HPMPO Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

Attachment 1 MINUTES TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE August 26, 2014 TAC MEMBERS PRESENT: Jim Myers –Lexington Neal Grimes – Thomasville Larry Warlick – Archdale Becky Smothers – High Point Keith Volz – Jamestown Clyde Lynn Reece – Wallburg Steve Shell – Davidson County TCC MEMBERS PRESENT: Greg Venable, Guy Cornman, Hemal Shah, Darius Sturdivant, Mark McDonald, Bryan Fulbright, Ed Lewis, Mike Mills, Pat Ivey, Diane Hampton, Chuck Dumas, Jeff Loflin, Matthew Johnson, Heidi Galanti, Angela Wynes, Scott Rhine, and Julie Maybe. OTHERS PRESENT: Cynthia Davis (HP P&Z), Senanu Ashiabor (Intermodal Logistics Consulting), Karel Van Der Linden (Davidson County Airport), Tamara Makhlouf (NCDOT Division 7). RECORDING SECRETARY: Marianne Janiszewski, City of High Point Item 1: Reading of the Ethics Statement. Becky Smothers read the Ethics Awareness and Conflict of Interest Reminder. No one had any conflicts. ACTION ITEMS Item 2: Public Comment Period Becky opened up the public comment period. No one spoke. Becky closed the public comment period. Several people introduced themselves. Tamara Makhlouf, a graduate of NC A&T introduced herself as a Trainee with NCDOT. She will be going through different units in DOT and she is currently training with Division 7. Senanu Ashiabor introduced himself as a private consultant Transportation Planner. Chuck Damas from Division 8 also introduced himself. Item 3: Consideration of the June 24, 2014 TAC meeting minutes. There was no change to the minutes. 1 Attachment 1 Motion by: Jim Myers Seconded: Keith Volz Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 4: Presentation on the Central Park Bicycle Plan. Jesse Day gave a presentation on the Central Park Bicycle Plan. You can view additional information at www.ptrc.org/cpbp. Becky brought up the danger the bikers pose when riding in groups. Mr. Day stated that he brings this fact up when he teaches bicycle safety class. Becky asked if this plan included the greenways? Mr. Day stated that they are considering it but currently the only off road plan was done in the heart of the Uwharrie Forest. A motion was made to endorse the bicycle plan. Motion by: Neal Grimes Seconded: Jim Myers Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 5: Consideration of a resolution of support for Davidson County Community College’s Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) project. Davidson County was awarded CMAQ funding for a project in Davidson County. The original project could not be constructed for various reasons so a new project was identified at the Davidson County Community College campus. This money will be used to build some additional sidewalks and bus stops and shelters. The College is going to pay the local match. It is a $200,000 project with a 20% local match of $40,000. These improvements will be in the area where the new ECU Dental Clinic is located. With all CMAQ funding, if it is not used or cannot be used NCDOT reallocates that funding to other areas in the state. However because the MPO has identified a need for the funding we are able to use that funding within our MPO. Becky asked Scott Rhine from PART if this would be a possible route deviation? Scott stated that the county is going through a plan development process which will address these issues. Motion by: Jim Myers Seconded: Keith Volz 2 Attachment 1 Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 6: Consideration of a resolution of support for the Town of Jamestown’s CMAQ project. Jamestown is submitting a CMAQ application to fund a sidewalk project in their community on Oakdale Road. These funds were originally awarded to the Town of Denton but they were unable to use these funds so they were reverted back to the MPO. If not used in our MPO these funds will revert back to NCDOT to be redistributed in other areas. Chuck Smith stated that this project is #3 on the Jamestown Master Pedestrian Plan. These additional funds would be used to extend the sidewalk down to Oakdale Rd connecting to the downtown area. This project will be crossing a major railroad corridor. If anyone has any insights on how to work with the railroad it would be appreciated. They have been in discussion with the railroad for six years. Mark stated that they will look at the Hoskins Road project for information. Motion by: Jim Myers Seconded: Keith Volz Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 7: Consideration of a request by PART for a portion of Federal Section 5307 funding. At our June TAC meeting Scott Rhine, Executive Director of PART, requested $400,000 of Federal Section 5307 funds from the High Point MPO. This is the second year these funds have been requested. They are federal funds related to map 21. Every year the City of High Point receives urbanized area funds which are funds that are in excess of the allocation for what is in the budget for the Hi tran system and any other capital investments. PART is also asking Burlington, Greensboro and Winston-Salem for funds. These funds will support PART Express service and subsidize the local dollars to incorporate more activities related to their service. Motion by: Jim Myers Seconded: Keith Volz Vote: 3 Attachment 1 For: Unanimous Against: None Item 8: Consideration of amendments to the High Point MPO Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP). There are several amendments to the MTIP. Greg brought one specific project to the member’s attention which was a request by the City of Lexington for additional CMAQ funding for project C5208 to replace the existing heavy duty refuse truck with a hybrid truck. Motion by: Jim Myers Seconded: Keith Volz Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 9: Consideration of the NCDOT Strategic Transportation Investment (STI) Local Point Assignments for Candidate Projects from the High Point Urban Area MPO. The High Point MPO staff has a total of 3200 local input points to assign to projects in the High Point MPO area, 1600 to the regional level and 1600 to the division level. There is a maximum of 100 points that can be assigned per project. The