Below are the minutes for the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, held on Friday, October 15, 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, 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 15, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. in the Conference Room (6th Floor) at the Public Service Center, 1300 Franklin Street Vancouver, Washington. Dean Lookingbill, Transportation Director, served as Chair for the meeting. Those in attendance follow:
Mike Clark WSDOT Justin Clary City of Ridgefield John Cullerton Metro Lynda David RTC Evan Dust Clark County Rebecca Eisminger Port of Vancouver Bart Gernhart WSDOT Brent Grening Port of Ridgefield Mark Harrington RTC Bob Hart RTC Katherine Klockenteger WSDOT Dean Lookingbill RTC Brian McMullen WSDOT Don Owings WSDOT Thomas Picco ODOT Ed Pickering C-TRAN Matt Ransom City of Vancouver Sandi Roberts RTC Dale Robins RTC Bryan Snodgrass City of Vancouver Wade Strange SW Clean Air Agency Bill Wright Clark County Dean Lookingbill, RTC, asked for any changes or corrections to the September 17, 2004, meeting minutes.
MATT RANSOM, CITY OF VANCOUVER, MOVED FOR APPROVAL OF THE SEPTEMBER 17 2004 MINUTES AND BRIAN MCMULLEN, WSDOT, SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
II. Salmon Creek Interchange Project Design - Update, Discussion
Dean Lookingbill introduced the agenda item and said the project involves a team effort between Clark County and WSDOT. Don Owings and Bart Gernhart, WSDOT, used an aerial photo showing a draft design of the Salmon Creek Interchange project to explain project elements to RTAC members. Don reminded RTAC that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) had concurred with the 2002 Access Point Decision Report (APDR) for the interchange. Since then, the 2003 Legislative Transportation Funding (or "Nickel") Package allocated $40 million for design and construction of the project. The total cost for transportation improvements in the interchange area is in excess of $80 million. Additional funding for these transportation improvements will include funds obtained by Clark County. Don explained that the draft design was changed from that submitted in the APDR.
The current design concept has a full diamond interchange at 139th Street with half diamond at 134th Street. Bart Gernhart, WSDOT, said one of the big challenges is how to merge northbound ramp traffic onto I-5 when there is also merging traffic to I-5 from I-205. Bart said a lane may need to be added to I-5 up to 179th Street. Don Owings said the intersection of 139th Street and Tenney Road is a critical element in the design. With the current design concept, 139th Street would be the primary route and require a five-lane structure. Don also reviewed the alternatives for the park and ride lot location. Under the current design proposal, the existing park and ride lot may not need to be re-located. There was a great deal of discussion regarding the best way to handle traffic in the I-5/I-205/134th/139th Street area. Dean Lookingbill said the design will be refined over the course of the next few months.
III. Capital Facilities Plans: Clark County, Discussion
As part of the process to update Comprehensive Growth Management Plans each jurisdiction has completed an updated Capital Facilities Plan (CFP). Evan Dust, Clark County, provided RTAC with an overview of Clark County’s updated Capital Facilities Plan. Evan distributed a handout on “Revenue Perspective” (August 30, 2004) that addresses estimated funding available for transportation capital projects. He said the revenue perspective was based on the Comprehensive Plan map selected for analysis by the Board of County Commissioners in fall 2003. Since the preparation of the “Revenue Perspective” the board has considered two other plan maps, one dated January 2004 and the final plan map dated August 24, 2004. For CFP purposes, Clark County has assumed that $467 million in funding will be available over 20 years for capital projects. Evan said a full revenue perspective report, based on the adopted comprehensive plan map, will be prepared to confirm the estimated revenue for capital projects and to inform the Metropolitan Transportation Plan update process led by RTC.
The Clark County handout also included the Executive Summary (September 2003) of the “Revenue Perspective”. Evan Dust noted the report provides a two-part revenue analysis for the comprehensive plan update process. The first part of the analysis provides a preliminary examination of the comparative differences in revenue generation between the five land-use alternatives considered in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and the second part of the analysis provides a refined examination of expected revenue from the preferred land use alternative.
Evan Dust also distributed the “Clark County, 20-Year, Transportation Capital Facilities Project List”. Evan said the next step for the County will be to update the Traffic Impact Fee (TIF) program. Evan highlighted some of the projects on the CFP list including the I-5/139th-134th Interchange, the Andresen/Padden Interchange, the Padden/SR-503 Interchange, NE 137th Avenue from NE 99th to 119th Street, and 99th Street from St. Johns to SR-503 that completes a parallel corridor to Padden. Dean noted there will be significant growth in Battle Ground and commented that future plans for the SR-503 corridor will be a regional issue for the future.
