MPO TPC/TAC Board Minutes - 02/09/2005WICHITA FALLS METROPOLITAN PLANNIN
Technical Advisory Commi
Minutes
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE
..
-Time By
Voting Members Present:
Darron Leiker — City of Wichita Falls — ACM /Dir. Aviation, Traffic & Trans., Interim
MPO Director
Danny Brown — TxDOT, Director of Trans. Planning and Development
Dave Clark — City of Wichita Falls, Dir. of Community Development
James Kelley — TxDOT, Area Engineer
Jeff Hogan — City of Wichita Falls, City Engineer
Karen Montgomery-Gagne — City of Wichita Falls, Community Development Planner III
Mark Beauchamp — City of Wichita Falls, Traffic Superintendent
Tim Hertel — TxDOT, Director of Operations
Others Present.
Carolyn Askins — TxDOT, Transportation Planning Assistant
Donnie Arbeau — City of Wichita Falls MPO, Transportation Planner I
Lin Barnett — City of Wichita Falls MPO, Transportation Planner III
Highway Needs Committee Members:
Visitors:
Absent:
Joe Anderson — TxDOT, Director of Construction
Welcome & Introduction
Mr. Leiker called the meeting to order at 11:03 a.m. and welcomed everyone present.
II. Review, Revision and Approval to Forward to TPC the Local TxDOT District
Functional Classification Maps for Submission to Transportation Planning
and Programming (TPP) in Austin.
Mr. Leiker outlined the steps taken thus far in bringing the Functional Classification
maps up to date to meet the standards set forth in the TxDOT manual, Guidelines for
Updating Functional Classification — Phase 11 and 111 (TT I , September 2004). He stated
that staff had produced a good product and asked TAC to review and approve it for
submittal to the Transportation Policy Committee (TPC) at the February 18, 2005
meeting.
Wichita Falls MPO TAC Meeting February 9, 2005 Page 1 of 3
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Mr. Arbeau explained that the update was a requirement, by the federal government, to
update any changes between the 1990 Urbanized Area Boundary (UZA) and the
Adjusted 2000 UZA concerning how roads are classified within the MPO boundary,
whether rural or urban. He commented that many of the road changes directly relate to
changes in land area type i.e. rural to urban or vice -a- versa.
Mr. Barnett briefly related the training that Mr. Arbeau and he received at the Functional
Classification Workshop on November 23, 2004 at the TxDOT District Office. He
commented on the presentation from that morning and the hands -on training with actual
maps and spreadsheets later that afternoon. He explained how staff had used the
guidelines, from the manual, and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) supplied maps
to generate the work being presented. Mr. Barnett stated the maps would be submitted
to TxDOT once they received final approval from TPC.
Mr. Beauchamp described the processes used for updating the maps. He explained
how the traffic generators were identified using traffic count data and that the final count
was 1,037. He explained the size of the traffic generator symbol correlated to how much
traffic was generated by the site location. He stated, once this step was completed, staff
began analyzing each level of roadway functionality beginning with the highest level of
classification (freeways) and working down to the lowest level (collectors). Mr.
Beauchamp stated that staff reconciled the findings with the existing map and made
changes accordingly.
Mr. Arbeau discussed the sources of information used for developing the updates to the
maps i.e. traffic recording machine counts, land use, the City Thoroughfare Plan, etc.
He then offered to go through the major changes to the maps. Mr. Barnett pointed out
the fact that each change required an I.D. number and that there were 150 changes.
Mr. Clark asked what the data would be used for. Ms. Askins stated this was a
requirement every 10 years by the federal government to update any changes to the
road network for use in the federal funding of local roads. Mr. Barnett commented that
verification had been received from TTI that an Urban Collector classification and above
would qualify for federal funding.
Mr. Hertel asked staff to define the criteria used for selecting traffic generators. Mr.
Arbeau stated a destination traveled to by people was the main factor used in
determining the traffic generators. Mr. Arbeau and Mr. Beauchamp commented that
some areas, such as strip malls, were further refined to list certain businesses as traffic
generators because of the different peak times of day. Mr. Arbeau stated the list of
traffic generators would be reviewed on a yearly basis.
Mr. Arbeau then presented the major changes to the group. Mr. Leiker asked for any
further discussion or suggestion for changes and if the board members were
comfortable with the process. The board agreed that staff was providing a thoroughly
researched product that should be forwarded to TPC. There were no more suggestions
Wichita Falls MPO TAC Meeting February 9, 2005 Page 2 of 3
for changes. Mr. Clark motioned to forward the maps to TPC for their approval. Mr.
Brown seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Other Business
Mr. Brown requested the MPO provide a Letter of Support for the construction of the
Kell Interchange, to be presented at the Special Called February 18th TPC Meeting. The
letter would be signed by the TCP Chairperson at that meeting and forwarded to
TxDOT.
Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 12:02 p.m.
DarFon Leiker
Interim MPO Director, TAC Chairperson
Interim City Manager
Wichita Falls MPO TAC Meeting February 9, 2005 Page 3 of 3