Date:

N.C. CAPITAL AREA

METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION

TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

January 26, 2005 – 4:00 PM

2nd Floor City Council Chambers, Raleigh Municipal Bldg.

Avery C. Upchurch Governmental Complex

222 West Hargett Street

Raleigh, North Carolina

AGENDA

1. Preliminaries

2. Adjustments to the Agenda

3. Public Comments

This is an opportunity for comments by those in attendance. Please limit comments to three minutes for each speaker.

4. Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the December 15, 2004 informal TAC meeting and the December 20, 2004 TAC meeting are enclosed Attachment 4A and Attachment 4B.

TAC Action: Approval.

5. Election of Officers for Calendar Year 2005

According to the approved TAC bylaws, the Chair and Vice-Chair shall be elected by a majority of the eligible voting members of the TAC at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the calendar year. The newly elected Chair and Vice-Chair shall take office immediately following the election and serve for one year.

The Chair shall call and preside at meetings and appoint committees. The Chair shall appoint a staff member to serve as Clerk of the Committee. The Clerk shall provide or otherwise delegate staff service for the TAC, as needed, and will be responsible for taking summary minutes of the Committee's proceedings. In the absence of the Chair, the Vice-Chair shall preside and complete all other duties of the Chairman.

At its January 6, 2005 meeting, the TCC elected Mr. Chip Russell (Wake Forest Planning Director) as its Chair and elected Mr. Tim Clark (Wake county Planning Department) as Vice-Chair.

TAC Action: Nominate and elect Chair and Vice-Chair of the TAC for the year 2005.

6. Status Report on Triangle Region 2005 Air Quality Conformity Determination Process

The Triangle Ozone Non-Attainment Region’s Technical Consultation Meeting was held on Monday, December 20, 2004 at the Triangle J Council of Governments. The items of discussion included: (1) Regionally Significant and Exempt Projects, (2) Forecasted Emissions vs. Budgets/Baseline Comparisons, and (3) the Draft Conformity Determination Report. Mr. John Hodges-Copple of the Triangle J Council of Governments is leading this coordination effort involving three MPOs, three RPOs, FHWA, FTA, and USEPA, NCDOT and NCDNER-DAQ. An update will be presentedon the current status and remaining schedule for this major effort.

TAC Action: Receive information, with review and discussion as appropriate

7. Call for CMAQ Projects – Reviewing Applications

The Capital Area MPO sent notification to its members on November 29, 2004 that NCDOT has recently announced its revised guidelines for selecting projects for funding with federal Congestion Mitigation for Air Quality (CMAQ) funds. NCDOT indicates that it anticipates approximately $22 million in CMAQ funding (80% federal / 20% non-federal) being available for obligation in our MPO area over the next seven federal fiscal years. At its meeting on December 20, 2004 the TAC indicated it intended to allocate $21 million of these funds to pay for NCDOT’s 75% share of the cost of upgrading the Raleigh Signal System..

The new guidelines place more responsibility on MPOs to prioritize proposed CMAQ projects for NCDOT to approve. NCDOT is requesting that the MPO’s prioritized project list be submitted to NCDOT by January 25, 2005. Capital Area MPO members were subsequently requested to submit their applications to the Capital Area MPO office by no later than December 31, 2004. As of December 30, 2004, the following agencies have submitted proposed CMAQ applications: (1) the City of Raleigh, (2) the Triangle J Council of Governments, (3) the Town of Cary, (4) the Town of Holly Springs, and (5) North Carolina State University. A summary of the applications is shown in the chart labeled as Attachment 7.

The staff during the January 6, 2005 TCC meeting presented the cost-benefit results from each project’s emission reduction calculations. Mr. George Chapman also addressed the TCC with conclusions as reached by the TAC during their December 20, 2004 meeting. Following discussion, the TCC decided that the following CMAQ projects be prioritized for funding: (1) City of Raleigh’s Upgrade of Signal System, (2) Triangle J Council of Government’s Livable Communities Incentive Fund (also endorsed by the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO), (3) Triangle J Council of Government’s Best Workplaces for Commuters Program, (4) Town of Cary’s Penny Road/Holly Springs Road intersection, (5) Town of Holly Springs’ sidewalk project along NC 55 and Main Street, and (6) North Carolina State University’s one way street configuration and signalization at Cates Avenue and Pullen Road.

TAC Action: Adopt TCC recommendations regarding prioritization of proposed CMAQ projects.

8. Comprehensive Transportation Plan – Update

One of the tasks assigned to the Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) Subcommittee as established October 7, 2004 is to conduct a detailed corridor study addressing land use, transit and other transportation modes on the US 1 Corridor. The Capital Area MPO staff has been working on drafting the US 1 North Corridor Study RFP that includes a preliminary draft scope of work shown as Attachment 8. Other tasks that are to involve oversight by the CTP Subcommittee include (a) converting the current CAMPO Thoroughfare Plan into being the roadway system element of NCDOT’s recently recommend transition into more extensive and robust multimodal Comprehensive Transportation Plan, and (b) moving ahead on conducting regional long-range transit vision plan study to develop what would eventually become the transit element of the CTP.

