N.C.
CAPITAL AREA
METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION
TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE
February 20,
2008
4:00 pm –
6:00 pm
Wake County
Commons
4012 Carya Dr
Raleigh, NC
AGENDA
1. Preliminaries
2. Adjustments to the Agenda
3. Public Comments
This is an opportunity for comments
by those in attendance on items not on the agenda. Please limit comments to
three minutes for each speaker.
4. Election of Officers
for 2008
The
By-laws of the Capital Area MPO specify that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman
shall be elected annually at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the
calendar year. The newly elected Chairman and Vice-Chairman shall take office
immediately following the election.
TAC Action: Receive nominations
and elect Chair and Vice-Chair for 2008.
Consent Agenda
All items on the consent
agenda are considered to be routine and may be enacted by one motion. If a
Councilor requests discussion on an item, the item will be removed from the
consent agenda and considered separately.
5. Approval of Minutes of
the December 19, 2007 TAC Meeting.
The
minutes of the December 19, 2007 TAC meeting, are enclosed as Attachment 5A.
TAC
Action: Approval of the minutes of the December 19,
2007 TAC meeting.
6. 2007-2013 Metropolitan Transportation
Improvement Program (MTIP) Amendment #2
Town of Cary
– Public Transportation Program
Annually,
Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Section 5307 revenues are allocated to the
Town of Cary as part of the regional Memorandum
of Understanding between the City of Raleigh,
the Triangle Transit Authority and the Town of Cary. The allocation of 5307 funds increased
above original projections and an amendment to the 2007-2008 MTIP and State
Transportation Plans must be made to reflect the additional allocation. The Town of Cary
therefore requests approval from the TAC of this Amendment (#2) to the Capital
Area MPO 2007-2013 MTIP in order to recognize these additional federal funds
and allow the full drawdown of all Town of Cary eligible FTA Section 5307 funds for
FY2007-2008. The local share has also
been increased to reflect the additional local funds dedicated to the Cary transit system. Attachment 6A
is a copy of the proposed Amendment #2 to the Capital Area MPO 2007-2013 MTIP
as requested by the Town of Cary
and the accompanying resolution.
TAC
Action: Approve Amendment #2 to the 2007-2013 MTIP to
reflect increased Section 5307 funding to the Town of Cary from the FTA.
7. NCDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Grant
Applications
The
NCDOT Bicycle Pedestrian Transportation Division and Transportation Planning
Branch provide grant funding totaling $400,000 to municipalities throughout the
state. The funds for this program come
from earmark funds set aside for bicycle and pedestrian planning. Application are submitted directly to NCDOT
however, MPO endorsement is required before submittals can be reviewed. The deadline for submittal for this year’s
program was December 3, 2007 and two applications were submitted from Capital
Area MPO members. Attachment
7A provides a copy of the two applications submitted by MPO
members. Attachment
7B is the required resolution of support. The Capital Area MPO TCC reviewed and
recommended endorsement of the Grant applications and associated resolution at
the January 3, 2008 meeting.
TAC Action: Endorse NCDOT bicycle and pedestrian planning
grant applications from Capital Area MPO members.
8. Inter-local Funding
Agreement for Financial Planning component of Long Range Plan
Annually, the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)
contains a line item for Transportation Planning under which funds are
allocated to support the financial planning component of the Long Range
Transportation Plan (LRTP). The
Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro (DCHC) MPO in 2006 initiated a contract with the
Louis Berger Group to perform revenue forecasts for use in development of the
2035 LRTP. In an effort to develop
consistency in planning methods and documents, data collection, cost
determination and reporting, among other items, the Capital Area MPO is
proposing that an inter-local agreement be entered into with the DCHC MPO by
which revenue forecasts can be developed for the Capital Area MPO as well. This will provide consistency in
methodology.
TAC Action: Receive information on inter-local agreement
between theCapital Area MPO and DCHC for discussion and action as appropriate
THIS IS THE END OF THE Consent Agenda
9. Job Access/Reverse Commute and New Freedom
program
Coordinated Public
Transportation – Human Services Transportation Plan
With
the passage of the federal transportation law, known as SAFETEA-LU, in 2005,
projects receiving funding under the Job Access/Reverse Commute program or the
New Freedom program must meet several requirements. In urbanized areas over 200,000 in
population must have a “designated recipient” who is designated by the chief
executive officer of the State, and the projects must be “derived from a
locally developed, coordinated public transit - human services transportation
plan.” The law requires that this plan
be “developed through a process that includes representatives of public,
private, and nonprofit transportation and human services providers and participation
by the public.” The “designated
recipient” is responsible for conducting the competitive selection process for
JARC funds, applying to FTA for funding, passing through funds to
subrecipients, and monitoring subrecipient activities.
