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MPO TPC/TAC Board Minutes - 01/28/2009TRANSPORTATION POLICY COMMITTEE (TPC) MEETING WICHITA FALLS METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION January 28, 2009 Present: Lanham Lyne, City of Wichita Falls, Mayor, Chairperson Charles Elmore, City of Wichita Falls, City Council Representative Dennis Wilde, NORTEX Regional Planning Commission, Director Larry Tegtmeyer, TxDOT, District Engineer Michael Smith, City of Wichita Falls, City Council Representative Russell Schreiber, City of Wichita Falls, Director of Public Works Steven Halloway, Lakeside City, Mayor Davis Powell, City of Wichita Falls, City Engineer Donnie Arbeau, WFMPO, Transportation Planner II Lin Barnett, WFMPO, Transportation Planning Director Tammy Marlow, TxDOT, Funding Administrator Danny Brown, TxDOT, TP &D Director James Kelley, TxDOT, Area Engineer John Burrus, City of Wichita Falls, Director of Aviation, Traffic & Transportation Jeff Watts, City of Pleasant Valley Woodrow (Woody) Gossom, Wichita County Judge, Vice - Chairperson I. Welcome & Introduction Mayor Lyne called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. ♦ Members ♦ Staff ♦ Ex- officio ♦ Guests ♦ Absent II. Review and Approval of the October 22, 2008 Transportation Policy Committee's (TPC) Meeting Minutes Mayor Lyne asked for comments or corrections to the October 22, 2008 TPC minutes. There were none. Councilor Elmore motioned to approve the minutes as presented. Mr. Wilde seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. III. Review and Comment Regarding the Technical Advisory Committee's (TAC's) January 14, 2009 Meeting Minutes - No Action Required Mayor Lyne asked for comments on the January 141h TAC minutes. Mr. Barnett drew the committee's attention to Item VI — Traffic Engineering Report on Traffic Signal Optimization WICHITA FALLS MPO TPC MEETING January 28, 2009 PAGE 1 Program of the minutes. He discussed the Traffic Superintendent's progress on various congested traffic corridors throughout the area. He stated that Mr. Beauchamp, the Traffic Superintendent, gave the TAC committee a very informative presentation, which Mr. Barnett summarized succinctly in the TAC minutes. In response to Councilor Elmore's question about a similar past project, Mr. Barnett stated that after the Kimley -Horn Traffic Optimization Study of 2005/2006, it was determined the City's Traffic Department could do the same type of work if the department had the hardware, software and training required. TPC approved the joint MPO and City purchase of the required items in 2006 and the Traffic Superintendent has used them effectively since they were acquired. Mr. Tegtmeyer asked if the intersection model for Rhea, Lawrence and Call Field Roads indicated that traffic would be pulled away from the future Maplewood extension. Mr. Arbeau responded that no modeling that included the Maplewood extension had been done yet, but that it would be once Maplewood was opened and traffic counts could be accumulated for use in modeling efforts. The consensus was that the Maplewood extension should help relieve traffic congestion in this area. Mr. Arbeau stated that Mr. Beauchamp already had plans in action to include the Maplewood extension in the modeling process of the Rhea, Call Field and Lawrence Road intersection. Mr. Davis pointed out that if realignment is done at some future date then the combination of the Maplewood extension and the realignment of Rhea, Lawrence and Call Field Road will help other intersections in the area, especially the intersection of Kemp and Call Field. He also commented that Mr. Beauchamp used some data that had been collected by Kimley -Horn during their project in 2006. Mr. Brown asked if the new signalized intersections on the east end of Southwest Parkway were going to be optimized in the near future. Mr. Burrus stated that Mr. Beauchamp was currently working on this project and that results should be forthcoming in the next couple of weeks. IV. Review and Adoption of the October 2008 Environmental Justice Analysis Final Report Mr. Barnett briefly went over the steps taken to produce the 2008 Environmental Justice Analysis Final Report starting back in September 2008 by gathering up any new projects from the City of Wichita Falls, Lakeside City, and Pleasant Valley and from citizens and stakeholders. He stated the MPO sponsored two public venues for project review and submission. The first venue was a Public Meeting held at the Wichita Falls Public Library on September 16, 2008. The second venue was a Public Comment Booth set up at Sikes Senter Mall for the entire day of September 19, 2008. Although there was much public outreach, there were no new thoroughfare projects submitted by the public. Subsequently, because of Federal rescissions