Below are the minutes for the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee meeting, held on Friday, November 19, 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, November 19, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. in the Training 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:
Jim Carothers City of Camas Mike Clark WSDOT Justin Clary City of Ridgefield John Cullerton Metro Lynda David RTC Evan Dust Clark County Rebecca Eisminger Port of Vancouver Richard Gamble Clark County Mark Harrington RTC Katherine Klockenteger WSDOT Dean Lookingbill RTC Thomas Picco ODOT Ed Pickering C-TRAN Matt Ransom City of Vancouver Sandi Roberts RTC Dale Robins RTC Bryan Snodgrass City of Vancouver Kevin Snyder City of Ridgefield Bill Wright Clark County Phil Wuest City of Vancouver Dean Lookingbill, RTC asked for any changes or corrections to the October 15, 2004, meeting minutes.
EVAN DUST, CLARK COUNTY MOVED FOR APPROVAL OF THE OCTOBER 15, 2004 MINUTES AND MIKE CLARK, WSDOT SECONDED THE MOTION. THE MOTION WAS UNANIMOUSLY APPROVED.
II. Capital Facilities Plans: City of Camas, Discussion
Jim Carothers, City of Camas distributed “City of Camas Capital Facilities Plan 2004-2009 & 2010-2023”, “X. Capital Facilities Plan” and gave an overview of the Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) element and said it is a long-range plan that will address facility needs and requirements for each year for the next six years. The CFP also includes additional project needs for the following 14 years to complete the twenty-year plan. He noted the Capital Facilities Plan should be updated biannually and will include a statement of projected costs and sources of revenue.
Jim directed RTAC members to look at the Capital Facilities Plan Revenue Projections table and the Capital Facilities Plan list. He noted the improvements in the SE 20th/NE 38th Avenue corridor as a connection to the City of Vancouver at 192nd Ave. and future SR 14 improvements as projects of considerable regional significance. Jim said that City of Camas has an active interest in SR-14 improvements from west interchange to 45th Street in Washougal and would be joining hands with the City of Washougal and the Port of Camas/Washougal in lobbing in for funding for the project. It was also pointed out the new high school north of Lacamas Lake park in Camas would bring considerable amount of traffic along SR 500, particularly at the Lake Road intersection.
Dale Robins pointed out that a portion of the SE 20th/NE 38th Ave corridor is not in the MTP and would need to be included in the update to the 20-year regional plan.
III. Capital Facilities Plans: City of Ridgefield, Discussion
Kevin Snyder, City of Ridgefield presented their Capital Facilities Plan. Kevin said in Ridgefield’s 20-year plan of projects there are $176 million dollars in transportation projects. Residential development is proceeding at a rapid pace and they expect the population of Ridgefield to grow 20-25% for the next few years. Most of the residential growth is west of 45th. Kevin said that for the City of Ridgefield, the most important transportation projects are upgrading 269th, Pioneer and the I-5 interchange.
A few weeks ago the city spearheaded the meeting with Port of Ridgefield and met with stakeholders; the state, the county, RTC, property developers and other interested parties. The Port of Ridgefield and City of Ridgefield have set goals to tap state-level and local funding sources to upgrade the Ridgefield interchange at a cost of around $20-$30 million. Kevin noted that they have a unique situation that they may have a few private parties that may be willing to help fund this project and they should know in the near future. He said the other important issue is which is not in their capital facilities project is what happens at the 219th interchange. The west leg is very important to Ridgefield. This is very important and is something that the Port, the City of Ridgefield and other interested parties are working on to help this happen. Kevin stated that both north and south of 269th Interchange they have planned for crossings over I-5 at NE 289th St. and S 10th St. Kevin said, that for the City of Ridgefield, the Transportation Capital Facilities Plan and their sewer system are the most important things that staff is working on
Lynda David noted that she needs to be notified regarding the changes so the functional class map can be updated.
Dean reminded RTAC that we still need to hear from City of Battle Ground and Washougal on their Capital Facilities Plans.
IV. 2005 RTC Emphasis Areas, Discussion
Dean Lookingbill, RTC presented the 2005 RTC Emphasis Areas and said this would be presented to the RTC Board along with the proposed 2005 RTC Budget at their December meeting.
Dean said the 2003 Washington State Legislature funded a $4.2 billion dollar, 10-year list of transportation improvements that have become known as the “Nickel Package”. For Clark County this meant that over $200 million in much needed state transportation projects moved from plan to implementation. Dean said as these projects move though the design, environmental and construction phases, RTC will continue to make any requests for travel model or other related analysis a top priority. While this investment begins to address the most critical state highway projects it only partially funds the total need across our region.