With the upcoming Capital Area MPO TCC planning retreat (scheduled for February 10, 2005 at Lake Wheeler Lodge) and the three-year USDOT Certification Review (scheduled for February 16 & 17, 2005), the TCC will provide guidance to the CTP Subcommittee and MPO staff as to the desired timetable and products that will be accomplished for each task.

TAC Action: Receive information for discussion.

9. Metropolitan Planning Organization Expansion Implementation Process

At the Transportation Advisory Committee’s direction, letters of invitation have been sent to the counties and local governments adjoining the current Capital Area MPO boundary to join the Capital Area MPO. The Capital Area MPO has received responses to the letters of invitation during the month of November, and the TAC took action to execute their acceptance into the MPO in principle (subject to a jointly executed membership agreement) during their November 17, 2004 meeting. The Capital Area MPO is preparing to send a letter to governments in the newly added areas showing that member have been approved to join the MPO. Several organizational agreements will need to be updated. These include the Memorandum of Understanding, TAC and TCC bylaws, the Prospectus and Member non-federal cost-sharing percentages for the Unified Planning Work Program, and the Metropolitan Area Boundary. Furthermore, the MOU between the Capital Area MPO and Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) will also be addressed during this process.

The MPO staff plans to conduct an outreach process for the newly added member agencies to identify issues of concern and also to create a MPO member “primer” for all members. The primer would consist of a notebook that includes: (1) the MPO‘s history, (2) frequently asked questions, and (3) the Memorandum Of Understanding and bylaws, etc. The Expansion Implementation Subcommittee as established on October 7, 2004, will need to meet as soon as practicable to discuss these and other details for moving forward on implementing the MPO expansion.

TAC Action: Receive information for discussion.

10. Regional Transportation Alliance – San Diego Tour

Members of the Regional Transportation Alliance and invited guests participated in the January 6-8, 2005 Tour to San Diego, California to see the region’s transportation infrastructure and examine their approach to address pressing transportation needs. A report on the findings of from this tour is enclosed as Attachment 10.

TAC Action: Receive information for discussion.

11. Status Report on State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for FY 2006-2012

On January 6, 2005, NCDOT indicated that the upcoming draft STIP for FY 2006-2012 was being adjusted to rebalance funding levels between the state’s 14 highway divisions to bring expenditures since 1999 back into compliance with the equity formula originally established by the Highway Trust Fund Act of 1989 as subsequently modified in 1999 to require precise funding compliance within each Highway division. NCDOT indicated that this rebalancing would require removing $326 million of proposed funding from Division Five over the next seven years of the TIP. At the time of the announcement, high priority highway projects in Wake County proposed to be delayed beyond 2012 included; I-40 from US 1/64 to Wade Avenue, I-440 from I-40 to Wade Avenue, and US 401 from Rolesville to Louisburg. A updated status report with further information will be made at the meeting.

The TAC may wish to express concern to NCDOT and/or others about the consequences of this proposed action further reducing already inadequate state and federal funding to help address this region’s steadily growing traffic congestion problems.

TAC Action: Receive information for discussion and action as appropriate.

12. Pending Items

TCC Meetings held during the months of October and November produced the following subcommittees, participants, and tasks:

(1) Comprehensive Transportation Plan Subcommittee – established October 7, 2004. Participants include Eric Lamb, John Hodges-Copple, Sarah Smith, Tim Clark, Jim Parajon, Kendra Stephenson, Juliet Andes, Dianne Khin, and Mike Frangos. The tasks to done are (a) Update of roadway system element of the Comprehensive Transportation Plan, (b) Conduct a detailed corridor study addressing land use, transit and other transportation modes on the US 1 Corridor, and (c) Initiate a CAMPO-wide Transit Vision Plan. The first meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, January 20, 2005.

(2) Metropolitan Planning Organization Expansion Implementation Subcommittee – established November 4, 2004. Participants include Chip Russell, Tim Clark, Juliet Andes, Jim Parajon and Sarah Smith. The tasks to be done include planning for the Capital Area MPO Planning Retreat and overseeing development of recommended revisions to the current operational agreements of the TCC and TAC to include those new governments accepted into the MPO within the next two to three months. The first meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, January 12, 2005.

(3) The Capital Area MPO TCC Planning Retreat – This planning retreat has been scheduled for Thursday, February 10, 2005 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Lake Wheeler Lodge.

(4) The Capital Area MPO conducts an annual self-certification of its “3-C” (i.e., continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive) planning process as a part of the process of adopting its annual unified planning work program (UPWP) each spring. However, this year the Capital Area MPO will also undergo its triennial federal certification review by FHWA and FTA. This certification review will be held on February 16 and 17, 2005 and will include an opportunity to receive comments from the public at the TAC’s meeting on February 16.

(5) The Capital Area MPO Bicycle-Pedestrian Stakeholders Group is requesting additional participation by TCC members at its upcoming meetings that are held on the last Tuesday of each month from 4:00 – 6:00pm. This additional TCC participation is requested to help assist in developing and carrying out a more robust process of identifying, scoping, and prioritizing for implementation recommended independent and incidental projects for improving facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians.