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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 02/18/2009MEETING MINUTES of the TRANSPORTATION BOARD February 18, 2009 6:00 p.m. Traffic Operations 626 Linden Street Fort Co1Gns, CO 80524 FOR REFERENCE: Chair: Gary Thomas 482-7125 Vice Chair: Ed Robert 224-4864 Staff Liaison: Mark Jackson 416-2029 Administrative Support: Polly Bennett 224-6058 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT Olga Duvall Bill Jenkins John Lund Kip McCauley Ed Robert Garry Steen Gary Thomas Sid Simonson Scott VanTatenhove CITY STAFF PRESENT: Mark Jackson, Transportation Group Director, 416.2029 Polly Bennett, PDT Executive Administrative Assistant, 221.6601 ABSENT: OTHERS IN ATTENDANCE Sara Frazier Councilmember/Board Liaison Wade Troxell Shane Miller 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Thomas called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. with a quorum present. 2. AGENDA REVIEW The Agenda was accepted without modification. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT None. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (January 2009) Page 3 — Top of page, should read South of Harmony instead of North. Page 6 — Jackson — Change "December" to summer (June/July). Simonson moved to accept the minutes with the revisions. Steen seconded. Passed unanimously. Regular Meeting Minutes February 18, 2009 Page 2 5. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Wade Troxell, Council Liaison The Council Work Session was good. Last night's River -walk presentation showed good support for transit. Stoner presented a scenario of tailgating at Riverwalk and taking the Harmony & Mason Corridors to Hughes Stadium for CSU games. 6. ACTION ITEMS a. Election of Officers — Jackson/Thomas Robert: Nominated Gary Thomas to continue as Chair. Steen seconded. Simonson moved to close nominations. Lund seconded. Vote was unanimous to retain Thomas as Chair. Simonson: Nominated Ed Robert to continue as Vice Chair. Steen seconded. Simonson moved to close nominations. Lund seconded. Vote was unanimous to retain Robert as Chair. 7. DISCUSSION ITEMS a. Update — February 10 Council Work Session on Transportation - Jackson Thomas: Our letter was taken under consideration by the Council. Received several compliments on it. Jackson: Transportation Revenue Stream was the focal point of the evening. If there is not a dedicated Transportation Funding Source found soon, we will be facing a reduction in services. They are beginning to see the magnitude of the problem, but don't grasp it fully. Several Council Members focused on infusing more money into Neighborhood Traffic Calming, not understanding that it wasn't funded through the last BFO process. School Zone Safety was another important issue raised by Council Member Poppaw. Thomas: North College came up several times. Jackson: It is one of the capital projects we are beginning this year as part of the Building on Basics package. Hopefully we can make improvements from Vine Drive north to Willox Lane. The NFCBA is being aggressive in ensuring their wants and needs are heard by the Mayor and City Manager. The project was never fully funded from the onset. Thomas: Safety and maintenance, projects were all big topics. Robert: One Council Member pointed out that the overall revenue distribution process should be examined. Thomas: A quiet zone for trains was also raised as an issue to examine. Commerce City has quiet zones. Jackson: There is a huge difference between Commerce City and Fort Collins. We don't have a lot of room to work in. The DDA is conducting the Quiet Zone Study. Jackson: There are Federal requirements that enforce blowing their horns at a high decibel level for a specific length of travel or are subject to heavy fines. Jackson: I was impressed with their interest, although they don't fully grasp the gravity of the situation. Thomas: They identified a $12 million shortage on the maintenance side. Jackson: We have another Work Session in July and will discuss various scenarios outlining what we can do with $X dollars. We will also discuss capital project shortfalls, growth in designated growth areas/adequate public facilities, updating the Capital Improvements Project List as part of the Transportation Master Plan. Robert: How do the Capital Projects get addressed in the BFO process? Regular Meeting Minutes February 18, 2009 Page 3 Jackson: They are called out specifically in offers. Robert: If tax money is needed for Capital Projects, how do you get their attention? Jackson: We are being transparent in demonstrating the severity