college. It was noted that a greater push was needed to have students move to Transit, and that a plan to make it attractive to students needed to be considered. EvCC already offers discounted ORCA cards to students at $45/quarter. Some discussion on how other college campuses in other cities induced public transit ridership incentives was considered. George stated that their data shows new riders on ET are younger . Agenda Items: Item 1: Broadway Bridge Detour Implementation  Tim Miller presented an overview of the new detour, noting so far it has been extremely successful. There has even been positive feedback from professional drivers. Though it is going well, we cannot gauge at this time the overall success rate. Drivers who have taken other routes to avoid the construction may return in a few months, impacting the traffic flows. However, at this stage, it is working very well. Edward asked if we can remove the westbound right turn arrow on Everett at Broadway. Ryan answered saying it would not be removed as it is an integral part of the northbound detour plan. Item 2: Residential Parking Permit Program Revision  Michael Brick gave a presentation detailing the current parking permit boundaries where the City has legal authority and how they might look in a new boundary proposal. New boundaries would expand this authority to allow the RPZ to potentially cover all neighborhoods in north Everett. In moving forward, with TAC concurrence, Traffic Engineering will begin the process of expanding the RPZ boundaries and prepare the revised RPZ Ordinance. TAC will be asked dor concurrence of the updated RPZ ordinance once it is drafted. Some discussion ensued surrounding the nature and sale of guest permits and abuse prevention with the proposed zones. Tom and Victor requested to continue the discussion next meeting. Meeting adjourned at 9:50 am The Next Scheduled Meeting is March 19, 2015