Below are the minutes for the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, held on Friday, May 21, 2004, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in Conference Room East (6A), at the Clark County Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin Street - Floor 4, 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, May 21, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. in the Conference Room (6th Floor) at the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin Street Vancouver, Washington. Dale Robins, Senior Transportation Planner, served as Chair for the meeting. Those in attendance follow:
Sam Adams City of Battle Ground Mike Clark WSDOT John Cullerton Metro Lynda David RTC Evan Dust Clark County John Fratt Port of Vancouver Mark Harrington RTC Bob Hart RTC Robin Krause Clark County Thomas Picco ODOT Bill Pierce WSDOT Ed Pickering C-TRAN Sandi Roberts RTC Dale Robins RTC Wade Strange SW Clean Air Agency Phil Wuest City of Vancouver Dale Robins, RTC, asked for any changes or corrections to the April 16th, 2004, meeting minutes.
EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY, MOVED FOR APPROVAL OF THE APRIL 16, 2004 MINUTES AND MIKE CLARK, WSDOT, SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
II. 2004-2006 MTIP Amendment #4: WSDOT 134TH Street Interchange Right-of-Way, Action
Dale Robins, RTC, said the design of the 134th Street Interchange is included in the current Transportation Improvement Program and work began in January 2004. Dale said right of way for the 134th Street Interchange was scheduled for year 2009. However, a property that is essential to the interchange project is currently on the market. WSDOT is requesting a Transportation Improvement Program amendment to advance right of way funds to take advantage of this opportunity and purchase the currently available property. Dale reported the purchase of this essential right of way would not impact the scheduled 134th Street Interchange construction date as included in regional air quality analysis. Thus, air quality conformity does not need to be redetermined.
Dale pointed out that the regionally significant project must be programmed in the MTIP and STIP in order to obligate funds. Action on this amendment will provide $5 million in state transportation funds for the advance purchase of property that is currently on the market.
JOHN FRATT, PORT OF VANCOUVER, MADE THE MOTION TO RECOMMEND ADOPTION OF THE 2004-2006 MTIP AMENDMENT #4: 134TH STREET INTERCHANGE RIGHT OF WAY BY THE RTC BOARD OF DIRECTORS. EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY, SECONDED THE MOTION AND IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
Dale distributed a Memorandum to RTAC members “2004-2006 MTIP Amendment #5: C-TRAN Bus Replacements. At the March RTC Board meeting, the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program was amended to include five 2004 Appropriation earmark projects, including the C-TRAN bus replacements. However, without the passage of a federal transportation reauthorization bill, RTC withdrew the request to amend the STIP. The STIP can only include projects with secured funding. Part of the federal earmark funding has been allocated through extensions of TEA-21. According to the Federal Register of March 29, 2004 Number 60-16336, there is $1,722,972 available for the C-TRAN Bus Replacements project. A total of $2,946,449 was earmarked in the 2004 Appropriation Bill. C-TRAN is requesting that the MTIP be corrected and the STIP amended to include the allocated portion of the Section 5309 funding.
Dale reported C-TRAN is requesting an MTIP correction to program $1,722,972 of federal Section 5309 funding and $1,960,502 of local funds for the replacement of ten, 30’ coaches with lifts, and nine, 25’ coaches with lifts and security cameras. Dale said this amendment is necessary to establish pre-award authority and allow federal reimbursement. C-TRAN will need to process an MTIP correction once a reauthorization bill is approved, to shift dollars between local and federal funds.
Dale said the proposed action would results in a correction to the 2004 element of the MTIP. The proposed amendment is consistent with the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, congestion management system, air quality conformity analysis, and is financially constrained. This project will help meet the need for transportation investment in the region.
EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY, MADE THE MOTION TO CONCUR WITH THIS MTIP CORRECTION (2004-2006 MTIP AMENDMENT #5: C-TRAN BUS REPLACEMENTS) FOR INCLUSION IN THE STATE TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM. BILL PIERCE, WSDOT, SECONDED THE MOTION. IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
III. 2003 Congestion Management Report, Action
Dale Robins, RTC, presented the Draft 2003 Congestion Monitoring Report for RTAC comment. Dale said that RTC staff had completed an internal review and had recommended a few changes from the report included in the RTAC packets.
- Change the name of the report from Congestion Management Report to Congestion Monitoring Report. Monitoring is more reflective of what the report does.
- Improve the way maps are referenced in the text. The solution was to bold the map # and Page # at the top of the paragraph discussing the map.
- Include analysis of general-purpose lanes only. The I-5 HOV facility is being monitored by WSDOT. This change will allow consistency in what is being analyzed in this report and analysis of only general purpose lanes seems to better represent the congestion that is occurring in the AM peak hour.
- Some minor text changes.
Dale pointed out to RTAC that the report is designed to focus on regional travel characteristics and uses a corridor approach to describe the performance of the system. Dale highlighted the table of contents and said the report includes four chapters and an appendix. It is written so it can be distributed with or without the appendix (60 pages or 37 pages). Dale noted Chapter I is an introduction to the congestion monitoring report, Chapter II includes a summary of transportation system performance, Chapter III discusses the need for monitoring and for implementation of the findings, Chapter IV includes maps used to visually display system performance, and the appendix includes individual corridor data.
Dale reviewed the maps section. He pointed out that the 137th Avenue and 99th Street corridors are newly added and the monitoring of the Ward Road corridor has been dropped.
Dale said he would encourage the county and cities to look at the data to see where there are problems on the system. Dale pointed to the example of Hazel Dell Avenue, south of 78th Street, where the problem could be corrected by doing some striping.
EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY, MADE THE MOTION TO FORWARD THE 2003 CONGESTION MANAGEMENT REPORT, WITH RTC’S SUGGESTED CHANGES, TO THE RTC BOARD OF DIRECTORS. ED PICKERING SECONDED THE MOTION. IT WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
IV. Washington Transportation Plan Update – Work Plan Overview, Discussion
Mike Clark, WSDOT
The 2005 update to the Washington Transportation Plan (WTP) is a blueprint for transportation programs and investments. The plan covers all modes of Washington transportation system: roadways, ferries, public transportation, aviation, freight rail, passenger rail, marine ports and navigation, bicycles and pedestrians. The WTP is required by state and federal law to be regularly updated. The update is currently underway and will be adopted by the Transportation Commission in 2005, will cover the period 2007-2026, and will be the basis for an investment proposal to the legislature in 2007.
RTC and its member agencies will be involved in WTP development to ensure consistency and coordination between the WTP, the regional transportation plan and local jurisdiction Growth Management Plans.
Mike Clark, WSDOT, referred to the handout “Washington Transportation Plan, 2005 Update: Work Plan Overview”. Mike said that Phase 1 includes data compilation, analysis and strategy development. Mike reviewed the key statewide transportation issues: System Preservation, System Efficiencies, Safety, Transportation for Everyone, System Extensions, Bottlenecks and Chokepoints, Contributing to a Strong Economy and Good Jobs, Moving Freight, Building Future Visions, and Health and the Environment. Mike Clark talked about the safety analysis and referred to information he had received at an April WSDOT meeting. Analysis showed that the fatality rates had dropped over the years but more enforcement may make for a safer system. Mike said that Barbara Ivanov manages the freight program at WSDOT and freight issues include identifying the prime routes for shippers and improving the transportation system for shippers.
Phase 2 will begin in September of this year and run through July 2005. In Phase 2 a constrained plan will be developed. Work tasks will include adopting strategies, developing an Investment Plan, setting priorities and adopting the plan to provide legislative direction of the 2007-2009 biennium. Mike encouraged RTAC members to regularly check the WDOT website at www.wsdot.wa.gov/planning where issue papers will be posted. The issues paper on safety is most complete and is available on the website as well as an freight issues paper that was presented to the State Transportation Commission.
Lynda David, RTC, referred to the meeting handout “Local Roadway Needs and Washington’s Transportation Plan” (April 2004). She explained that it was prepared by WSDOT Local Programs section. Local Programs is working with the Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC), Association of Washington Cities (AWC), Transportation Improvement Board (TIB), and the County Road Administration Board (CRAB) to try to reflect transportation needs, including local roads, as part of the statewide transportation investment plan. DOT is trying to get to an order of magnitude cost to meet local roadway needs and is interested in local priorities.
Lynda said there will be a milestone event in Seattle on September 21st hosted by the Transportation Commission to review proposed strategies. The Transportation Commission will be sending out invitations and the Commission is set to endorse areas targeted for investment. Dale Robins, RTC, said that it is important that everyone stay involved in the WTP update process as it will have repercussions for future transportation funding.
V. Other Business
A. RTAC Members
RTAC members asked that they be informed when more information becomes available on WSDOT’s Congestion Relief Study.
Evan Dust, Clark County, reported on the GMA Comprehensive Plan update process. Evan said that the County is in the final stages of the process. He said that a Capital Facilities Plan status report is available. A hearing is set for mid-July.
B. RTC Staff
Air Quality Update – New Eight-Hour Ozone Standard
Mark Harrington, RTC, said EPA adopted a new eight-hour ozone standard that is supposedly more stringent than the previous one-hour standard. While this might be true for 90% of the country it is not the case in the Pacific Northwest. The EPA has designated Portland-Vancouver as an attainment area for the new eight-hour standard and our current maintenance designation under the one-hour standard will be dropped in June of 2005. This means that after June of 2005 we will no longer have to undertake transportation air quality conformity requirements for ozone. We will, however, still have to meet conformity regulations and requirements for carbon monoxide. Washington and Oregon state environmental agencies are currently developing a limited ozone maintenance plan targeted at preventing any violations of the new eight-hour standard.
Walkable Community Workshops
Lynda David, RTC, thanked RTAC members for attending the Walkable Communities Workshops. After reading the evaluation forms she noted that people got most out of the walking audit portion of the workshops. The walking audits made people aware of how difficult it was to walk around parts of our community. Walking audit participants had encountered sidewalk obstacles such as utility poles and US Postal Service mail boxes as well as overgrown plants that crowded the sidewalk. Lynda summarized what was learned from the workshops. There are obvious benefits of having a walkable community such as reduced air pollution, reduced automotive congestion and healthier citizens but there are also not so obvious benefits such as increased property values, higher retail sales with increased foot traffic and lower crime rates with more eyes on the street. A walkable community can also contribute to community pride, sense of community, quality of place and increased safety for both pedestrians and bicyclists as motorists become more aware of their growing numbers. Workshop participants were encouraged to celebrate community and reflect on the history and the unique qualities of the community in the walking environment. Lynda said she would be providing a summary of the workshops at the June RTC Board meeting. Phil Wuest, City of Vancouver, asked what the next step would be. He said it is important that the type of projects that can create a more walkable community be able to compete for federal and state funding. There are intersection projects needed to improve bicycle and pedestrian safety but they do not compete well with arterial capacity projects given the current project selection criteria. Dale said he is planning to hold a meeting to discuss project selection criteria for the next round of project selection.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:39 a.m. The next meeting will be Friday June 18th, 2004.
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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