of the problem. There will be opportunities this year during the BFO process for the Transportation Board to weigh in. Lund: Why is the City not focusing on primary needs versus primary wants (i.e. Police, Fire, and Transportation)? Budgeting for Outcomes doesn't seem to be working. Troxell: The next step in BFO is to prioritize the programs against each other. We can invite more input (Boards & Commissions, public) and look at them through those lenses. Thomas: It seems to be a matter of how much money is allocated to each Result. Jackson: With the reduction in Transportation revenues, there will be a much greater pull on General Funds. b. Update — Federal Stimulus Plan/Impact on Fort Collins — Jackson Jackson spent time on the phone with CDOT to get perspective on what is included. It is changing hourly. Allocations and numbers are changing. President Obama signed the Act into law on Tuesday. $787 billion dollar act. $420 million slated for Colorado for road improvements. $50 million is coming to Region 4 for roadway improvements. $6.5 million allocated to the NFRMPO. $3.6 - $3.75 million is coming to northern Colorado for transit funding (Fort Collins/Loveland/Berthoud). 15% of the projects identified will be funded. All funds are to be allocated/expended within the first 120 days so they aren't given back and reallocated. The drive is to be ready for the second wave funding. Contract ready/build ready/shovel ready — not defined yet. Fort Collins has a good shot at receiving some funding for the Transit Maintenance Facility expansion, because it can be phased. Replacement buses are high on the `B" list. Troxell: Are there opportunities for other Federal funding? Jackson: We are attempting to get the I-25/SH392 design work completed by summer, in time for second wave funding. A third wave of funding, in the form of a $1.5 billion special projects reserve fund for transportation & transit projects was just announced. No state will receive over 20% of the overall pot of funding. Projects need to be between $20 million - $300 million dollars, be able to start in 365 days, and be completed in 3 years of award. We stand a good shot at something there. Applications are due in 180 days. This would take the pressure off of the Small Starts portion. Lund: Why are we not looking at getting green dollar funds? Troxell: It opens up looking at other funding pots. Jackson: We do have that opportunity. Thomas: When will we know what made the first cut? Jackson: It could be announced by the end of the week. Lund: Mason Corridor funding is slated for funding this year out of the Federal recommended budget. Has that come through? Jackson: It is part of the Administration's list of recommended projects. Simonson: Are there any strange strings attached to the money? Jackson: This is all about jobs creation, fiscal responsibility, transparency. I think we have to be prepared to be daylighted to demonstrate that we meet those goals. The Mason Corridor's ripple effect on employment over the next 20 years would fit. We will look at the requirements if/when the money comes in. Robert: Do the funds compete (i.e. if you receive Stimulus funds you can't receive the other funds)? Regular Meeting Minutes February 18, 2009 Page 4 Jackson: The MPO is going to roll their projects into the 120-day goal. You now know what I know. This is a one-shot deal. It doesn't solve systemic problems. The numbers continue to change hourly. Our Legislative Liaison is keeping tabs on things as well. There are other areas that are included in the Stimulus Package (energy, etc.). All I know about is the Transportation aspect. VanTatenhove: Will Transfort look at the Education part of the package to partner with Poudre R-1 on their bus system to get money? Jackson: They are looking at it. McCauley: Will traffic be a nightmare in a year if we get funding and have lots of intersections under construction? Jackson: We are looking at different scenarios. c. Traffic 101—Joe Olson, City Traffic Engineer Olson: I will give you an overview on Traffic Operations and then we'll discuss signals. We maintain all of the traffic signals and maintain the signs and street markings. We also do "soft" things that revolve around safety; maintaining a traffic accident data base, work with the Police Department on enforcement issues; work on bike and pedestrian accidents to see what we can do to alleviate those types of accidents; work area traffic control — we review and approve traffic control plans to ensure they are appropriate for the work being done; school safety to evaluate the best ways to get kids to