HPMPO Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

Attachment 1 MINUTES TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE June 23, 2015 TAC MEMBERS PRESENT: Jim Myers –Lexington Neal Grimes – Thomasville Larry Warlick – Archdale Cheryl McQueary – NCDOT Board Division 7 Steve Shell – Davidson County TCC MEMBERS PRESENT: Greg Venable, Guy Cornman, Hemal Shah, Bryan Fulbright, Roger Jones, Jeff York, Zeb Holden, Scott Rhine, Jesse Day, Ed Lewis, Heidi Galanti, Diane Hampton, Darius Sturdivant, Mark McDonald, Angela Wynes, Mike Mills, and Carrie Spencer. OTHERS PRESENT: John Hanes (Transportation Planning), Vickie Embry (COHP Transportation), Leigh Gill (Citizen), Senanu Ashiabor (Intermodal Logistics Consulting Inc.), RECORDING SECRETARY: Marianne Janiszewski, City of High Point Item 1: Reading of the Ethics Statement. Neal Grimes read the Ethics Awareness and Conflict of Interest Reminder. No one had any conflicts. Item 2: Public Comment Period Neal opened up the public comment period. No one spoke. Neal closed the public comment period. ACTION ITEMS Item 3: Consideration of the April 28, 2015 TAC meeting minutes. There was one correction to the minutes. Darius Sturdivant gave the Division 8 report not Jeff Loflin. Motion by: Cheryl McQueary Seconded: Jim Myers Vote: For: Unanimous 1 Attachment 1 Against: None Item 4: Consideration to release the DRAFT 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) for public review and comment. Staff is in the process of updating the DRAFT 2040 MTP and Air Quality Conformity Determination, previously known as the LRTP. We are requesting approval to release the document on July 13, 2015. As part of the High Point MPO’s Public Participation Policy, the MTP is required to be available for a minimum 30 day public review and comment period. The public comment period will end on August 31, 2015 allowing for a 50 day public review and comment period. Staff has scheduled five public meetings during the public comment period throughout the MPO. Below are the dates of those public meetings. They will all take place from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Staff will be putting out a story map of the MPO and the MTIP. It is an interactive map that you can click on and it will give you information on that particular item. Once the public comment period ends MPO staff will review any comments received and make any changes to the draft document if needed. All public comments will be included in the public participation chapter of the document. Staff will be requesting approval of the Final 2040 MTP at our September 22, 2015 TAC meeting. • Public Comment period begins - July 13, 2015 • Public Meeting #1, Davidson County Library, Lexington - July 28, 2015 • Public Meeting #2, Deep River Recreation Center, High Point - August 6, 2015 • Public Meeting #3, Archdale Library, Archdale - August 11, 2015 • Public Meeting #4, Community and Neighborhood Development Building, High Point - August 20, 2015 • Public Meeting #5, Davidson County Library, Thomasville – August 25, 2015 • Public Comment period ends – August 31, 2015 • TAC approval – September 22, 2015 Motion by: Larry Warlick Seconded: Jim Myers Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 5: Consideration to release the DRAFT 2016-2025 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) out for public review and comment. Recently NCDOT approved the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). As part of the STIP process all MPOs across North Carolina must develop and approve a 2 Attachment 1 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP) for their areas. With the release of the 2016-2025 STIP the projects in the MTIP are modeled in the correct horizon year and that the MTIP is a subset of the MTP. Staff is requesting the TAC to consider placing the Draft 2016-2025 MTIP out for public review and comment. Both the MTIP and the MTP will go out for public review and comment together along with the Conformity Determination Report. Once the comment period is complete staff will request approval of the MTIP at the September TAC meeting. Cheryl Mcqueary asked why if the Board of Transportation approved this for the State and this is how the State is going to fund why there has to be a public comment period and a vote needed from the TAC. Greg stated that the MPO has to approve at the local level our version of the TIP. Motion by: Jim Myers Seconded: Larry Warlick Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 6: Consideration of amendments to the 2012-2018 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program. These types of amendments will be presented at each TAC meeting until the MTIP is officially approved at the federal level in October. The list of amendments is included in the TAC packet. Motion by: Cheryl McQueary Seconded: Larry Warlick Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 7: Consideration