Below are the minutes for the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, held on Friday, December 15, 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, December 20, 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:
Mike Clark WSDOT Lynda David RTC Evan Dust Clark County John Fratt Port of Vancouver Michael Haggerty C-TRAN Mark Harrington RTC Bob Hart RTC Robin Krause Clark County Dean Lookingbill RTC Thomas Picco ODOT 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 November 15, 2002, Meeting Minutes.
EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY MOVED FOR APPROVAL OF THE NOVEMBER 15TH, 2002 MINUTES AND PHIL WUEST, CITY OF VANCOUVER SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
II. 2003/2004 WSDOT Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program Amendment, Action
Dale Robins, RTC presented the 2003/2004 WSDOT Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program. Dale said WSDOT is requesting an MTIP amendment to add $7.1 million of federal and state dollars for 16 additional projects. The proposed WSDOT amendment will add preservation, maintenance, safety, and capacity projects to the MTIP. This amendment brings projects from the next WSDOT funding biennium into the existing MTIP. Dale highlighted the 16 projects for the RTAC Members. Dale reported, since the proposed amendment brings capacity projects forward into the MTIP from the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, the air quality conformity determination needs to be reassessed. However, the capacity projects included in the MTIP amendment are design and right-of-way phases of projects and the timeline for project construction has not changed. Thus, this MTIP amendment is found to be consistent with the existing air quality conformity determination.
PHIL WUEST, CITY OF VANCOUVER MADE THE MOTION TO RECOMMEND FORWARDING THE REQUEST FROM WSDOT FOR AN MTIP AMENDMENT TO ADD $7.1 MILLION OF FEDERAL AND STATE DOLLARS FOR 16 ADDITIONAL PROJECTS TO THE RTC BOARD. EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY SECONDED THE MOTION AND THE MOTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
Dale RTC, reported that the County is moving forward with an MTIP Correction for the Middle-Middle leg of Padden Parkway, which is from I-205 to 94th Avenue. The County made a minor changed in the scope of the project, to include a traffic signal at the intersection of Padden Parkway with the I-205 northbound ramps. No additional STP funding is needed for this scope change. RTC wanted to keep RTAC informed of all MTIP changes. Dean Lookingbill noted that the requested was granted by RTC to change the scope of the Padden Parkway project within the existing STP federal dollars. NO ACTION IS NEEDED ON THIS AGENDA ITEM.
Dale RTC, reported that the City of Vancouver is requesting an MTIP amendment to expand the scope of their 18th Street project and to add $265,000 of regional federal STP dollars for preliminary design and environmental assessment work. A couple years ago RTAC approved a million dollars for design on the 18th Street Project from 87th Avenue to 138th Avenue, and before the City of Vancouver started the project, they requested that the project scope be extended east from 138th to 162nd Avenue. So, this is the second request for a scope of work change for the design of 18th Street, and the first request for additional STP funding.
Phil Wuest, City of Vancouver, reported that the City has embarked on the preliminary design and environmental studies for NE 18th Street. This includes the extension of the alignment to the west from NE 86th Avenue on a new alignment and the analysis of widening options for the existing alignment east to NE 162nd Avenue. Phil said, in a parallel track, the City and the County is completing a scope of work to develop a sub-area plan for section 30. Section 30 is bounded by NE 18th Street on the north, SE 1st Street on the south, NE 172nd Avenue on the west and NE 192nd Avenue on the east. This effort will investigate opportunities that exist for the ultimate disposition of the site.
Dale reported that this MTIP amendment request would not follow RTC’s adopted MTIP amendment policies. Specifically, the MTIP Amendment Policies do not allow for funding increases for the design phase, funding increases must maintain the same local match ratio, and additional funds are allocated based on the region’s ranking by needs criteria. RTAC discussion recognized the regional significance of the 18th Street project and suggested that the adopted RTC MTIP Amendment Policies could be suspended for this project.
RTAC also discussed STP funding process. Given that all of the regional STP funds have been programmed in the MTIP through year 2004. The preferred funding option is that the STP funds be transferred from another phase or project. For example, funding could be transferred from the NE 138th Avenue right-of-way phase. Another option is to use a portion of the regions 2005 STP allocation, even though the 2005 competitive project selection process is yet to begin.