and from school safely. Traffic signals are commonly viewed as a cure-all. They can reduce overall intersection delay, and reduce the frequency of right-angle accidents. If placed poorly, they can generate more stops, delays, increase fuel consumption and air pollution, they can increase the likelihood of rear -end accidents, and an increase in left -turning accidents. They are costly to install and maintain. If criteria for a signal is met, the pros outweigh the cons. We have 176 signalized intersections, including 46 on the State Highway System, 26 pedestrian signals, 11 pedestrian actuated flashing lights, 44 reduced speed limit school zones with flashers. A normal distribution is 1 signal per 1000 population, so we should have around 130. Each signal represents an investment of $125,000 - $275,000. The controllers are at each signalized intersection, not in the control center. They are programmed, not adaptive. They communicate to the control center here to ensure synchronization, timing, and real-time monitoring. We can change green time allocation from the control center here. Most of our intersections are fun by fiber, although it didn't make sense for outlying signals, so they are on radio frequency. Signal Timing — "Why can't you just do it like they do it in Loveland?" Basic Signal Parameters — Green allocation; yellow clearance (legal requirements); all red clearance; pedestrian timing (legal requirements) Regular Meeting Minutes February 18, 2009 Page 5 Coordinated Timing Parameters — cycle length (120 seconds right now); time relationship with other signals. Signal phasing — whether or not to use left -turn arrows. Unwarranted arrows lead to added delays, fuel consumed, air pollution, and accident potential. Three types of signals: Fully actuated (17) minimize delay; semi -actuated (141, 24 ready for conversion to fully actuated); fixed time (18). Coordinated Operation — the goal is to minimize stops. It causes delays on side streets. Quality of Progression — Dictated by traffic speed, spacing between intersections, and cycle length. Time of Day Plans — timing plans account for changing traffic patterns throughout the day. 2009 Traffic Signal Timing Project — Goals: minimize stops along main arterials; minimize fuel consumption and air pollution, minimize delays during lower volume times. Harmony (east of College), Timberline and South Lemay this spring; Taft Hill, East Mulberry, East Prospect, and North Lemay this summer; College, Shields, Horsetooth, Drake, Elizabeth, Laurel, and West Mulberry this fall. Special Signal Features — Emergency vehicle preemption; railroad preemption; permanent traffic count stations (in -road sensors, virtual sensors using video cameras, fcgov.com/fctrip) Future plans: Conversion to fully actuated signals; enhancement to real-time monitoring capabilities; real-time performance measures; traffic responsive control; advance detection, unwarranted signal removal? 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Simonson: Nothing McCauley: Nothing to report. I enjoyed the presentation. As a Board, we should keep in mind that stoplights can work against item #1 in our mission statement. VanTatenhove: Nothing Lund: Nothing Jenkins: Nothing Steen: I sent each of you a PDF of an article called "Two Billion Cars." Right now, the estimate is that we have one billion cars on the road. I went through the Climate Change presentation the other day. It was interesting. Robert: Nothing. Duvall: I was pleased to hear that some of the Federal Stimulus money may come to Transfort, because I've heard concerns about Transfort extending the route on Harmony Road for people to get to employment at the Walmart. The main hold up is funding. The Mulberry route is also held up because of funding. Thomas: I sent you information on Go 21. Freight railroads are not fond of passenger rail. Anything that improves freight rail improves overall rail movement. Regular Meeting Minutes February 18, 2009 9. STAFF REPORTS — Mark Jackson Page 6 March item — Budgeting for Outcomes. Make your voice heard for this next budget cycle. We are faced with the possibility of having to cut routes due to the gravity of the rapidly decreasing Transportation revenue situation. If you enjoyed tonight's presentation and field trip, we'd like to hold a meeting at Streets to show you the snow removal process. We can also plan a trip to the airport. 10. OTHER BUSINESS None. 11. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 8:13 p.m. Respectfully submitted, pP"ttl Polly BJAnett Executive Administrative Assistant Planning, Development & Transportation