throughout all of calendar year 2008 there were no new project submissions from any of the municipalities or from TxDOT. Mr. Barnett explained that his staff removed only the projects that had been released for construction or that had been completed. What remained on the list was prioritized at the October 8, 2008 TAC meeting and presented to TPC on October 22nd for review and approval. Five projects on the list were re- prioritized by the TPC committee and the list was approved to use in the development of the October 2008 Environmental Justice Analysis Final Report. Mr. Barnett stated the demographic maps in the back of the document had been updated as WICHITA FALLS MPO TPC MEETING January 28, 2009 PAGE 2 well and that the entire document was ready for adoption and use during calendar year 2009. He then offered to answer any questions about the document. Mayor Lyne commented that the Reilly Road (WF -16) project was starting to gain more attention and that the next time the TAC committee prioritizes the list they should take this into account. He commented that from a funding and time perspective, the Reilly Road project should take precedence over the Lebanon Street (EJ -26) project simply because it would be the less expensive of the two to produce. Mayor Lyne asked for a motion to approve and adopt the Report as presented. Mr. Wilde motioned to approve. Councilor Smith seconded the motion, which was unanimously approved. V. Review, Discussion and Approval of MPO By -Laws Revisions Mr. Barnett stated after much review and work by the TAC committee the revisions were now ready for review and approval by the TPC. He explained that the comments and input received from the October 2008 meetings had been incorporated into the By -Laws along with all of the previous revisions for the past year. He then asked for questions concerning the revisions. Mayor Lyne asked for a motion to approve all of the revisions to the By -Laws. Councilor Elmore made the motion to approve. Mr. Tegtmeyer seconded the motion, which was unanimously approved. Mr. Tegtmeyer commented that since the By -Laws state in Article II -14, Section (8) that one of the duties of the TPC is to evaluate the MPO Director then the TPC should develop a process for doing so. He commented that the City of Wichita Falls evaluates Mr. Barnett annually. Mayor Lyne agreed stating that TxDOT and the rest of the committee members should have some way to tie in with the MPO Director's annual City evaluation. Mr. Barnett stated he would contact other MPO's of similar size and make -up to see how this function was performed. VI. Review and Approval of Budget Amendment to FY 2009 Unified Planning Work Program: 2010 -2035 Metropolitan Transportation Plan Update Project Mr. Barnett informed the Policy Committee that, in accordance with FY 2009 UPWP directives, a sub - committee of the Technical Advisory Committee had narrowed down a list of six (6) proposals to a short-list of three (3) for interviews to perform the update to the 2010 -2035 Metropolitan Transportation Plan. He stated the shortlist included the firms BWR, Inc.; Kimley- Horn and Associates, Inc. and Alliance Transportation. Using a decision matrix, the TAC sub- committee chose Kimley -Horn and Associates, Inc. or KHA to perform the update service. Mr. Barnett stated the reason for the budget amendment to the FY 2009 UPWP was because of the extra, but not unanticipated, work needed to bring the Wichita Falls Travel Demand Model up into shape. He stated that once KHA had been selected MPO staff forwarded the model and all data to KHA for preliminary analysis where deficiencies were discovered. Mr. Barnett stated the funding set aside in Subtask 5.3 for internal TDM work was moved into Subtask 5.2 to cover the additional $7,000 cost of the contract with KHA. Total contract cost increased from the budgeted amount of $103,000 to the amended amount of $110,000. Mr. Barnett then informed the committee that he had received a letter from the TxDOT Transportation Planning and Programming Division in Austin authorizing the Wichita Falls MPO to receive its full FY 2009 PL -112 funding authorization of $175,676.89 plus the full FY 2008 WICHITA FALLS MPO TPC MEETING January 28, 2009 PAGE 3 Carry over authorization of $179,210.61. These two authorizations combined with the FTA Section 5303 authorization gave the Wichita Falls MPO a total authorization of $398,280.50 to use for planning purposes in FY 2009. Mr. Barnett commented that after subtracting all normal expenses for the year plus the KHA contract services for the MTP update there would be almost $95,000 left for other studies and planning projects. He stated the TAC committee would be making recommendations at the April meeting as to how to program these additional funds. Mayor Lyne asked for