PHIL WUEST, CITY OF VANCOUVER MADE A MOTION TO AMEND THE SCOPE OF THE NE 18TH STREET ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FROM 162ND AND 192ND AND TO INCREASE STP FUNDING TO THE PROJECT BY $265,000. JOHN FRATT PORT OF VANCOUVER SECONDED THE MOTION AND WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
THE SECOND MOTION WAS MADE TO WORK WITH THE CITY OF VANCOUVER TO FUND THE 18TH STREET PROJECT FUNDING INCREASE. THE PREFERED OPTION IS TO MOVE STP FUNDS FROM ANOTHER PROJECT. ANOTHER OPTION IS TO USE A PORTION OF THE REGIONS 2005 STP ALLOCATION. PHIL WUEST, CITY OF VANCOUVER SECONDED THE MOTION AND WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
III. RTC’s 2003 Work Plan and FY 2004 Unified Planning Work Program, Discussion
Dean Lookingbill, RTC, commented on RTC’s 2003 Work Plan. He said that WSDOT sees no new capacity construction projects starting anywhere in this region without the addition of new funding. Dean noted that the initiation of a Federal Transit Administration Alternatives Analysis for the I-5/SR-500/I-205 Light Rail Loop, as identified in the I-5 Partnership recommendations and the MTP Strategic Plan, is missing from the 2003 work plan. The initiation of this analysis depends on the success of getting the project listed in the 2004-09 federal Transportation Reauthorization Bill and a final go-ahead determination by the RTC Board. Dean also drew RTAC’s attention to the I-5 Partnership Study DEIS process, the MTP update to follow from the County Comprehensive Plan update, and the development of a Regional Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Strategy.
Lynda David, RTC, commented on the initiation of work on RTC’s FY 2004 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP). She said the last six months of RTC’s 2003 Work Plan would be the basis for the first six months of the FY 2004 UPWP, which will begin on July 1, 2003. The process of developing the FY 2004 UPWP is already underway. Lynda will be seeking assistance from RTAC members to help draft the UPWP section on Transportation Planning Activities of State and Local Agencies. The FY2004 UPWP will be a topic on the agenda at the January 17, 2003, RTAC meeting in preparation for Metro’s federal and state review that is scheduled for February 10, 2003. RTC’s federal and state review is tentatively scheduled for 9:30 a.m. to noon on Monday, March 31st, 2003. Lynda said she would like RTAC members to put March 31st on your calendars because she needs a representative from WSDOT local area and C-TRAN. It is anticipated that the FY 2004 UPWP will be forwarded to the RTC Board for adoption at the May 6th, 2003 Board Meeting. Lynda noted we have to submit to WSDOT by May 30, 2004.
Lynda said information from WSDOT on the planning emphasis areas in year 2004 included the following:
- implementing the Level of Service bill 1487
- work on regional transportation planning organizations effectiveness recommendations
- travel demand forecasting MPO modeling process
- environmental decisions being made early in the transportation planning process
- intelligent transportation system architecture
IV. Vancouver HOV Lane Pilot Project Evaluation: Update, Discussion
Bob Hart presented Vancouver HOV Lane Pilot Project Evaluation Update. Bob provided RTAC members with a copy of the Vancouver HOV Pilot Project Evaluation Report #4. Dean said the RTC Board is scheduled to take action on the status of the southbound HOV lane pilot project at their meeting on January 7th, 2003.
Bob reported the recommended HOV project was designed as a bi-state project to extend from 134th Street in Vancouver to Lombard Street in Portland. The completion of the I-5 widening from Main Street to 99th Street in combination with the current two-lane bottleneck at Delta Park resulted in implementing what is now known as the southbound HOV pilot project from 99th Street to Mill Plain Boulevard. The policy goals of the HOV project were to: 1) help manage traffic congestion, 2) make more efficient use of existing facilities by carrying more people in the HOV land than the general purpose lanes, 3) encourage more carpools, vanpools, and transit ridership, and 4) provide travel time savings and better travel time reliability for HOV users.