Attachment
9A is
a letter to the North Carolina Department of Transportation from the Capital
Area MPO appointing the City of Raleigh as the designated recipient of Section
5316 (Job Access Reverse Commute, JARC) and Section 5317 (New Freedom)
funding. The Capital Area MPO and the
City of Raleigh have taken the lead in developing a coordinated regional public
transit-human services transportation plan (CPT-HSTP). They have worked in collaboration with the
public transportation agencies and community transportation programs in the
MPO’s jurisdiction to respond to SAFETEA-LU requirements. The purpose of this plan is to help improve
transportation services for persons with disabilities, older adults, and
individuals with lower incomes in the Capital Area MPO area through a better
coordinated transportation system.
Attachment
9B
provides an overview of the plan and a copy of the application document and scoring
criteria. The full document (83 pages)
is available upon request and on the Capital Area MPO website
(www.campo-nc.us). David Eatman of the
Capital Area Transit will provide an overview of the program.
TAC Action: Receive information and endorse the Job
Access/Reverse Commute and New
Freedom program
Coordinated Public Transportation – Human Services
Transportation
Plan for discussion and endorsement of City of Raleigh as Designated
Recipient for
funds.
10.
Short/Mid-Range Transit Plan Proposal
One
of the items discussed at the February 7, 2008 TCC Retreat was a proposal by
Capital Area Transit to expand the scope of its upcoming study throughout the
urban areas of Wake County. The proposal
is a 10 to 15 year outlook of transit service for the area; and does not seek
as a mission to take the place of currently existing or proposed plans noted
for the region. Mr. David Eatman of
Capital Area Transit will present the proposed Short and Mid-Range Transit Plan
for input and discussion.
TAC
Action: Receive information concerning Short/Mid-Range
Transit Plan Proposal for review and action as appropriate.
11.
Congestion Mitigation and Air
Quality Funds
At its December 19, 2007
meeting, the TAC was presented information on the status of Congestion Mitigation
and Air Quality (CMAQ) funds and a proposal to use those funds that were
available for the MPO. Following that
meeting an update was provided by NCDOT which indicated that the MPO had
programmed all of the funds allocated to it previously and that no new funds
were available at this time. Attachment 11A
is a CMAQ application submitted by Triangle J Council of Governments for funding
of the Transportation Demand Management program services for the four year period from 2009-2012. Attachment
11B is a chart outlining the Proposed Triangle TDM Program
Budget and Funding Partners (FY2008-2015).
At that same meeting, discussion was held on Surface Transportation
Direct Allocation (STP-DA) funds and a proposal that would fully
utilize the unobligated funds to:
(1)
establish a reserve for the MPO to utilize as it sees fit
to fund operational improvements to enhance traffic safety and mitigate traffic
congestion.
(2)
supplement the MPO operational budget to hire additional
staff for the purpose of improving and expanding program services as has been
discussed and agreed upon in principle at recent TAC and TCC strategic planning
retreats.
With regard to the MPO operational budget
supplement, the TCC held a retreat on February 7, 2008 at which time the
additional staffing issue was discussed.
Further information on the retreat will be presented to the TAC after
refinement.
Discussion was held at the December 19, 2007 TAC
meeting on the proposal to fund operational improvements to enhance traffic
safety and mitigate traffic congestion.
Mayor Meeker submitted a memo in which he requested answers to several
questions. Those questions were:
1.
Are there any
restrictions on using these funds for operating purposes for public
transportation (i.e. building a fixed guideway system or operating a bus system)?
2.
When would public
transportation requests need to be submitted so they could be funded at the
start of the 2009 fiscal year?
TAC Action: Receive
information on STP-DA and CMAQ funding for discussion and action as
appropriate.
12. Special Transit Advisory Commission
The
Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC) has continued to meet in order to
complete the charge given it by the TACs of the two MPOs. An update on the STAC will be provided at the
meeting.
TAC Action: Receive update on STAC for action as
appropriate.
12. Reports from the TCC Chair
Chip Russell, TCC Chair
13. MPO
Staff Reports
Ed Johnson, MPO Director
14. NCDOT
Reports
Scott Walston/Rupal Desai –
Transportation Planning Branch
Richard Greene - Division 4
Wally
Bowman/Joey Hopkins - Division 5
Terry Gibson
- Division 6
15. Other Business and Pending Items
Adjourn
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
PENDING ITEMS
Item #01 – Comprehensive Transportation Plan (Spring/Summer 2008)
UPCOMING MEETINGS
March 6, 2008 -
Capital Area MPO TCC Meeting -
10:00 am – Noon
Room
809 - One Exchange Plaza, Raleigh, NC
March 19, 2008-
Capital Area MPO TAC Meeting
Wake
County Commons - 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
4012
Carya Drive, Raleigh, NC
In compliance with the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA), accommodations will be provided for persons
requiring assistance in order to participate in the N.C. Capital Area MPO’s
meetings. If such assistance is needed,
or to request this document in an alternative format, please contact the MPO’s
office at 919-807-8511 (voice), 919-807-8517 (fax), or 919-890-3107 (TTY
located at City of Raleigh Public Affairs Dept.) at least 72 hours in advance
of the meeting.