a motion to approve the amendment to the FY UPWP as presented. Councilor Elmore motioned to approve. Mr. Wilde seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. VII. Review and Approval of 2008 -2011 TIP Revision for Four Additional Transit Buses: Federal Economic Stimulus Package Request Mr. Barnett explained that the City of Wichita Falls was being offered an opportunity, via the Economic Stimulus Recovery offered by the Federal government, to purchase four additional new GILLIG LLC 35 -foot, 12 -year, 500,000 mile, low -floor buses using federal dollars. Essentially, this would double the contract order signed in January with GILLIG LLC from four (4) to eight (8) buses and would modernize two - thirds of the "Falls Ride" fleet. Most importantly, no state or local match would be required to qualify for the federal funds. Mr. Barnett informed the Policy Committee that Mr. Burrus, Mr. Burket and he had put together a proposal to acquire the four additional buses and had submitted it to the local TxDOT District, the PTN Division in Austin and to the U.S. DOT. Mr. Barnett stated that in conversations with PTN he was directed to include a TIP revision in the FY 2009 Transit Section of the 2008 -2011 Transportation Improvement Program or TIP. The TIP amendment must be in place before the funds can be accepted and programmed. The proposal was submitted on January 15, 2009. Mr. Barnett then explained where each change in the TIP had been made and how the ESR funds were shown separately in the Financial Summary sheet. Councilor Elmore asked if the four additional buses would be identical to the first four ordered from GILLIG LLC. Mr. Barnett stated they would be identical to the first ones. There was no other discussion. Mayor Lyne called for a motion to approve the transit section TIP amendment. Mr. Schreiber made the motion to approve. Councilor Smith seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. VIII. Discussion of Federal Economic Stimulus Package Funding of Qualifying TIP & MTP Thoroughfare Projects Mr. Barnett informed the committee about recent events concerning the proposed Federal Economic Stimulus Recovery Package for early 2009. He discussed the criteria for project submission to the Federal government stating projects would need to have all Environmental, Right -of -Way, Design and Construction Cost issues ready to go before a project would be considered for funding. Mr. Barnett stated that before directives from Austin began arriving via email, he has already taken action to include discussion of this issue on the January TAC agenda. With that, Mr. Barnett turned the discussion over to Mr. Tegtmeyer. Before he began, Mr. Tegtmeyer asked Mr. Barnett if had submitted the thoroughfare and transit project lists to Mr. John Barton in Austin via email. Mr. Barnett stated that he had already done SO. WICHITA FALLS MPO TPC MEETING January 28, 2009 PAGE 4 Mr. Tegtmeyer stated that TxDOT had put together a list of statewide projects that could go to "letting" sometime in the next few months, before August 2009. He commented that the statewide list included nearly $8 billion dollars worth of projects. The Federal government was projecting nearly $2.5 billion dollars coming to the state of Texas for transportation projects. Mr. Tegtmeyer commented there might possibly be extensions as far out as April 2010 for the "letting" of some projects. He stated that TxDOT was currently looking at even more projects to put into the list for consideration of funding. The stipulations for a project to qualify were: the utilities had to be clear, the ROW had to be clear and the plans had to be finished and ready to implement. Mr. Tegtmeyer then turned the discussion over to Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown pointed out that one of the best projects on the list that was located within the MPO boundaries was the IH -44 south bound lanes concrete reconstruction. This project would complement and help complete the IH -44 north bound lanes concrete reconstruction if the ESR package could pick it up for funding. Mr. Brown also pointed out that the original nine district list projects valued at $116 million dollars had grown to $150 million dollars because of more project additions. Mr. Barnett asked if there could be more than three MPO projects coming out of the updated list. Mr. Brown stated they were trying to find a way to add the FM 890 near Airport Road and Wal -Mart. However, because of utility and ROW issues there was doubt it could be done in time. IX. Other Business: A. Discussion & Overview of Progress on Local Transportation Projects — City and TxDOT staff (Quarterly Review) TxDOT Report — Mr. Kelley reported that a change order had been released for shoring and bracing, or Phase 1, of the Falls Flyover west bound 287 