N.C. CAPITAL AREA
METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE
April 19, 2006
4:00
pm – 6:00 pm
Wake
County Commons
Conference Center Building,
Room 100A
4012 Carya
Drive
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 of March 15, 2006
TAC Meeting.
The minutes of the
March 15, 2006 TAC
meeting, are enclosed as Attachment 4A.
TAC Action: Approval of minutes.
5. Legislative Agenda – Joint MPO Transportation
Funding Initiatives Task Force
The
Joint MPO Transportation Initiatives Task Force comprised of TAC members of the
Capital Area and Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPOs met on March 31, 2006 to discuss funding
issues and develop a unified position on transportation funding
initiatives. The Task force identified a
legislative agenda consistent with that of both the North Carolina Blue Ribbon
Commission on Transportation Needs and the Triangle Regional Transportation
Alliance.
A
copy of the recommended 2006 Legislative Agenda for Transportation is enclosed
as Attachment
5A.
TAC
Action: Receive
information on proposed Legislative Agenda as identified by Joint MPO
Transportation Funding Initiatives Task Force for consideration of endorsement
and subsequent distribution to all MPO member agencies with request for
inclusion in their respective legislative agendas.
6. Capital
Area MPO Public Involvement Process
In February of 2005, a federal MPO
certification review was performed, the results of which indicated that our MPO
should evaluate its current public involvement process, with more frequent
reviews. These reviews would assist with
modification of the process, as needed, with the goal of improving public
outreach, particularly to minority and low-income (MLI) communities. As a
result of these review
recommendations, the Capital Area
MPO TAC approved conducting a review of the MPO’s
public involvement processes on an annual basis, to be performed in concert
with each year’s UPWP development effort.
This year, the public involvement process was reviewed and modifications
were suggested. Suggested modifications
were presented to the TAC at its March 15, 2006 meeting.
The TAC released the Public Involvement process
for a minimum 30 day public review period and called for a public hearing to receive comment to be conducted at today’s meeting. At
the time of agenda preparation, no comments had been received.
A
copy of the Capital Area MPO Public involvement Process with proposed revisions
is enclosed as Attachment
6A.
TAC Action: Conduct
public hearing to receive comment.
Consider approval of updated Capital Area MPO Public Involvement
Process.
7. MPO Planning Process Self-Certification Review
The Capital Area MPO annually conducts a
self-certification review as part of the approval of its Unified Planning Work
Program. This certification confirms
that the MPO’s planning process fully addresses all
current federal transportation planning requirements. The MPO’s Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) is also used to
document the results of this review. The
self-certification process takes the form of the Capital Area MPO TAC adopting
a resolution that self-certifies the MPO is fulfilling all
federal requirements for the transportation planning processes. A checklist of items reviewed during this process
with brief responses providing the current status of each item is enclosed as Attachment
7A. The resolution self-certifying
the MPO is fulfilling all requirements for the transportation planning process
as put forth by the Federal guidelines is enclosed as Attachment 7B.
A public hearing
to receive comment has been scheduled and advertised to be conducted at today’s
meeting. At the time of agenda preparation, no comments had been received.
TAC
Action: Conduct public hearing. Consider adoption of Resolution of
Self-Certification that the MPO is fulfilling all federal requirements for the
transportation planning processes.
8. Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5307
Appropriation Distribution
In accordance with
the FTA requirements, each federal fiscal year the MPO is required to submit a
letter to FTA documenting the MPO’s approval of the
distribution of FTA Section 5307 transit funds between the City of Raleigh, the
Triangle Transit Authority (TTA), and the Town of Cary. All parties have agreed to the proposed
distribution, shown in Attachment 8A, of
the FTA appropriation for FY 2006.
TAC
Action: Approve the proposed FY 2006 FTA Section 5307
Appropriation Distribution as identified in Attachment 8A.
9. FY 2006-2007 Unified
Planning Work Program
Annually, the
Capital Area MPO is required to prepare a Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)
which details and guides the urban area transportation planning activities for
the upcoming fiscal year (beginning July 1).
Funding for the UPWP is provided by the Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), as well as state and local
governments. The UPWP identifies yearly funding allocations to support the
ongoing and planned transportation planning activities of the MPO. The UPWP must identify MPO planning tasks to
be undertaken with the use of federal transportation funds.