Dale Robins, RTC, asked how the list compares with the list of projects in the County’s TIP commenting that the TIP has projects that are not listed on this CFP list. Evan said that a project could be included in the TIP and then be amended into the CFP as long as the amendment occurs prior to issuing the County road project number which can happen at construction. Evan said you could have design activity on a project that is not on the capital facilities list.
IV. Other Business
A. RTAC Members
Clark County Arterial Atlas
Evan Dust, Clark County, showed RTAC a map of the updated County Arterial Atlas which Evan explained represents the adopted policy of the Board of Clark County Commissioners for arterial classification in unincorporated Clark County. To complete the Arterial Atlas, the County will need to get information on arterial classification from other jurisdictions. Then, an updated atlas, like the ring-bound version produced to accompany the 1994 Comprehensive Growth Management Plan, can be produced to cover the entire County. This will be an informational product rather than a policy document. Lynda David, RTC, said this is complementary process to the federal functional classification system’s update that RTC is working on. Lynda commented that RTC is working with the County’s GIS department to input draft federal functional classification update to the GIS system.
Washington’s Transportation Plan (WTP)
Mike Clark, WSDOT, distributed a handout of a Power Point presentation on Washington’s Transportation Plan (WTP) update. Katherine Klockenteger, WSDOT, reported that the WTP milestone event will be held next week (October 19th). Attendance will be by invite only and will include elected officials and MPO/RTPO representatives. The milestone event will mark the end of Phase 1 of the WTP update and the beginning of Phase 2. Mike Clark encouraged RTAC members to keep checking the WTP website for updated information. He noted that the WTP Data Library is a centralized body of information and resources compiled as part of the WTP update process to support decision-making. Mike asked Lynda to e-mail the website link for the presentation to RTAC members not present at the October meeting. Mike provided an overview of the presentation’s highlights. Dale Robins, RTC, said you can sign up by e-mail to be on the WTP mail list and you will periodically be provided with news on the WTP update process and progress.
Mike pointed out the demands on our state’s transportation systems are greater and have not been adequately addressed for years. He said funds for transportation are not there to do what needs to be done. The aging and deterioration of our state’s transportation system will require spending more and more to merely “stay in place”. The question is how do we settle on our priorities for transportation system investment in light of these realities? Mike went through the strategic issues for this WTP update: System Preservation, System Efficiencies, Safety, Transportation Access, Bottlenecks & Chokepoints, Moving Freight, Health & the Environment, Strong Economy & Good Jobs and Building Future Visions. Mike said one of the next steps in the update process will be to have a dialog on data and analysis. Mike said Phase 2 is where we translate the data-driven conclusions and perspectives into an investment plan. The Transportation Commission will prioritize the proposal. A draft WTP update is due to the Commission in June 2005 and the final plan is due in September 2005. The WTP update will be used as the basis to develop the 2007-2009 budget.
B. RTC Staff
Land Use Allocation Update
Lynda David, RTC, said the GMA TAC met yesterday. Mike Mabrey, Clark County, will complete a 2023 draft allocation of households and employment to Transportation Analysis Zones (TAZs) by early next week. The draft allocation will be produced using the County’s Vacant Buildable Lands Model (VBLM) applied to the adopted land use from the update to the Clark County Comprehensive Growth Management Plan. The County will send the updated draft TAZ allocations out to all jurisdictions for review. The County will require jurisdictions to document any overrides they request from the County-produced data. The documentation will be useful for any future updates. Lynda urged local jurisdictions to check the TAZ data for their jurisdiction for accuracy. Lynda said that the TAZ allocations will be used as input to the regional travel forecast model that is used as the basis for transportation system analysis not only in the upcoming Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) update but also in other regional transportation planning projects such as the I-5 Columbia Crossing, the I-205 Corridor Environmental Assessment and sub-area plans of local jurisdictions. The regional travel forecast model output data is also used in local traffic impact studies for new developments. The land use/demographic input is critical to the accuracy of transportation plans and studies. Dean Lookingbill, RTC, said that the base year data will be updated to 2003 and a 6-year forecast will also be developed.
Dean Lookingbill asked John Cullerton (Metro) if he could provide a presentation on Metroscope and Metro’s land use allocation process at one of the next RTAC meetings.
Dean reported that the federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) was extended for an additional 8 months through May 2005. The 2005 appropriations bill has yet to be approved by Congress.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:43 a.m. The next meeting will be Friday, November 19, 2004.
Regional Transportation Council
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Vancouver, Washington 98660Tel: 360-397-6067
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