Santa Fe MPO Transportation Policy Board

SANTA FE MPO TRANSPORTATION POLICY BOARD THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 2025, 5:00 PM 737 AGUA FRIA STREET, MONICA ROYBAL CENTER SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO A. CALL TO ORDER A meeting of the Santa Fe MPO Transportation Policy Board was called to order by Councilor Alma Castro, Chair, at 5:05 pm, on Thursday, August 28, 2025, and was held at the Monica Roybal Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico. ROLL CALL MEMBERS PRESENT Councilor Alma Castro, Chair Commissioner Justin Greene, Vice Chair Commissioner Lisa Cacari - Stone, virtually Commissioner Adam Fulton Johnson Mayor Alan Webber Rhonda Lopez, NMDOT, District 5 Engineer MEMBERS ABSENT Councilor Pilar Faulkner, excused Governor Earl Samuel, absent OTHERS PRESENT Erick Aune, MPO Officer Leah Yngve, MPO Susan Sheldon, Transit Advisory Board, City of Santa Fe Alison Gillete, NMDOT Susan Sheldon, City of Santa Fe Transit Advisory Board Liaison B. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Greene, seconded by Commissioner Johnson, to approve the agenda as presented. VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows: Commissioner Greene, yes; Commissioner Cacari-Stone, yes; Commissioner Johnson, yes; Mayor Webber, yes; Ms. Lopez, yes, Chair Castro, yes. MPO Policy Board August 28, 2025 Page 1 C. APPROVAL OF MINUTES, 05/22/25 AND 06/26/25 MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Greene, seconded by Commissioner Johnson, to approve both sets of minutes as presented. VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows: Commissioner Greene, yes; Commissioner Cacari-Stone, yes; Commissioner Johnson, yes; Mayor Webber, yes; Ms. Lopez, yes, Chair Castro, yes. D. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC Ms. Sheldon introduced herself and said she was happy to be the liaison between this Board and the City Transportation Advisory Board. 1. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION:. A. APPROVAL OF THE FFY SFMPO 2024-2029 TIP AMENDMENT 8 VIA SELF-CERTIFICATE Ms. Yngve reviewed the staff report, including the 8 th amendment to the program, the list of projects in the report the and projects to add. Commissioner Green asked if she knows where they are going to use the funds for public schools. Ms. Yngve said yes, primarily it will be used for salaries for safety and small needs for the program. These are program funds. Commissioner Johnson asked if it is staff people who lead kids to school. Ms. Yngve said yes. There are incentive stipends for staff to help with safety. Chair Castro asked if there is anything we need to know about the highway safety improvement funds. Ms. Lopez said these are primarily safety improvement funds. Chair Castro said we are donating some land in Las Estrellas. There are some issues there. That is coming down soon. Ms. Yngve said that development is connected to 599. This area is one street over. She does not see it effecting that. MPO Policy Board August 28, 2025 Page 2 MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Greene, to approve the amendment. VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows: Commissioner Greene, yes; Commissioner Cacari-Stone, yes; Commissioner Johnson, yes; Mayor Webber, yes; Ms. Lopez, yes, Chair Castro, yes. B. APPROVAL OF DRAFT 2025-2050 SANTA FE METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION PLAN VIA SELF-CERTIFICATE Mr. Aune gave a presentation using story boards and packet material saying he will send the link to everyone. The presentation included the background of the plan, public engagement and a deep dive assessment of Cerrillos Road - including what is being discussed regarding the safety and design on Cerrillos for the next five years. Mr. Aune said Cerrillos has a residential component and a commercial component and is a major arterial road. Highlights of the presentation included data graphically displayed, how our road system is set up, the relative importance of affordable housing, how to address that, and the local road safety study. Mr. Aune said he feels this particular effort is a bit game changing. We are recognizing that the travel demand model we have used for decades is based on some simple assumptions such as the number of houses, number of trips per house and destinations as prescribed through modeling. We did this plan a bit differently modeling multi model transportation. We are not beholden to arterial road design standards and are challenging those assumptions. We are looking at trends from crash information as well as well