Below are the minutes for the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, held on Friday, October 18, 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, October 18, 2002 at 9:00 a.m. in the Conference Room at RTC, 1351 Officers’ Row, Vancouver, Washington. Dean Lookingbill, RTC Transportation Director, served as Chair for the meeting. Those in attendance follow:
Jonathan Abuyan WSDOT Mike Clark WSDOT John Cullerton Metro Lynda David RTC Evan Dust Clark County John Fratt Port of Vancouver Michael Haggerty C-TRAN Mark Harrington RTC Bob Hart RTC Dean Lookingbill RTC Sandi Roberts RTC Dale Robins RTC Wade Strange SW Clean Air Agency Phil Wuest City of Vancouver Dean Lookingbill asked for any changes or corrections to the September 20, 2002, Meeting Minutes.
EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY, MOVED FOR APPROVAL OF THE SEPTEMBER 20, 2002 MINUTES AND JOHN CULLERTON, METRO SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
II. 2003 Metropolitan Transportation Improved Program Amendment, Action
Dale Robins, RTC, presented the 2003 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program Amendment. He said for local jurisdictions to receive federal transportation funds, their projects must be listed in the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP), which in turn becomes a part of the statewide State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).
Dale said the RTC Board adopted the 2002-2004 MTIP at their April 9, 2002 RTC Board Meeting, which then became part of the STIP. When the 2002-2004 MTIP was adopted, all three years of projects were selected for funding. The three-year selection process is a tool to help the region meet obligation levels. Therefore, only administrative amendment is required to move delayed projects from the 2002 program into the 2003 program. This will ensure that all regionally significant projects are included in the new 2003-2005 STIP.
Dale noted the City of Camas is requesting an MTIP amendment to switch $488,000 of federal STP funds from right of way to construction on the SE 1st Street, 192nd Avenue to Leadbetter project. This change does not increase the total federal STP dollars or change the costs of the project but would allow Camas to proceed with right of way using local dollars. By shifting federal and local dollars between these two phases Camas will be able to begin construction of the SE 1st projects at an earlier date.
Dale reviewed the projects delayed from 2002 to 2003.
- Transit Enhancement
- VAST Implementation
- Thurston Way Pedestrian & Bike Facility (Construction)
- 162nd/164 Avenue ITS (Construction)
- Mill Plain Mid Corridor ITS (Construction)
- East Fourth Plain ITS (Design)
- NE 138th Avenue, 18th St. to 28th St. (Design)
- Highway 99 Realignment w/20th Avenue (Right of Way)
Dale distributed to each jurisdiction a draft copy of the amended 2002-2004 MTIP projects that would become part of the updated STIP. Dale requested that he be notified of any changes needed to the draft by Monday, October 21, 2002. Dale noted that the MTIP Amendment does not add or remove projects to the MTIP’s air quality conformity will not need to be redetermined. In addition, this MTIP amendment is found to be consistent with all other federal requirements.
Dale explained that year 2003 is the final year of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). As a region, we need to obligate approximately $1.5 million of CMAQ dollars and $2.3 million of STP dollars to meet regional obligation levels. Jurisdictions are encouraged to analyze their projects in the MTIP and obligate their projects on time.
III. Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) Update, Discussion
Lynda David, RTC, said the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) elements for discussion will be focused on 1) MTP regional travel forecast model update, 2) MTP regional transportation system improvements, 3) re-draft of the MTP Strategic Plan, 4) MTP Finance Plan, and 5) public outreach.
Mark Harrington, RTC, reported on the travel forecast model. He said that the base year 2000 has been completed and work is still underway on the 2023 run. He is anticipating that 2023 will be finalized next week. Lynda distributed to RTAC a draft of the 2023 MTP Regional System Improvements map, which will be inserted in MTP chapter five. She highlighted improvements and changes from the map that was sent in the packets to the one she distributed. Lynda asked that if RTAC members had any changes to the map they should notify her as soon as possible.
Lynda reviewed the re-draft of the MTP’s Strategic Plan. Lynda said the Strategic Plan outlines four projects and/or planning concepts categorized into two tiers. Tier I projects are the result of recommendations from the recent I-5 Transportation and Trade Partnership Study completed in June 2002. Tier II allows for a description of planning concepts and issues that have surfaced in recent planning efforts that could have major land use and transportation implications. These are concepts that require further investigation and analysis but are included in the MTP Strategic plan to raise awareness in the community regarding emerging land use and transportation issues. Lynda reported that the draft Strategic Plan was presented to the RTC Board on October 15th but there was not much discussion.
