Below are the minutes for the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, held on Friday, September 20, 2002, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in RTC's conference room, 1351 Officers Row, Vancouver, Washington. The agenda for this meeting is also available.
I. Call to Order and Approval of Minutes
The meeting of the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee was called to order on Friday, September 20, 2002 at 9:00 a.m. in the Conference Room at RTC, 1351 Officers’ Row, Vancouver, Washington. Mark Harrington, RTC Transportation Analyst, served as Chair for the meeting. Those in attendance follow:
Jonathan Abuyan WSDOT John Cullerton Metro Lynda David RTC Evan Dust Clark County Mark Harrington RTC Bob Hart RTC Natalia Kreitzer SW Clean Air Dale Miller C-TRAN Thomas Picco ODOT Sandi Roberts RTC Dale Robins RTC Bill Wright Clark County Phil Wuest City of Vancouver Mark Harrington, RTC asked for any changes or corrections to the August 16th, 2002, Meeting Minutes.
PHIL WUEST, CITY OF VANCOUVER MOVED FOR APPROVAL OF THE AUGUST 16TH, 2002 MINUTES AND EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
II. C-TRAN Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program Amendment: JARC Grant Innovative Services
Dale Robins, RTC, presented the C-TRAN Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program Amendment: JARC Grant Innovative Services. Dale said C-TRAN is requesting an MTIP amendment to add $718,500 of federal Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) dollars for an innovative service to enhance employment access in the East Vancouver/Camas industrial and commercial area. It will provide direct service to the major employers in the area and enhance the ability of low-income persons to access jobs in the area. With the recent award of the JARC Grant this project needs to be added to the MTIP.
Dale pointed out that C-TRAN’s letter requesting the amendment was attached to the Memorandum. This project is regionally significant and will be amended into the 2003 program element of the 2002-04 MTIP. This MTIP amendment is found to be consistent with all state and federal requirements. It is consistent with the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, congestion management system, air quality conformity analysis, and is financially constrained.
Evan Dust, Clark County, asked whether C-TRAN would have reporting requirement. Dale Robins, RTC, said they have to report on efficiency of the service. Evan said he would be interested in a report from C-TRAN on details of this project. Dale Robins said C-TRAN would be conducting a survey on the routes at six months and again at one year.
Dale Miller, C-TRAN, provided some more detail of the service and how ridership would be marketed and its efficiency measures. Dale Miller said the fixed route service would start at Fisher’s Landing Transit Center, along SE 34th Street, Parker and Lake Road. Paratransit service is required to serve the area within ¾ of mile of either side of the route. Dale said that C-TRAN had done an origin-destination survey of ridership across the system and has done some field work with major employers in the area that will be served by JARC grant-funded service. This will be presented to the C-TRAN Board in November 2002. C-TRAN is looking at this as a pilot project to hopefully provide more service at less cost.
EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY, MADE A MOTION REQUESTING RTC BOARD APPROVAL OF THE C-TRAN METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AMEMENDMENT: JARC GRANT INNOVATIVE SERVICES, PHIL WUEST, CITY OF VANCOUVER, SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
III. Obligation of Federal Funds: Project Status Report
Dale Robins, RTC, presented the status report on obligation of federal funds. Dale noted that at the table was a corrected RTAC Memorandum. Dale said the corrected dollar amount is $15.5 million in regional federal transportation funds programmed in year 2002 of the MTIP. Of the dollars programmed in 2002, $11.3 million have been obligated with approximately $4.2 million remaining to be obligated in 2002. Projects that have been advanced from years 2003 or 2004 of the MTIP are not included in the 2002 MTIP summary.
Dale stated that RTC policy indicates that projects with a phase that is not completed within three years of the original date as programmed in the MTIP, will be reviewed by RTAC and corrective action recommended. Dale reviewed the obligation of federal funds for year 2002 and also provided a review of the complete ISTEA and TEA-21 obligation summary spreadsheet for Surface Transportation Program and Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ) funds.
Dale explained that shaded projects on the spreadsheet were those that are, as yet, unobligated and will reach the three-year limit in January 2003. Dale said it is critical to meet obligation or else funding which should have come to this region may be lost to this region. Dale said that if projects are lagging and are unlikely to obligate their funding then RTAC will need to consider removing the projects and funding others instead to maximize the money to this region.