Bob reviewed the Key Findings and Conclusions to Date. He pointed out of the eight HOV goals, the Vancouver HOV pilot project is meeting six goals. The pilot project is not meeting goal (1) Move more people per lane in the HOV lane during the AM 2-hour period than in either of the adjacent general-purpose lanes (8) Maintain or improve public opinion as to the effectiveness of HOV lanes.
Bob highlighted the goals that were met:
- Reduce peak period travel time for HOV lane users and reduce the average per-person travel time for all users.
- Minimize impacts to other traffic in the corridor and on parallel facilities.
- Increase the use of carpools, vanpools, and transit.
- Maintain safety by not increasing the accident and incident rate in the corridor during HOV lane operating periods.
- Maintain the HOV lane’s effectiveness with appropriate enforcement
- Maintain or improve travel time reliability for carpools, vanpools, and transit.
Bob reported during the September 2002 public opinion survey, 39% of the respondents surveyed agree that the Vancouver HOV lane is an excellent or good idea compared to 58% of respondents in September 2001 and 47% in March 2002. The number of respondents asserting that the HOV lane is a poor idea increased from 27% in the baseline to 47% in the September survey.
Bob highlighted the charts and graphs to illustrate the baseline persons per lane, total person & vehicle trips 6-8 a.m., vehicle occupancy, I-5 general purpose lane travel times 99th Street to Interstate Bridge, Person in Carpools, Vanpools, and transit 6-8 a.m. and a survey chart.
Dean said RTC Board will be making a recommendation regarding the status of the HOV land and Don Wagner of WSDOT will make the final decision on the HOV lane. If the RTC Board does not agree with final recommendation from WSDOT, they will take their recommendations to the WSDOT Board of Commission.
Dean suggested that we insert into the HOV background memorandum to the RTC Board that RTAC discussed the HOV lane and recognized that the facility was still under construction during the pilot project phase, which can impact the operational aspect of the facility in several dimensions. RTAC also recognized the need to look at the future when we start the weigh the impacts both in terms of performance and benefit. Finally, RTAC noted that it takes time for the HOV to start working and the trial nature of the lane may increase the start-up time.
V. Other Business
A. RTAC Members
Phil Wuest, City of Vancouver said, he met with a few people talking about concurrency for next year and realized that once a preferred land use alternative is decided that corridor level-of-service will be critical to the transportation elements of the Comprehensive Plan and the Capital Facilities Plan (CFP). Coordinating the corridor level-of-service analysis through RTC will of great assistance.
B. RTC Staff
TIB Grant Award
Dale Robins, RTC reported on projects selected by the Transportation Improvement Board, on November 22, 2002, for statewide competitive funding within the Clark, Skamania, and Klickitat County RTPO region. A total of 4 projects were selected for funding, totaling approximately $7.5 million in grant funding. The total Statewide 2004 TIB program is $82.1 million.
Transportation Partnership Program (TPP)
The Transportation Partnership Program is to improve the mobility of people and goods, by supporting economic development.
- NW Lake Road/SE 1st Street, 192nd Avenue to Leadbetter Boulevard (Camas)
- NE 162nd Avenue, NE 39th Street to NE Ward Road (Clark County)
Pedestrian Safety and Mobility Program
The Pedestrian Safety and Mobility Program are to enhance and promote pedestrian mobility and safety.
- NW/NE 149th Street, NW 21st Avenue to NE 10th Avenue (Clark County)
- West Hoag Street, S. Railroad Avenue to S. Parcel Avenue (Yacolt)
Dean said the governor’s proposal in terms of the TIB Board, CRAB Board and the Freight Mobility Strategic Board we support them by as of June 30 they will go away and as of July 1, some new board will be constituted. They will later hire a director and staff that will do all three programs.
2003 RTAC Meeting Schedule
Lynda reminded RTAC Members the January RTAC meeting we would be discussing Federal Urban Area Boundary we will be moving toward a March draft submission to federal highways.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:43 a.m. The next meeting will be Friday, January 17, 2003.
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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