With the completion of the Clark County GMA Plan this fall, a key area of emphasis in 2005 will be a major revision to the Metropolitan Transportation Plan. This revision will carry with it the new projects from the cities’ and county’s transportation capital facility plans. Other key transportation planning projects to be addressed in 2005 include the following: 1) the role of transit as a major element of the regional transportation system, 2) the initiation of the I-205 Corridor Environmental Assessment, 3) the completion of the Washington State Transportation Plan, and 4) the initiation of the I-5 Columbia River Crossing Environmental Impact Statement.
Dean stated the issue of adequate transportation financing has not gone away and will remain a concern and factor in carrying out the regional transportation planning process. On the federal level, the reauthorization of a new six–year national transportation bill should bring with it new program and project funding opportunities. On a state level, it is expected that transportation funding will continue to be an issue and may include the possibility of additional statewide revenue and/or new authorization for regional and local revenue options.
Dean highlighted the following RTC areas of emphasis for 2005:
- MTP Major Revisions
- I-205 Corridor Environmental Assessment
- Transportation Operations and Intelligent Transportation System ITS Development
- Washington State Transportation Plan
- I-5 Columbia River Crossing DEIS Process
- Bi-State Coordination Committee
- Transportation Technical Services
- Skamania and Klickitat Counties Regional Transportation Programs
- Continuing Transportation Program Activities and Program Coordination
Evan Dust, Clark County inquired about moving to a multi-hour peak for the new MTP. Dean acknowledge that there has been talk about using multi-hour peak analysis in planning, however, there still needs to be consideration about how move to multi-hour peak analysis means to and will work with concurrency and development review.
Phil Wuest, City of Vancouver asked if the RTC Board has come together and pinpointed what the transportation strategies should be to the region. Dean said that the RTC Board would review strategies again with this MTP update. Phil asked if RTC Board would be organizing a retreat to review strategies and Dean responded that there would have to have a need and a willingness to have a retreat.
Evan said he would like to hear about the transition away from EMME/2 as the regions travel modeling software package. John Cullterton, Metro commented that a RFP has been sent out to help Metro decide what program they will use for travel forecasting model, transportation data and geographic data/maps.
Matt Ransom, City of Vancouver said he would like to see more discussion on Level of Service identify corridors that would work better and function better on an operation side. This was a part of the discussion about ITS, VAST and the CMS. He also requested Dean to bring back more information from Bi-State Committee Meetings for RTAC members.
V. Update on Federal Transportation Funding Bills and Regional Project Requests, Discussion
Dean said approximately every six years; Congress passes legislation that establishes the federal government’s investment role in a national transportation program. This legislation is referred to as “reauthorization”. The transportation reauthorization bill establishes the overall federal government’s transportation program categories and authorizes funding levels for the next six years. The funding amounts contained in the reauthorization legislation are the amounts expected nationwide. Then for each subsequent federal fiscal year, Congress passes an annual “appropriations” bill that sets the actual funding amounts for programs and projects in that single year. Dean said in summary, the reauthorization bill sets the six-year funding programs and levels, while the appropriation bill establishes the single-year spending program.
The 1998 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) expired on September 30, 2003. Normally, a new six-year federal transportation reauthorization bill would have been passed for fiscal years 2004-2009. However, Congress has not yet passed a new 6-year bill but has instead taken a series of actions to extend the federal transportation programs authorized in TEA-21. The most recent extension continues the TEA-21 programs through May 2005. The 2005 appropriation bill has yet to be approved by Congress and is expected to be taken up when Congress returns in mid November.
Dean said on February 12, 2004, U.S. Senate passed a new six-year transportation reauthorization bill (SAFETEA), which includes a total funding level of approximately $318 billion. On April 2, 2004, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a new six-year transportation reauthorization bill (TEA-LU), which includes a total funding level of approximately $284 billion. Both the Senate and House bills are well above the administration’s funding level. Both bills preserve the basic TEA-21 program structure.
Dean noted our region’s Congressional offices asked to have the 2005 transportation appropriation requests submitted by the end of February 2004. The RTC Board of Directors endorsed a set of projects at their February 3, 2004 meeting and project requests were documented and submitted to each congressional office.
The final Federal FY 2005 Appropriation Bill has been delayed until Congress returns to session in mid November. Dean said at this point, it is unclear which, if any, of the projects listed in the attached letter will receive a 2005 appropriation earmark.
Dean said previously, the RTC Board agreed on and submitted a list of earmark projects for consideration within the Federal Transportation Reauthorization process. In April 2004, the U.S. House of Representatives released a list of specific earmark and funding amounts that were included as part of the House Reauthorization Bill 9TEA-LU). These project of interest were for our region: 1) I-5 Columbia River Crossing - $21 million (Washington $10 million/Oregon $11 million, 2) I-5/Salmon Creek Area Improvement Project - $12.354 million, 3) SR-501 Ridgefield Overpass/Rail Improvement - $1 million, 4) I-5 Delta Park to Lombard (Oregon) - $5 million, 5) I-5/SR-503 Access Study and Development Plan (Woodland) - $300,000. Dean said we need to reform that list.