Dale Robins said the $490,000 STP funds for right-of-way on Camas SE 1st, from 192nd Avenue to Leadbetter, is unobligated and will reach the 3-year window in January. Dale said Camas wants to move the money to the construction phase. Dale said a CMAQ funded projects reaching the 3-year limit on January 1st is the Thurston Way Pedestrian and Bike construction. Also, some City of Vancouver signal projects and Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) projects remain unobligated. The transit Vast Implementation project using transit funding also remains unobligated. In the STP Competitive category, right of way for the Highway 99 Realignment with 20th Avenue is listed as unobligated and reaching the 3-year limit. Bill Wright, Clark County, said the County is proceeding with obligation but had been awaiting a decision on the Access Point Decision Report for the I-5/134th Street interchange area. Dale said that Transportation Enhancement projects that are unobligated are the Amtrak Station, 7th Street and the 164th Avenue viewpoint. Dale said he would be contacting County, City, and C-TRAN on the unobligated projects and discuss with them if they want to move these projects to 2003. Dale said for MTIP purposes if the project will be delayed to 2003 then we need to have an MTIP correction.
Dale gave an overview of STP obligated funds for all projects that have been obligated in the last eleven years. Dale said the total funds obligated amounted to $29,589,917 and total unobligated amounted to $3,130,761. Dale said these numbers do not include the 2003 allocations. In the CMAQ program there has been $18,155,911 obligated with $1,515,989 million as yet unobligated. Dale emphasized that we need to obligate about $3 million of STP money and $1.5 million of CMAQ money by June 2003.
IV. Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) Update: Designated MTP System, System Improvement Assumptions and Financial Plan Update, Discussion
Lynda David, RTC, presented the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) Update including Designated MTP system, System Improvement Assumptions and Financial Plan Update elements. Lynda provided RTAC with an update from the RTAC MTP sub-group meeting held on September 12th.
Lynda distributed a draft map “2023 Regional Transportation System” and reviewed the changes that were recommended. Phil Wuest, City of Vancouver, questioned the HCT system designation and asked whether LRT should cross the river and perhaps terminate at Clark College as a first phase and as the existing Designated System map shows. Lynda said that throughout the I-5 Partnership the LRT alignment was shown as a full loop or nothing and suggested that for this MTP update it may be best to show the corridors as generic HCT corridors. It is likely the LRT loop will be included in the MTP Strategic Plan. Evan Dust, Clark County, asked if there is any way to show freeway interchanges. Lynda explained that this map is the Designated System map that shows the focus of the MTP. There will be an additional map in the MTP that shows MTP listed projects that will include interchange projects. Bill Wright, Clark County, said the proposed alignment of 179th Street, from Kramer Road to SR-503 should be shown as a dotted line.
Lynda then reviewed the Designated Regional Transportation System Projects spreadsheet. These are the projects that should be included in the fiscally constrained MTP. She pointed out what the different shading stood for; the first page, shaded in green, lists projects that are being constructed or are fully funded. The projects shaded in yellow are those that were included in the 2000 adopted MTP. Projects shaded in blue are also already included in the MTP but they have changed in project description and/or concept due to more advanced study. Primarily these projects came out of the I-205 Corridor Study and Access Decision Report and the I-5 North Corridor Study and Access Decision Reports. The projects shaded in peach are projects “not” in the current MTP. Lynda asked that RTAC Members notify her if changes need to be made.
Lynda also reviewed a more comprehensive list of projects that included MTP designated system and local projects that are to be included in the 2023 MTP regional travel forecast model and the regional air quality conformity analysis. The projects in italics are those that have been added to the list since the last MTP or their description has changed. It is important that projects be identified on this list if local jurisdictions want to apply for federal funds for the projects as it is proof they are included in the air quality analysis. Mark Harrington, RTC, explained that we would be doing air quality conformity analyses for the following years: 2002 base year, 2008, 2013 and the horizon year of the MTP, 2023. It is important that we know the estimated year of completion of projects so they can be included in the corresponding air quality analysis. Lynda asked that RTAC Members let her know of any changes that would be needed to this list as soon as possible. John Cullerton, Metro, commented that RTC and Metro need to coordinate on conformity analysis for the year 2025 as Metro would be completing an air quality conformity analysis for 2025 in spring 2003.