as daily traffic growth. The data shows that traffic will grow, but will be distributed equally. Mayor Webber asked which is more important, miles or number of trips. Mr. Aune said in this case, it is the trips that can tell the story. If we invest in areas for alternative transportation, we can divest from that short trip situation. Commissioner Greene said when you incorporate pedestrians and bikes, the more people who walk lots and want to go right on reds backs up. It acts as a dynamic in every interaction. Mr. Aune said agreed. That is a reality. Intersections on arterials are designed MPO Policy Board August 28, 2025 Page 3 to be timely and efficient. Everybody waits for pedestrians. We would like to explore what we can do differently such as signal time and design and left turns. Mr. Aune said that is what he feels is powerful about this plan. We have not met any resistance. What we speak of will be difficult. There is no magic bullet. We are up against 70 years of this to date. Chair Castro said she would like to talk a bit about trails and bridges that can help with connectivity. Are there more users of the facilities in general. Mr. Aune said not really substantially. There is more pedestrian and bike traffic. The trend is upward, but there is not enough that makes that much of a difference. There was discussion regarding backups at intersections due to pedestrians, the way the new lights work and signalization for bicycles, Mr. Aune said as to the project list, the projects have changed from building more capacity for vehicles to safety projects, multi model projects and reconstructing roads to accommodate users. The project list you see is a good result of trying to change a system that brought us here. Commissioner Johnson asked if this is reflected at a State level, in a broader context, as to the same sort of shifts. Mr. Aune said he doesn’t know many others who are doing this. The changes seem a bit radical, but they are really not. Mayor Webber said he thinks if you adopt that as the input, you end up with a different definition of victory of the input. We want more congestion. It is desirable. If you are inconvinced by congestion, maybe you will not take a car or a trip which is the best way to eliminate traffic. Mr. Aune said the narrative is so embedded as to the economic generator that says more cars means more business. It is difficult to unhinge or unlock from that. Commissioner Cacari-Stone said this is fascinating. She appreciated your expertise and deep level thought. If we look at the tables numbered 4 and 5, how do you interpret that. That is Henry Lynch and the round about at Henry Lynch and trail to the southside. Mr. Aune said Henry Lynch Road and the reconstruction project have been on the books for years. The City and County are working closely on redesigning on Henry Lynch and the roundabout. The County is now building a bridge to that intersection. This very is very important. MPO Policy Board August 28, 2025 Page 4  Commissioner Cacari-Stone asked what about in terms of your rating system and analysis. Ms. Yngve said for vitality this one was lower because there is not a lot of employment or density in this area. Commissioner Greene said when we re-think functional classifications, they can be more nuisanced. St. Francis is less commercial than Cerrillos, yet they might have the same classification. How can we start to nuisance those classifications. Mr. Aune said we will look at the established criteria from the past - what does the criteria look like. The initial study said, as a result of being an arterial, the design shall follow said criteria. That was the governing approach. We are suggesting the reorganization of importance of that, but additionally, in the land use context, existing and potential volume of pedestrians and other criteria to adjust. It adds a challenge as to congestion. We need to meet the values of the community. MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Greene, seconded by Mayor Webber, to approve the 2025 Santa Fe Metropolitan Transportation Plan via Self-Certificate. VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows: Commissioner Greene, yes; Commissioner Cacari-Stone, yes; Commissioner Johnson, yes; Mayor Webber, yes; Ms. Lopez, yes, Chair Castro, yes. C. APPROVAL OF DRAFT 2025 SANTA FE MPO PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PLAN VIA SELF-CERTIFICATE Ms. Yngve reviewed the staff report including the Public Participation Plan, the requirement to have a public process and the changes. Ms. Yngve stated that no public comments were received