priority list of projects was out for public review and comment from June 5, 2014 to July31, 2014. A public hearing was held at our June 24th TAC meeting. Two citizens spoke at the public hearing, both concerning the NC109 project. The NC109 project was only awarded 50 points by the High Point MPO because Winston- Salem is awarding the other 50 points. Division 9 also awarded 100 points to that project. The MPO can put 100 points on the regional level and 100 points on the division level and this was done on the Winston Road project in Lexington, the Community College Interchange, and the I-74/NC68 interchange. There was 100 points on the regional project in PART but because of the way funding works on transit projects it would not have been beneficial to put 100 points on this project. Because of this there was 100 additional regional points available which are normally awarded to the next project on the list. Because the next project on the list was a low scoring project there are two rail projects in Division 7 and Division 9. TCC decided to put the additional 100 points to the rail project in Division 7. The project is located in Jamestown. Division 7 is also putting 100 points on this project. The point assignments must be turned in by August 29, 2014. There was a lengthy discussion about point assignment and Becky had some concerns about the Strategic Transportation Investment process. Becky stated that there is not enough money from revenues and the unwillingness of the legislature to face reality. 4 Attachment 1 Motion by: Jim Myers Seconded: Keith Volz Vote: For: 6 Against: 1 Information Items Item 10: Consideration to appoint a transit representative as a voting member to the TAC. One of the requirements of Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP 21), the legislation for transportation funding, is that all MPO’s shall appoint a transit representative to the Board as a voting member. This transit representative shall be determined by the other TAC members. Legislation does not state that the member has to be an elected official but Greg will look into it more. This member has to be appointed by October 1, 2014. Mark and Greg have discussed that the individual that is appointed will represent the entire MPO. They have looked at possibly appointing someone from PART. Action will be taken at the September meeting. AGENCY REPORTS Item 11: Division Engineers Report Division 7 Mike Mills reported that the signal design plans are pending for the SPOT Safety Project in High Point. The let date on this project is Fall, 2014. The High Point Rd. project is 48% complete, with 38% on the construction schedule. The Bonner/Millis Rd. intersection was opened on July 14. There has been a design change on the Skeet Club Rd. project. It will be a 4 lane divided roadway from Hwy 68 to Poplar Creek and will transition down to a 3 lane curb and gutter section with sidewalk from Poplar Creek to Johnson St. This project will be let in January 2015. The safety project on Groomtown Rd. at NC 62 will be let in November, 2014 and right of way access is in progress. The I- 74/US 311 and NC 68 project is pending STI review. They hope to have a schedule in December, 2014. The Division has agreed to this becoming a division project. The streetscape projects on N. Main St. at Lexington Ave. in High Point are currently under review. The bridge on Baker Rd. over Richland Creek is currently under construction and is 93% complete. The design-build project on Groomtown Rd. is underway. An agreement has been executed on the Bridge project over Bouldin Rd. and the design is in progress. Division 8 Darius Sturdivant reported that there are several resurfacing projects underway. 5 Attachment 1 Division 9 Diane Hampton reported that the bridge project over Dykers Creek is 28% complete. Yadkin College Road is going to be closed until the bridge is completed. The grade separation project on Turner Rd. is 58% complete and the road will be closed for 4 months until the bridge over Hamby Creek is completed. The bridge project on Denton Rd. over Lick Creek is 81% complete. They are almost finished with the railing and grading is 90% complete. There are four projects under development. The project on Hickory Tree Rd. is scheduled to be let in November, 2014. The replacement bridge on the I-85 surface road is scheduled to be let in October, 2014. The open graded friction course on I-85 is complete. Some funds are still remaining in this contract so additional work may be let to pave another section of I-85 in Davidson County. Item 12: NCDOT Transportation Planning Branch Report. Hemal reported that she is currently working on the HPMPO Comprehensive Transportation Plan Roadway Inventory and will be pulling in Davidson County and the City of Lexington’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan to HPMPO’s. Item 13: Triad Air Awareness. No one was present. Item 14: Hi tran Report Angela reported that ridership was slightly down from FY13 to FY14. Some of that comes from the fact that as the economy slowly gets better there are less students going to school so the GTCC bus is not as packed as in the past. Angela is currently working on the Short Range Transit Plan. The next meeting is September 9 at 4:00 at the HP Museum at which the consulting team will give their initial recommendation based off the information they gathered during the existing conditions phase. Hi tran will run some of these recommendations by other transit partners across the region as well as the planning department. Item 15: PART Report Scott Rhine reported that Scott did not have any more information to share. Becky brought up the fact that there was a jump pump ride free day and there was a 32.3% increase in ridership that day. Item 16: MPO Staff Report Greg handed out the Draft Memorandum of Agreement between the HPMPO and the Cabarrus Rowan Metropolitan Planning Organization (CRMPO) for the transfer of planning responsibility and authority of designated portions of the Cabarrus/Rowan urbanized area located within the Davidson County limits. Item 17: Other Business There was no other business. The meeting was adjourned. 6