Lynda said that the assumption for transit service in the MTP would assume revenue sources with a .03% increase in sales tax or an equivalent amount from a different funding source that would restore the transit service to pre-I-695 days. The need for transit funding is a major issue that the community needs to be aware of as this is a growing community but it is standing still when it comes to transit service provision because of funding constraints. Dale Miller, C-TRAN, said they had proposal to add full motion advertising signs on the buses to raise some additional funds.
Lynda reviewed the draft update of the MTP Vision, Purpose and Goals. Lynda said that at the sub-committee meeting Phil Wuest, City of Vancouver, had made some good comments on how the “Goals” section should be re-worded. Jonathan Abuyan, WSDOT, brought to Lynda’s attention some suggestions from Deb Wallace, WSDOT, to incorporate into the goals section. Jonathan noted that one of the main suggestions was to add aviation and marine to the modes listed. Lynda noted that she would update the draft to reflect the suggestions.
The Strategic MTP is proposed for inclusion in the updated MTP to address those projects whose scale, financial structure and economic importance are beyond the 20 year list of projects contained in the “financially-constrained” MTP. The Strategic MTP projects are likely to have a major impact on the character of the transportation system, have a major impact on transportation policy direction and have a major impact on land use and economic development. While these projects are outside of the financially constrained plan, their inclusion in the Strategic MTP provides a way to better define the project’s purpose/need and feasibility while still within the context of the 20-year approved MTP. The current federal transportation bill, TEA-21, allows for “illustrative projects” to be identified in the regional transportation planning process outside of the requirements for financial feasibility and transportation air quality conformity. Hence, the concept behind the Strategic MTP is to set into place a regionally coordinated and analytically sound transportation planning process upon which to initiate an analysis of project feasibility.
The MTP sub-Committee commented that it may be best to have two tiers in the Strategic Plan. The I-5 Partnership recommendations would appear in Tier I as they are based on a recent planning study. The Discovery Corridor would then be in Tier II. Lynda also reported that at the September RTC Board meeting, Chair Arch Miller suggested that the SR-501 extension from the Port of Vancouver to somewhere in north County should be incorporated into this MTP update. This could re-open community dialog on the potential for an extension and re-look at the needs for access to the Port of Vancouver. This could be described in Tier II. Lynda said both these Tier II issues could have major impacts on land use and transportation if they were to move forward. However, there are a lot of questions to be answered. At this point inclusion in the MTP Strategic Plan Tier II would be for the purpose of raising awareness.
Phil Wuest, City of Vancouver, said everything in the MTP relates to transportation but the I-5 North Discovery Corridor is one of the land use options being considered in the Comprehensive Plan update. Yet, in the draft MTP Strategic Plan it is being presented as a transportation strategy. The issues relevant to the Discovery Corridor discussion are do we expand the growth boundary to allow jobs to grow or do we make infrastructure investments to support growth outside of the UGA. The discussion is not yet at the transportation project level. The SR-501 issue stems from adequacy of access to the Port of Vancouver and need for further investigation. Evan Dust, Clark County, agreed with Phil Wuest and added that he thinks Tier II elements are merely presented as a heads up and for “risk awareness” purposes.
Dale Robins said Tier I is for big projects that we have not yet figured out the funding for. Tier 2 should be less detailed than Tier I and more of a statement of the transportation/land use issues that the region faces and which may need further discussion and investigation before a future MTP update. Phil Wuest further added that how these issues are presented is very important. The I-5 North Discovery Corridor is a land use strategy that is being brought into this MTP but, in comparison, the Light Rail Loop is not being presented as a land use strategy but as a capital project.
Jonathan Abuyan, WSDOT, asked whether we would include the SR-501 extension issue in the Strategic Plan in the same format as used for the Tier I I-5 Partnership section. Lynda replied that she had received a draft on the SR-501 issue in the same format from Ed Pickering at WSDOT. However, given the discussion today a different format may need to be used for Tier II issues. Evan Dust, Clark County, said that if you are to have a Tier I and a Tier II then you need to incorporate transportation projects or approaches into Tier II but it could be too early to do this. Bob Hart, RTC, commented that the Discovery Corridor would have transportation impacts. Evan Dust, Clark County, agreed that if the land use change to support the Discover Corridor were to happen then there would be transportation impacts on the system and this is how it should be presented if included in Tier II.
Phil Wuest said the Comp Plan update process is investigating the best way to grow regionally. It may be a little premature from a land-use perspective to incorporate the Discovery Corridor as part of the MTP Strategic Plan. It would be acceptable to include it if you are talking about specific capital projects to support the Corridor development but we’re not there yet.