of a resolution of support for placing the Connect NC Bonds Initiative on the November 2015 ballot. Governor McCrory’s 25-Year Vision for transportation recognizes the need to pursue alternative funding solutions, such as public-private partnerships and bond strategies that will allow the state to take advantage of current low interest rates to deliver vital infrastructure improvements for North Carolina. Governor McCrory has proposed two bonds of approximately $1.4 billion – one each for roads and public infrastructure. The Jamestown Bypass is the only project on the list that is in the High Point MPO. Cheryl 3 Attachment 1 McQueary stated that this resolution is not asking the TAC to approve or disapprove the bond. It is asking the General Assembly to put the bond on the ballot so the citizens of NC can vote on it. There are six modes of transportation within NC. There are highways, rail, aviation, public transit, bike and ped, and ferries. There are four other transportation assets that DOT watches over. These are the DMV, the Global Trans Park in Kinston, NC, the two NC ports, and the NC Turnpike Authority. Transportation is the largest capital asset in the State of NC. There is over $47 billion invested in transportation and the replacement cost for that asset would be $570 billion. There are 104 billion miles traveled a year. We have 760 million tons of freight a year and there are 30 hours a year spent in congestion. NC is one of three states that pay for county roads and this is why our transportation costs tend to be a little higher. Cheryl went over the transportation costs and maps indicating where these projects are located. There are two bonds, the Highway Bond which is $1.37 billion and the Infrastructure Bond which is $1.40 billion. Motion by: Steve Shell Seconded: Jim Myers Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 8: Consideration of a resolution to request the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for a design exception to designate US 52 as Interstate 285 from Interstate 85 in Davidson County to Interstate 40 in Winston Salem. The idea of designating US 52, from Interstate 85 in Davidson County to Interstate 40 in Winston-Salem, as an Interstate highway has been discussed since 2003 when officials from Davidson County and the City of Winston-Salem requested the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) for the highway to be designated as an Interstate highway to help boost economic development for the area. In 2003, the NCDOT applied to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) for the highway to be signed as Interstate 185, however, ASHTO approved of the Interstate 285 designation on September 8, 2005 after the FHWA approved of the number on June 29, 2005. When US 52 was extended to Business Interstate 85 several years ago, the new section was built to Interstate standards, however, the older sections of US 52 - south of Interstate 40 and north of Interstate 85 were still not to Interstate standards. The primary problems involved deficient shoulders - whether there was curb and gutter present or the lack of proper widths and to sign the highway as Interstate 285 required NCDOT to make improvements to the highway to bring it fully up to Interstate standards. A project to bring the highway up to Interstate standards was initiated by NCDOT in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) and called R-4750. During the economic downturn of the late 2000's, the Winston-Salem Urban Area Metropolitan 4 Attachment 1 Planning Organization (MPO) determined the STIP funds should be used on higher priority projects and requested the project be shelved. The section of US 52 in Davidson County outside of our MPO still needed to be upgraded and the project was supported by the Piedmont Triad Rural Planning Organization. The portion of US 52 not located in the Winston-Salem MPO currently is in the High Point MPO. Motion by: Cheryl McQueary Seconded: Jim Myers Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 9: Consideration of a resolution approving the programming of Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds for High Point MPO projects. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) announced the release of federal CMAQ funds for the High Point MPO for Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017. The funds are eligible to be programmed for projects in Fiscal Year 2016, which runs from October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016, and for projects in Fiscal Year 2017, which runs from October 1, 2016 through September 30, 2017. NCDOT has allocated $1,238,762 in CMAQ funds for both Fiscal Year 2016 and Fiscal Year 2017 for the MPO for a grand total of $2,477,524 (see enclosed table). The information for FY 16 has to be turned into the State by July 15. The High Point Greenway connection between the greenway and the bicentennial greenway