ramp, hopefully it will be complete by end of July 2009; the IH -44 concrete pavement project was complete; the Loop 11 ramp relocation project near IH -44 was nearing completion; the bridge over IH- 44 at FM 890 was complete. The Kell West main lanes are slightly behind schedule, but the concrete plant will soon move in to begin pouring concrete on the main lanes. Several off - system bridges would have culverts replaced. A new traffic signal was installed at Barnett and Johnson roads; break -away light poles were installed on Midwestern from Loop 473 to US 281, on Kemp from Maplewood to Midwestern and on Taft from Midwestern to FM 369. The last four projects were summer seal coat projects on US 287, BU 287J, US 82 and US 281. City of Wichita Falls Report — Mr. Schreiber reported the Maplewood Phase II project from Kemp to Lawrence was 76% complete and that it was on schedule to finish by March 30th; the Transfer Station Bridge was complete and trucks are using it to come out onto Lawrence road at the red light at Maplewood; the 10th Street and Harrison /Speedway intersection faux brick stamped concrete project was 50% complete; the left turn lanes at Kemp and Call Field for traffic flow improvements are complete; the Gregg Road and Langford Road reconstruction of existing streets project was 81% complete; the Colonial Park drainage improvement, installation of storm sewer system along Granada, Haiti, and Antigua, was 68% complete; the City's alley rehab project, at various locations across the city, had just begun; the Scott and Warren Street intersection reconstruction project to facilitate drainage was 20% complete and the Faith WICHITA FALLS MPO TPC MEETING January 28, 2009 PAGE 5 Village Drainage Phase II & III projects, McGrath Creek from Southwest Parkway to Maplewood Avenue, drainage improvements had received the final revisions from the consultant and was awaiting final review of the plans with letting /awarding scheduled in April. B. MPO Quarterly Financial Report (4th Quarter FY 2008 — July, August, September) Mr. Barnett informed the Policy Committee that the MPO achieved the minimum goal of 75% total expenditure of Transportation Planning Funds (TPF) for FY 2008. He stated the MPO spent 82.96% of the total FY 2008 Budget. Mr. Barnett commented that a large portion of the budget was spent on the BWR, Inc. update of the Socioeconomic Data and Forecast Study, which was to be used in the 2010 -2035 MTP update. C. "Falls Ride" Transit System Ridership and Revenue Report Mr. Barnett stated he wanted to draw a comparison and contrast the difference in revenue and ridership numbers since the implementation of "Falls Ride" last July 7, 2008 and the months prior to implementation. He stated that although average revenue per month from July through December 2008 was up only by a little less than $1,000, the average ridership per month had increased by nearly 3,000 trips. He pointed out that the first week of the new plan did not charge anyone to ride, in order to stimulate interest, and thus reduced farebox revenues slightly. Mr. Barnett finished his report by stating that all of the new routes were performing quite well and that the Connector route was functioning at full capacity most of the time. D. Report on Initial Meeting of the Wichita Falls Bicycle and Pedestrian Citizens Advisory Committee Mr. Barnett informed the Policy Committee that the first meeting of the BPCAC was held on December 18, 2008 and that a large number of invitees were in attendance. He stated the primary reason for creating this committee was to assist in the update of the Bicycle Master Plan which was a component of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan. He expressed hope that the BPCAC would continue to meet even after the completion of the 2010 -2035 MTP update two or three times per year to make updates to the Bicycle Master Plan. He finished his report stating he would be in contact with the BPCAC to coordinate meetings and workshops between its members and Kimley -Horn when the MTP update process begins. Mr. Schreiber asked when was the last time the Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) had been updated. Mr. Barnett stated that until 2005 there had never been a BMP and that it had not been updated using the committee format since that time. However, it had been updated internally by MPO staff over the years. E. Other items There were no other items for discussion. X. Public Comment on Anything Not on the Agenda There were no public comments. WICHITA FALLS MPO TPC MEETING January 28, 2009 PAGE 6 XI. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 9:45 a.m. Honorable Lanham Lyne Mayor Wichita Falls RECEIVED IN - - - - - -- CITY CLERK'S OFFICE Date � w, b a1, awq i By QLk) Time WICHITA FALLS MPO TPC MEETING January 28, 2009 PAGE 7