Areas of emphasis
for development of the UPWP were noted from the TCC (February 2005) and TAC
(October 2005) planning retreats. Those
areas of emphasis have been reviewed and included in the draft 2006-2007 UPWP
as appropriate.
Staff of the
Capital Area MPO, the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO, Triangle J Council of
Governments, and the Triangle Transit Authority met on Friday, January 20, 2006 to discuss
coordination of joint work tasks and plans for their inclusion in the upcoming
UPWP. The UPWP subcommittee for the
Capital Area MPO met on February
9, 2006 and teleconferenced on February 20, 2006 to review a draft UPWP for
tasks specific to the Capital Area MPO and tasks that are to be undertaken in
cooperation with the agencies listed above. Discussion of work activities
presented in the draft FY 2006-2007 UPWP was also held at the February 2, 2006, March 2, 2006, and April 6, 2006 TCC
meetings.
A public hearing
to receive comment will be conducted at the April 19, 2006 meeting. Any comments received will be reviewed and
included as appropriate. At the time of
agenda preparation, no comments had been received.
The final
recommended FY 2006-2007 UPWP is enclosed as Attachment 9A. If the TAC approves the UPWP as recommended
each MPO member government’s share of the local costs for FY 2006-2007 will be
as presented in Attachment
9B, with the exception that before actual invoicing (in December,
2006) the amounts will be adjusted to reflect an update to using the latest
certified population estimates as of
July, 2005. For fiscal planning purposes, a very
preliminary estimate of anticipated MPO member shares of local costs for the FY
2007-2008 UPWP is also provided in this attachment.
TAC Action: Conduct public hearing to receive comments on
FY 2006-2007 UPWP. As recommended by TCC, consider approval of UPWP.
10. Triangle
Region 8-hour Ozone Air Quality Status Redesignation
and Maintenance SIP Schedule
The North Carolina Division of Air Quality
(NCDAQ) has completed final quality assurance on the 2005 ambient ozone data
for the Triangle. The final numbers
released now show the Triangle as being in attainment of the 8-hour National
Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS).
Before official, the data must be certified and approved by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).
NCDAQ anticipates this approval in mid-to-late April. Upon USEPA approval, NCDAQ will begin work on
a redesignation/maintenance Statewide Improvement
Plan (SIP) for the Triangle, with hopes that a draft document will be completed
in early May and a public hearing scheduled in early June. The USEPA will then have 18 months to approve
the SIP.
The attainment year of 2005 is used as the
starting point for the SIP and every third year beyond that is analyzed for a
period of at least 10 years. Therefore, NCDAQ will generate emission estimates
for the years 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2017 in the redesignation/maintenance
SIP.
Triangle transportation partners have
indicated that they are “in between models” and that a new model will be
delivered in June or July but will not be fully validated until November of
this year. Concern was expressed about
use of the existing model to set Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets (MVEBs) and then doing transportation conformity analysis in
the future with data from the new model.
The concern being that the new model numbers ‘could’ be significantly
different. NCDAQ indicated a willingness
to negotiate safety margins and evaluation of the differences when the new
model is completed (November 2006) to determine if a SIP revision is warranted
using VMT and speeds from the new model.
The redesignation
schedule provided by NCDAQ is enclosed as Attachment
10A. John Hodges-Copple
and MPO staff will address the relationship between the redesignation
and the upcoming 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan schedules.
TAC
Action: Receive update on Triangle Region Redesignation/Maintenance SIP Schedule.
STAFF
REPORTS
11. Reports
from the Chair
Chip
Russell, TCC Chair
12. MPO
Staff Reports
Ed
Johnson, MPO Director
13. NCDOT
Reports
Scott Walston / Sarah Smith – Transportation
Planning Branch
Richard
Greene - Division 4
Jon Nance / Wally
Bowman - Division 5
Terry Gibson -
Division 6
14. Other
Business and Pending Items
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
PENDING ITEMS
Item #01 – Comprehensive Transportation
Plan (for Highways) – (Spring 2006)
Item #02 – Capital Area MPO
Organization Structure - (Spring 2006)
Item #03 - Joint MPO Socioeconomic Data
Collection/Forecasting Process – (Spring 2006)
UPCOMING MEETINGS
May 4, 2006 – Capital Area MPO TCC Meeting
(10
AM – Noon, 301 Hillsborough Street
Building)
May 17, 2006 – Capital Area MPO TAC Meeting – Public
Hearing
(4 PM-6PM, Wake County
Commons Conference
Center)