Dean said although these projects are included in the house version of the transportation reauthorization bill, until a final bill is passed, the actual funding levels could be modified. Generally, the funding is spread over the reauthorization six-year period through annual appropriation bills. However, due to the delay in passing a transportation reauthorization bill, the distribution through the annual appropriation bills could be spread over a shorter time period.
Dale Robins, RTC said when we are developing a list for 2006 appropriations we can obligate the funding for September 2005 – October 2006. Dale said we cannot ask for full funding; design rights a way, and construction, one phase at a time as needed. It has to be obligated the year you will be using it.
Dean said we will work with Senator Murray’s staff person and they will decide thumbs up thumbs down regarding projects. Dean said there might not be any earmarks in 2005.
Dean opens the discussion up to ask if there are any projects we need to add to our appropriation list. He reviewed the projects listed to the letter to Senator Murray.
Mike Clark, WSDOT will provide a list for RTAC members of updated projects.
Evan Dust, Clark County thanked RTC for using the phase “Focus Public Investment Area”.
VI. Other Business
Dean had Scott Sawyer, Clark County announce his new position with City of Washougal, as Public Works Director as of December 1, 2004.
Mike Clark, WSDOT distributed information regarding Washington Transportation Plan: which are issue areas; 1) System Preservation 2) System Efficiencies 3) Safety 4) Transportation Access 5) Bottlenecks and Chokepoints 6) Economy and Jobs 7) Moving Freight 8) Future Visions and 9) Health and Environment. He also distributed a draft list of Chokepoints and Bottlenecks for the region. He would like feed back on any areas. RTC will coordinate with WSDOT on identifying chokepoints and bottlenecks within the WTP. Mike also handed out copies of the “Proposed WTP Phase II Work Plan”.
A. RTAC Members
Ed Pickering, C-TRAN gave a brief summary of the sales tax measure failing by eight points. This has put the C-TRAN Board into a position to balance the budget and to reduce the services. A hearing was held and 300 passengers attended, 100 of the passengers testified and another 100 submitted a written comments. The Board is continuing the hearing and deliberation and they will have a retreat December. The proposed 40% reduction in service changes some of the service for the small cities, changes for I-5 corridor service and delivery of commuters to Portland’s Light Rail system at PIR.
Ed spoke about raising bus fares or subsidizing service out of our reserve, which will deplete that fund. This is all out on the table and the Board will have to make the decisions. C-TRAN will not make changes until February regarding the commuter routes.
Dean said he heard the C-TRAN Board say they wanted to ask for another vote from the citizens. The new target is what are we willing to do now until we are ready to put this back on the ballet. Dean said the real target is a “Yes” vote. Dean noted transit is a component of our community.
Ed Pickering noted that if C-TRAN lays people off and then needs to rehire it is an expensive procedure and hard to recover lost ridership.
Dean said after the hearings we all realized the Transit system is very important to a number people. The service reduction will be March 2005 for the transit service.
Phil Wuest, City of Vancouver said he talked with Todd Boulanger and said he was working with a committee to get more vanpools.
B. RTC Staff
Dean said we are working hard to get the 2023 land use allocation done. Evan Dust, Clark County said he is working to get the allocation out for all jurisdictions by January 2005.
John Cullerton, Metro said they have been developing a 2030 forecast and have a number of struggles with that allocating growth on the urban growth boundary. Dean said we, as a region, would need figure how to match up the Clark County GMA forecast and the Metroscope piece. It is looking like there will be some differences in the employment/housing distributions developed by the two forecasts that will need to be addressed.
Dean said we have talked of bringing these land use forecast issues back to RTAC and hopefully by January 2005 the two forecasts will be complete and enable RTAC to have a better discussion.
Mark Harrington, RTC said we currently have a 2000 base year for the travel demand model and there have been questions from member agencies about updating to a 2003 base year. Mark said to do this we need a new set of land use for 2003. This could be accomplished by adding household and employment to the existing 2000 land use data set. Utilizing existing 2003 employment data from the State Employment Securities Division and new dwelling data from the assessors GIS database this 2003 data set could easily be developed. Mark cautioned that 2003 was a recession year for Clark County and may not be a good year to pick for a base year. He said that he would give some thought to the issue and talk with some other modelers. Mark will be working with GIS Clark County to coordinate the development 2003 land use numbers.
Dale Robins, RTC said TIB will announce their Grant Awards at Noon, you may want to check their website.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:05 a.m. The The next meeting will be Friday December 17, 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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