on the plan. Commissioner Greene said he is wondering if there is a better way to do outreach. What techniques could be used. What other ways are there to engage the public Chair Castro said we could look at other things working better and propose an amendment. Ms. Yngve said the plan is the document that has impact on the environment around us. The plan is much more prescriptive due to Federal regulations. It has less impact on things people really care about. She hears you and thinks there are different MPO Policy Board August 28, 2025 Page 5 things we could do, but people get survey fatigue. Commissioner Johnson said he thinks the time frame you propose makes sense. There was discussion regarding engagement with stakeholder groups. MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Greene, to approve the Santa Fe MPO Public Participation Plan via Self-Certificate. VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows: Commissioner Greene, yes; Commissioner Cacari-Stone, yes; Commissioner Johnson, yes; Mayor Webber, yes; Ms. Lopez, abstained, Chair Castro, yes. D. APPROVAL OF DRAFT AMENDMENT TO THE 2019 SANTA FE MPO METROPOLITAN BICYCLE MASTER PLAN, “DESIGNING FOR SAFER CYCLING: INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS FOR SANTA FE’S ROAD NETWORK” VIA SELF-CERTIFICATE. Ms. Yngve presented the staff report, saying this is a stand alone amendment to specifically address bicycle facility protected and separated bike lanes. Specific challenges were brought up. We go through the supporting research as to how they are beneficial to communities and there is clear public desire for safer bicycle facilities. The part of the plan that will be amended reflects how important it is that we do maintenance. We did receive a lot of public comment for this one. Rumble strips were talked about by public. We added it to the appendix. Commissioner Greene asked how would Hyde Park Road fall into that scoring sheet. It is a City and County strategic road that goes to recreation areas. Ms. Yngve said it is priority 2. It probably would not have the same priority level as something with a higher density level within the City. Chair Castro said maybe there could be some connection with other transit entities like the Blue Bus. Ms. Yngve said this is a planning tool. There will be a more in-depth study. She can’t say definitively right now. Commissioner Johnson said there is not a single mile of protected bike lanes in the City. Ms. Yngve said that is correct. MPO Policy Board August 28, 2025 Page 6  Chair Castro said in general, she is excited we are thinking about this. MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Greene, seconded by Mayor Webber, to approve the amendment. VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows: Commissioner Greene, yes; Commissioner Cacari-Stone, yes; Commissioner Johnson, yes; Mayor Webber, yes; Ms. Lopez, yes, Chair Castro, yes. E. MATTERS FROM MPO STAFF Mr. Aune said thank you for all of your support tonight. This is a big lift. He is doing a deep dive into AI and will have presentation to you all about the effectiveness of it as a tool. F. MATTERS FROM TPB MEMBERS Chair Castro said we did have a meeting about the Closson Street bridge. There is a lot of support for that bridge. She is working to support that. We need support and dollars. Mayor Webber left the meeting. Ms. Lopez said we had a special transportation meeting in Albuquerque and approved all of the projects for the TPF. They will start working through the agreements. The City did not get funded this year. She is not sure why certain projects were not selected. Chair Castro said we are in the midst of some disagreements as to what our capital improvements money should be used for. We are in discussion with the State Legislature about how to do better. Commissioner Greene said 285 is coming into town near Alamo. A lot of constituents are calling him about how we can get more slow down notification on Alamo. Ms. Lopez said she will have our new traffic engineer take a look at the information. Ms. Sheldon asked if there is a relationship between the City and the Army Corp of Engineers on bridges Ms. Lopez said it depends on where the bridge is. The Army Corp does not MPO Policy Board August 28, 2025 Page 7 always have jurisdiction. Coordination happens during the design process. G. ADJOURN There being no further business before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 6:30 pm. ______________________________________ Alma Castro (Nov 24, 2025 10:53:31 MST) Councilor Alma Castro, Chair MPO Policy Board August 28, 2025 Page 8