HPMPO Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC)

Attachment 1 MINUTES TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE October 27, 2015 TAC MEMBERS PRESENT: Jim Myers –Lexington Neal Grimes – Thomasville Larry Warlick – Archdale Cheryl McQueary – NCDOT Board Division 7 Fred McClure – Davidson County Clyde Lynn Reece – Wallburg Larry Ward – Denton Bill Bencini – High Point Keith Volz - Jamestown TCC MEMBERS PRESENT: Greg Venable, Guy Cornman, Hemal Shah, Bryan Fulbright, Roger Jones, Zeb Holden, Jesse Day, Ed Lewis, Diane Hampton, Scott Rhine, Marty Tillman, Marc Allred, Heidi Galanti, Chuck Smith, John Gray, Mark McDonald, Pat Ivey, Mike Mills, Lorelei Elkins, Angela Wynes, Raven Gore, and Carrie Spencer. OTHERS PRESENT: John Hanes (Transportation Planning), Gwen Ford (GIS Analyst), Vickie Embry(COHP Transportation), Cari Hopson (Transportation Planning), Mary Jane Akerman (Thomasville City Schools), Leigh Gill (Citizen), Randy McCaslin (COHP), Cynthia Davis (HP City Council), Beth Fornadley Johnson (Active Routes to School), Jennifer Delcourt (Active Routes to School) 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 September 22, 2015 TAC meeting minutes. There were no corrections to the minutes. Motion by: Cheryl McQueary 1 Attachment 1 Seconded: Larry Ward Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 4: Consideration of resolution of support for Archdale Pedestrian Plan. The NCDOT Division of Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation and the Transportation Planning Branch created an annual matching grant program – the Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Grant Initiative – to encourage municipalities to develop comprehensive bicycle plans and pedestrian plans. This program was initiated in January 2004 and is currently administered through NCDOT-DBPT. Archdale is submitting an application for a pedestrian planning grant and is requesting an endorsement resolution from the MPO. Zeb Holden stated that the opportunity is for bike or pedestrian or both together. The City of Archdale has been aggressive over the years in expanding their greenway system and sidewalks for improved pedestrian network and they have an adopted pedestrian plan but are hoping to pursue this grant to get a more in depth plan in place. Motion by: Jim Myers Seconded: Cheryl McQueary Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None Item 5: Consideration of amendments to the 2016-2025 MTIP. Section 5307 (49 U.S.C. § 5307) is a formula grant program for urbanized areas providing capital, operating, and planning assistance for mass transportation. This program was initiated by the Surface Transportation Act of 1982 and became FTA's primary transit assistance program in FY 1984. Funds are apportioned to urbanized areas utilizing a formula based on population, population density, and other factors associated with transit service and ridership. Section 5307 is funded from both General Revenues and Trust Funds. PART is requesting a portion of 5307 funds allocated to High Point be redirected to PART to be utilized for the 2015-2016 operating year. 2 Attachment 1 Scott stated that this is the third year that PART has been fortunate enough to receive some funds from the urbanized area. There is approximately $2.1 million allocated to the City of High Point through the 5307 program. The MTIP amendment is to align these funds in the TIP whereby PART will be able to administer a grant directly with the FTA. NCDOT administers the FTA grant and the City of High Point administers the FTA grant for their operations, capital and planning activities for the fiscal year. The funding that PART is requesting is from funds that are in reserve or are not allocated for existing services. PART uses these funds for operating as well as routine capital. Neal Grimes stated that Thomasville is still getting some allocation of funds based on High Point’s recommendation but the funds come directly from NCDOT. These funds have already been received. NCDOT, FTA and auditors make sure that the funds PART receives are being used in High Point. Motion by: Larry Warlick Seconded: Bill Bencini Vote: For: Unanimous Against: None INFORMATION ITEMS Item 6: Presentation of Active Routes to Schools. Beth Fornadley Johnson and Jennifer Delcourt gave a presentation. Item 7: SPOT 4.0 Update. NCDOT has now opened the window for new project submittal for SPOT 4.0. MPOs and Divisions have until November 20th to submit all new projects. HPMPO staff will be entering new projects in the system over the next few weeks. Greg reviewed the spreadsheet of projects. These are projects that were in SPOT 3.0. The NC 109 and NC 62 projects have been split to see if they will score better. NC 109 is being divided into three segments. NC 62 is being divided into three segments as well. These are revised projects and will not count against the number of new projects we can submit. There are two projects that have not been scored, Macy Grove Rd. interchange will be resubmitted in 4.0, and Lexington Ave. which is a long project and will be resubmitted this time as a smaller project. There are several new projects being submitted including some rail projects. There is a new passenger station and platform in Lexington, and a grade separation in Thomasville. Jamestown submitted a Penny Rd. sidewalk project. Once these are all submitted on November 19, they will go through the scoring process. After the