project is seeking the first $1.2 million in funding. This is approximately a $3 million project for which we have $2 million available and will need the additional $1 million in funds. We are in the process of evaluating several projects for the $1.2 million of funds available in 2017. PART and Hitran have requested some funding. The information for the 2017 funding has to be turned into the State by October 15. The required 20% local match of $619,381 means that a total of $3,096,905 may be programmed for eligible CMAQ projects. This averages to $1,548,453 of CMAQ/local funds per year for the MPO to program. Be aware that each jurisdiction will be responsible for the 20% local match of a project if that project is selected for funding. Emissions analysis is currently being calculated and a final project ranking will be presented to the TAC for funding approval. Motion by: Jim Myers Seconded: Cheryl McQueary Vote: For: Unanimous 5 Attachment 1 Against: None Information Items: Item 10: Small Construction Projects Fund Overview. Cheryl McQueary presented an overview of small construction project funds. Out of total funding of $4.3 billion, 1% will be used for small construction projects. The money is split up between contingency, SPOT safety, small urban and economic development. The first set of money is the contingency plan. Under the current budget there is $12 million and these funds are typically used for improvements to transportation systems and facilities. These funds can be used turn lanes, signs, paths, drainage, etc. There is a little over $12 million in the current budget for SPOT safety projects. These are highway safety projects and there is a cap of $400,000 per project. The types of safety projects you can do are turn lanes, flashers, roadway realignment, as well as widening curbs, guardrail installation, etc. The access and public service funds can be used for school projects up to $50,000 per school site, up to $25,000 per site for paving of driveways for fire departments and EMS facilities, $1,000 per new job for access roads and road improvements. The small construction fund has $5 million with each Division receiving $357,000. The proposed budget only allows for $175,000 - $180,000 per Division. AGENCY REPORTS Item 11: NCDOT Board of Transportation Report. Cheryl McQueary reported that The Board of Transportation passed the STIP unanimously. Any projects in the 5 year plan gets funded and any project in years 6-10 will be reviewed again. There are changes being suggested for prioritization 4.0. If these get approved Cheryl will present those at a future meeting. Item 13: Division Engineer’s Reports. Division 7 Ed Lewis reported that there will be a public meeting later this fall on the I-74/US 311 and NC 68 interchange improvements. The is the potential of noise walls being constructed on this project. He reviewed the HiCams projects which is the active project tracking system. Division 8 Darious Sturdivant reviewed the 2016-2025 Draft STIP Projects. Under active projects, I-5314 project which is the improvements on I-85 was completed last week. The resurfacing projects should be completed within the next two weeks. The Prospect Street bridge replacement project was let on June 16. ROW has been recorded and Utility relocation is in progress on the Braxton Craven Rd. bridge replacement project. This project is expected to be let on January 17, 2016. Division 9 6 Attachment 1 Diane Hampton reported that the Wilcox Bridge transfer is moving along. They are working on the survey process and will hopefully be wrapping up the process this summer and transferring the bridge over to Davidson County. The R-4750 project bridge work has started and are expecting completion in November. The Hickory Tree Rd. project is under way and expected to be completed in August. The B-3159 project which is the US 52/NC 8 interchange on B 85 will be let in October. There is going to be a noise wall installed along the frontage road near the school. They are trying to match the pattern of the noise wall with the abutments on the bridge. A future project that will adjoin the B-3159 project is the Winston Rd. Streetscape which will start in FY2019. The grade separation on Upper Lake Rd. and Turner Rd. are complete. Item 10: Triad Air Awareness. No one was present. Item 13: NCDOT Transportation Planning Branch Report. Hemal Shah introduced Teresa Pincus from the associate program who will be working with the planning branch for the next twelve weeks. Item 14: Hi tran Report Angela had nothing to report. Item 15: PART Report Scott Rhine stated that the Draft Conformity Determination Report has been completed. It is currently being reviewed by Federal Highways. This will go along with the release for public comment of the MTP as well as the TIP. Item 16: Other Business There will be no meeting in July. There was no other business. The meeting was adjourned. 7