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MPO TPC/TAC Board Minutes - 04/19/1999MINUTES POLICY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING WICHITA FALLS METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION April 19, 1999 Present: Mayor Kay Yeager, Chairperson Judge Woody Gossom, Vice - Chairman Joe Nelson, District Engineer - TxDOT John Barton, Dir. of Trans. Planning & Development - TxDOT Tim Hertel, Dir. of Operations - TxDOT David Clark, Director of Community Development Dennis Wilde, Executive Dir. of NORTEX Regional Planning Commission Don Sheppard, Lakeside City Steve Seese, MPO Director Diane Parker, Recording Secretary Scott Taylor, Public Works Carolyn Askins, District Transportation Planning Assistant - TxDOT Sam Woods, TxDOT - Austin John Moller, Citizen Absent: Bob Parker, Dir. of Traffic & Transportation George Bonnett, Dir. of Public Works I. Welcome & Introduction . Members • • • • • • . Staff • • • • Visitor • Members The meeting was called to order at 8:35 a.m. by Mayor Yeager, who extended a welcome to all present. II. Approval of Minutes of the January 27, 1999 Meeting There being no comments concerning the minutes, the minutes stood approved as submitted. WICHITA FALLS MPO PAC MEETING April 19 1999 PAGE 1 OF 5 III. Discussion of findings from the March 12, 1999 Technical Committee meeting and presentation and approval of Amendments to Thoroughfare Plan Mr. Seese stated that at the Technical Committee Meeting there was discussion of two subjects. The first was amendments to the Thoroughfare Plan. The Technical Committee recommended both Southwest Parkway and Midwestern Parkway East of US 281 be downgraded from major to minor arterials. Mr. Seese stated these changes would be in conformance with the Land Use Plan. Mr. Barton stated utilities would be difficult to provide for anything other than the land use Mr. Seese was describing, due to constraints placed on the existing system by the topography. Mr. Seese stated the next proposed change was the extension of Maplewood from Kemp to McNiel to be downgraded from minor arterial to major collector status and the alignment be altered to reflect the changes created by the new Walmart store. The Technical Committee also recommended Turtle Creek be downgraded from a minor arterial to a major collector due to its alignment and current development trends. The Committee recommended Loop 11 from US 287 to Airport Drive be downgraded from major arterial to a minor collector. This road would end at Airport Drive because of the Plum Creek watershed area; which would create a T intersection. Mr. Seese stated the other item discussed at the Technical Committee meeting was a transportation model and why it was needed. The Kimley -Horn Study proposed a network study of the Lawrence Road area be done and this could be completed if a transportation model was in place. Mr. Seese stated the State has given the MPO an additional $74,000 for unprogrammed planning projects and the MPO has $29,000 remaining from last year that does not require a match. These sources of funds could be used to fund the model. Staff has been in contact with representatives of TxDOT from the local office and Austin. We are asking the Policy Advisory Committee to approve using these sources of funding to hire a consultant to complete the model. Mr. Seese stated he has been working on a RFP. Mr. Barton explained the purpose of a model, the different types of information a model requires and the information that can be derived from a model. Mr. Barton stated the Technical Committee strongly recommends the model. Mr. Gossom asked if there was any long range plans for a loop around Wichita Falls. Ms. Yeager stated as she understood it the overhead was going to take care of any need for a loop. Mr. Barton stated there are still plans for a loop for approximately one -third of the City, but it is very long term. Mr. Gossom made a motion to approve the amendments to the Thoroughfare Plan and to proceed with developing an RFP for the Transportation Model project. Mr. Wilde second the motion which passed unanimously. IV. Presentation and approval of the FY 2000 -2002 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Ms. Yeager stated two public hearing were held for the FY 2000 -2002 TIP. The first was held in conjunction with Wichita Falls City Council meeting on March 9, 1999 and the second was held at the WFISD Administration Building on March 16, 1999. Mr. Seese asked Mr. Barton if TxDOT had any proposed changes to the TIP. Mr. Barton stated the following changes needed to be made: 0 page 7, SH 240 project at Holliday Creek the cost need to be increased; J r-M, MCC i INto April 19, 1999 PAGE 2 OF 5 • page 8, project SH 240 between FM 890 to Business 287 seal coat and overlay needs to be added; • page 9, project US 281 from Archer County Line to US 287 overlay and to add a ramp Southwest Parkway heading east get on 281; • page 10, 1-44 project at Bacon Switch Road and the Call Field Reliever projects be removed; • page 16, all the State Funded Highway projects be removed from the FY2000 -2002 TIP. Mr. Seese suggested the Committee vote on removing the Callfield Reliever projects. Mr. Barton made a motion to remove them. Mr. Gossom seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Mr. Gossom made a motion to approve the TIP as amended. Mr. Barton second the motion which passed unanimously. V. Status of