first of the year the HP MPO will start making ranking projects and come up with their own priority list and at some point put points on them. Jim Myers expressed interest 3 Attachment 1 in possibly getting NC 8 put back on the list. We are allowed 13 new projects and right now we have 4 on the list. Item 8: PS-1008A (Main St./I-85 Interchange in Archdale) Draft Report Update. NCDOT is in the process of developing a feasibility study for improvements to the I-85 Interchange and Main Street in Archdale. This is one of the projects that was funded through P 3.0 into the TIP. The amount funding was $2.1 million. There are three alternatives. One is keeping the interchange as it is now and constructing a median down the middle of Main St. and not making any changes to the ramps, the other is adjusting the south bound I-85 ramp and putting a loop in and still continuing with the median, and third is a diverging diamond configuration and continuing with the median. AGENCY REPORTS Item 9: NCDOT Board of Transportation Report. Cheryl McQueary reported that the DMV has made changes and you can now update your driver’s license online. The color of the license has changed and your photo is now in two places, along with chip information. As a result of the change in the budget from the General Assembly there is additional money available for projects that qualify under P3 process. All of the divisions are looking at adding additional projects. Many NCDOT Board members have been hearing concerns from citizens on the length of time it takes to get a transportation project completed. Consequently Board Members have been pressuring the department to improve the process to get projects delivered quicker. They have gotten 34 months taken out of the process of delivering a project for new locations, and 24 months out of a widening project in the highway division. Item 10: Division Engineer’s Reports. Division 7 Ed Lewis reported that the High Point Signal System Project was let on October 20. The I74/US 311 and NC 68 interchange public workshop will be postponed to the beginning of the new year. The noise wall study public review has ended and several noise walls that were recommended. There will also be a public voting process on this noise wall after the first of the year. There are several bridge projects that are moving forward. There was a training session on delivering local and division managed projects that Vickie Embry, Jesse Day, Diane Hampton and Ed Lewis were involved in. The focus was on reducing the cycle time to get projects out the door and started. Division 8 Marty Tillman handed out a report of all the active and upcoming projects in this division. Division 9 Pat Ivey reported that there was a bid opening last week on the interchange project on Winston Rd. at US 29/70 in Lexington. We anticipate that the low bidder is JT Russell 4 Attachment 1 who came in at about a half percent below the engineer’s estimate of $10.1 million. The project is not available until April 1, and until then there will be a lot of clearing, utility relocation, and the relocation of a car dealership. This project is scheduled to be completed in May, 2018. The contractor has completed the new SB bridges on the upgrading of US 29/70/52 future I-285 on the business I-85 corridor. The NB bridges are under construction and the project is still on schedule to be completed by the end of this year. A landscaping project on I-85 in Davidson and Rowan counties was just let. This is a three year project which costs over $1.28 million. Item 10: Triad Air Awareness. Lorelei Elkins reported that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has changed the ground level ozone standards from 75 parts per billion to 70 parts per billion. We are expecting to have a decrease in the code green days and an increase in code yellow and possibly code orange days. We still expect to stay in attainment with these criteria. There is an air quality flag program that municipalities and schools can take part in. There is also idle reduction signage out for schools. Item 13: NCDOT Transportation Planning Branch Report. Hemal Shah had nothing to report. Item 14: Hi tran Report Angela Wynes reported that Hi tran’s short range transit plan was presented to council a couple of weeks ago and were given direction to move forward with seeing how much services can be increased. Item 15: PART Report Scott Rhine handed out a resource guide that can be given to area employers stating the options that we have in this region for transportation. At the board meeting last week the contract for phase one of the Coble Intermodal Terminal had been awarded to Bar Construction Co. in Greensboro. Construction on this project will begin in the next 6-8 weeks and will take approximately 12-14 months to complete. A request for qualification for the travel demand model will come before this MPO and other MPO’s. They will be requesting to incorporate freight into the travel demand model. There is a developer that approached PART requesting them to release some property for future development on N. Main St. where there is currently a park and ride lot. Item 16: Other Business Greg introduced Cari Hopson as our new Transportation Planner. She will be working with both the HPMPO and Angela Wynes in Hi tran. The next meeting will be Tuesday, November 17, 2015. TCC will be at 9:30 and TAC at 10:00. There was no other business. The meeting was adjourned. 5