The Tier I: Project Recommendations were reviewed and there was discussion. 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 air quality conformity. Hence, the concept behind Tier I projects, the I-5 Columbia River Bridge and I-5/I-205/SR-500 Light Rail Loop.
Tier II includes emergent land use/economic development/transportation concepts that are incorporated into the Strategic Plan for community awareness purposes. If pursued they may have significant transportation implications that would need to be addressed in a future update to the MTP.
Following discussion RTAC members decided to re-name Tier I and simply title the section Project Recommendations. Similarly, RTC recommended removing the Tier II label and simply title the second section Emerging Land Use and Transportation Concepts.
Lynda noted that Attachment C covers the 2002 MTP Update Finance Plan Overview and Assumptions. Federal rules require that the MTP be “fiscally constrained” meaning that there must be a reasonable expectation that revenues will be available to provide for the estimated costs of implementing the 20-year list of projects contained in the MTP and to support the operations and maintenance of the multimodal transportation system. The MTP Finance Plan focuses on the Designated Regional Transportation System.
Lynda pointed out the accomplishments since the last MTP. The Finance Plan component of the MTP last received a comprehensive update in the 1998 MTP amendment. Since that time several significant regional transportation system capital improvement projects have been completed or are nearing completion in the Clark County region. In the past 3 years alone, 2000-2002, $178 million of regional highway system projects have been constructed in Clark County. If this trend continues, the region could anticipate over $1.1 billion in funding for highway capital projects over the next 20 years. However, transit service funding in Washington State has received a setback with the 1999 elimination of Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) as a funding source. Lynda highlighted the 2002 MTP Finance Plan covering the finance plan assumptions, revenues, estimated costs, allocation of revenue to costs, funding issues, funding strategies and MTP “financial constraint”.
Lynda reminded RTAC members of the MTP Public Open Houses on October 23rd at the Vancouver Housing Authority from 6 –8 p.m. and October 24th in the Rose Besserman Room at the Fisher’s Landing Transit Center, from 6-8 p.m. There will also be MTP outreach at the Vancouver Neighborhood Resource Fair at the Water Resources Center on Saturday, November 16th, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Lynda said the next steps would include completion of the modeling and review of draft chapters of the MTP update. Also, consideration will need to be given to how the GMA and MTP updates fit together and how we will move forward to the next MTP Update in 2003/4. RTC is waiting to get the demographic allocations from the County before travel forecast modeling can begin on each of the give land use alternatives to be tested in the GMA plan update EIS process. Lynda commented that there is a meeting on Friday, October 25th, scheduled by the County to discuss issues relating to modeling. Lynda said one of the important issues is to determine what data is needed from the travel forecast model and how the alternatives will be evaluated.
IV. Other Business
A. RTAC Members
B. RTC Staff
Dean distributed the schedule for the InterACT Transportation Project meetings. These included Area Meetings, Area Forums and the All-County Summit on November 23 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Inn at the Quay.
Mike Clark, WSDOT, reported he had a Metro draft letter that supports Clark County, Washington’s request for alternatives analysis/PE funding for the recommended Clark County LRT Loop. Dean said that at the last JPACT meeting the new federal reauthorization bill was on the agenda and the Committee had some discussion on project priorities.
Evan Dust, Clark County, reported that the Board of Clark County Commissioners has directed Long Range Planning to conduct local circulation plans for the SR-500 corridor in the Sifton area extending from 121st Avenue east to 137th Avenue and 137th Avenue to 162nd Avenue. There has been some work on circulation options in those areas by both county staff and by consultants retained by private developers. Evan said it is now time to engage the public and to move the circulation plans forward for eventual adoption. Evan told Phil Wuest that the County would want Vancouver to be to be involved. Evan said the Commissioners had also directed county staff to look at the highway 99 corridor with a view to amend the County’s Arterial Atlas to reduce the cross section of that facility. Clark County would look at a change in the roadway standard to be applied on that facility with a pilot capital project to implement the new standard which may include design standards for buildings and for signage.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:35 a.m. The next meeting will be Friday, November 15, 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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