Projects A. Holliday Creek. Trail Enhancement Phase II Mr. Barton stated the project is scheduled for letting in August. The City has revised the plans to shorten the length of the trail. The local TxDOT office has completed its review and has sent it on to Austin. B. Kemp and Kell Depot Enhancement Mr. Barton stated the elevator is in place. The phone for the elevator has not been installed yet which has been a source of contention between the phone company, the elevator company and the contractor. He was not certain when the project would be completed. C. Kemp Blvd. - 9th to US 277: Mr. Barton stated the project has been completed. D. US 287 (Broad - Holliday Elevated): Mr. Barton stated the contractor has started work. City staff people have been working with TxDOT and the contractor to adjust the traffic lights. Considering the situation, the system is working very well. E. 7th Street reconstruction: Mr. Barton stated the project was let this month. The project will remove and replace all the drainage inlets, repair the curbs & gutters and repave the street from Broad to Brook. F. FM 2380 widening: Mr. Barton stated the schematic and environmental assessment have been completed and submitted to Austin. The schematic was approved and the environmental is being revised. Hopefully, a full set of plans will be completed and approved by November. vnt,rn i A rALL5 MFU FAG MEETING April 19, 1999 PAGE 3 OF 5 G. Barnett Road reconstruction: Mr. Barton stated the City is completing the plans and are submitting them to TxDOT. The project is scheduled for letting in August. H. Kell Frwy. Bridge deck sealing: Mr. Barton stated the project was let will begin work. The contractor has not notified when they Kell Freeway: Mr. Barton stated TxDOT is developing the plans for construction from Kemp Blvd. to Fairway. We have done some maneuvering with our funding and received approval to develop plans through the Fairway interchange. Approval to construct this section has still not been granted. Mr. Barton stated he and Carolyn had met with staff from Austin to get ideas on how to get projects ranked higher. Their first recommendation was to make sure all data that has been entered into the computer system best reflects the project. Another suggestion was to buy down projects. For example, this could be accomplished by using 4D funds. Which is something this group needs to discuss. If a project for instance is estimated at $5 million and the MPO is willing to spend $1 Million of its own money then it might rank high enough where it will be approved for construction. If we as a group feel this is an appropriate use of funds, some of these projects may become a reality. I propose City and TxDOT staff work on some of these ideas. Then comeback with a proposal of how the MPO can spend 4D and 4F type funds in a cost effective way and get some of these projects ranked higher. VI. Other Business Mr. Barton stated Federal courts are considering limiting the amount of money that can be used for construction in areas that do not meet EPA air quality standards. If this goes through, Houston, Dallas, Ft. Worth, San Angelo, El Paso and probably Austin will be affected. This would free up funding for projects in other parts of the State. The State has asked me to create a list of projects that could be accelerated if extra funds become available. I have a list and would like to share it with the Committee for input. It includes Kell from Kemp to Fairway including the Fairway interchange, the widening of FM 2380, safety lighting at Bacon Switch Road, Kell West of Fairway to FM 369, Kell interchange at US 287, Fairway from Kell to Southwest Parkway, and Barnett from Kell to US 277. Ms. Yeager asked when the court ruling will take effect. Mr. Barton responded unless the decision is overturned he thought it would take effect on September 1. There were no objections to his list of projects. Mr. Barton stated Kimley -Horn did the study for the Call Field Reliever which indicated a need for a overall analysis of transportation system for the City. He had checked with the State to see if they would allow us to retain Kimley -Horn and continue with that study. This Committee needs to make a decision if it wants to do this and how to fund it. There are some planning funds available, or if we need to, there are some 4D funds that could be moved. Mr. Seese VVIUMI i A FALLS MPO PAC MEETING April 19, 1999 PAGE 4 OF 5 . . . mentioned FTA might be a source of funding through the FY 99 -00 transit grant. Ms. Yeager stated we should have system analysis performed as quickly as possible. Mr. Barton stated using Kimley -Horn would be the quickest way. Mr. Gossom made a motion that a source of funding be found to retain Kimley -Horn to complete a system analysis. Mr. Wilde seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Mr. Barton stated the State and City staff need to discuss with Kimley -Horn the scope of study and the geographic area. Mr. Barton stated he would contact Kimley -Horn. Following acknowledgment from Mr. Woods, this would need to include PL funds (MPO planning funds). NOTE TO MINUTES: Using MPO planning funds would require that the City fund MPO planning activities rather than annual federal /state allocations. VII. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 10:04 a.m. RECEIVED IN CI CLERK'S OFFICE Date Rv - -- Time0�. WICHITA FALLS MPO PAC MEETING April 19, 1999 PAGE 5 OF 5