Lynda David, RTC, commented that how we present the Strategic Plan within the MTP is important. Some of the elements in the Strategic Plan could set the framework for the next update to the MTP to happen after GMA Comp Plan update. Lynda said that she would try to incorporate RTAC’s comments into the next draft of the Strategic Plan which would then go to the RTC Board for their review.
Dale Miller, C-TRAN, said that some conclusion needs to be reached on how to deal with the Light Rail Loop in both the GMA and MTP updates. He also commented that the region needs to address how projects can compete for limited revenues. He questioned how we should consistently measure construction needs versus programmatic needs versus policy decisions. Dale said it may be more cost-effective to take the TDM or TSM approach rather than build highway capacity. He asked what the region is going to do to set the stage for an assessment that would provide reasonable balance? Phil Wuest said TSM projects do not score well and suggested that RTAC revisit the criteria in the next MTIP process. We have to face the issue of how to translate policy into revenue allocation? Dale Robins commented that the MTIP’s focus is on road capacity projects. If we want to change the allocation in future then we need to have further discussion.
Phil said that as a region we really need to think how we want to categorize our projects, develop project criteria and prioritize projects .
Lynda reported that the sub-Committee had briefly discussed the data being used to update the MTP financial plan section. Lynda said the list of regional capital highway and transit projects discussed earlier would require about $916 million in funding over the next 20 years. In addition, there is need for sufficient revenue for maintenance, operations, Transportation Demand Management (TDM), Transportation System Management (TSM) and Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) projects that are not detailed on the capital list. Lynda asked RTAC sub-Committee members to look at the data from the perspective of the member’s jurisdiction. Dale Robins, RTC, commented that WSDOT defines maintenance and preservation a little differently than other jurisdictions. Phil Wuest, City of Vancouver, commented that the City of Vancouver has largely relied on bond revenues over the past few years to fund their share of transportation projects. However, there is no money forthcoming to replace this revenue stream. Dale Robins said that for simplicity we would assume that future funding would be based on past trends.
Lynda David and Evan Dust agreed that we need to be consistent in financial assumptions and the way we use the data and the way we deliver the message relating to revenues between the Comprehensive Plan process and MTP update process. Whatever the assumptions we need to state them clearly and have the RTC Board approve of them. The elected officials need to be aware of the reasons why.
Lynda said she would e-mail sections of the MTP update for RTAC Members to review as they are drafted. Lynda said the schedule calls for this MTP update to be presented to the RTC Board for adoption in December 2002. The Board are aware that they need to take an update action so that an updated Air Quality conformity analysis is submitted as part of the MTP to ensure the continuation of federal funding to this region.
V. Other Business
A. RTAC Members
Dale Miller, C-TRAN, said C-TRAN is in the process of planning for redevelopment of the 7th Street Transit Mall in Downtown Vancouver and have had some discussion with the City of Vancouver, Port of Vancouver and Identity Clark County.
B. RTC Staff
Walkable Community Workshop Grant Applications
Lynda David, RTC, reported that this region had not been successful as one of the first phase Walkable Community Workshop Grant applicants. The City of Vancouver had taken the lead in completing the application. Nine MPOs had been selected for this first phase rather than the anticipated six. The successful applicants were Atlanta, GA; Binghamton, NY; Boston, MA; Burlington, VT; Charlottesville, VA; Gulfport, MS; Hartford, CT; Rochester, NY; and Spokane, WA. They will start Phase II solicitation for applications within the next few months. Lynda said it may be wise to ask Spokane for some tips on a successful application.
Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board (FMSIB) Funding Applications: Deadline September 25, 2002
This region does not currently have any projects on FMSIB’s list and it would be good to correct this situation. Dale Robins, RTC, reminded RTAC members that the current call for projects will end on September 25th. WSDOT and the City of Vancouver have been looking at submitting projects. The next opportunity to add projects to the list will likely be in 2006.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:38 a.m. The next meeting will be Friday, October 18, 2002.
For More Information Contact:
Regional Transportation Council
1300 Franklin Street, Floor 4
Vancouver, Washington 98660Tel: 360-397-6067
Fax: 360-397-6132
E-mail: info@rtc.wa.govServed by C-TRAN Route 3.
If you have special needs, please contact RTC.
       
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