HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.21.17 TTAC Minutes
APPROVED
MPOJC TRANSPORTATION TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE
TUESDAY, MARCH 21ST 2017 - 10:30 AM
EMMA HARVAT HALL, IOWA CITY CITY HALL
MEMBERS PRESENT: Coralville: Scott Larson, Ellen Habel, Vicky Robrock
Iowa City: Mark Rummel, Chris O’Brien, Jason Havel,
Ron Knoche, Geoff Fruin
Johnson County: Tom Brase, Greg Parker
North Liberty: Dean Wheatley
Tiffin: Doug Boldt
University Heights: Louise From
University of Iowa: Brian McClatchey
RTBC: Terry Dahms
Iowa DOT: Catherine Cutler
ECICOG: None
FHWA: None
STAFF PRESENT: Kent Ralston, Darian Nagle-Gamm, Brad Neumann, Emily Bothell,
Sarah Walz
OTHERS PRESENT: None
1. CALL TO ORDER; RECOGNIZE ALTERNATES; CONSIDER APPROVAL OF
MEETING MINUTES
Dahms motioned to approve the meeting minutes, Wheatley seconded the motion. The
motion carried unanimously.
2. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA
None.
3. CONSIDER A RECOMMENDATION TO THE URBANIZED AREA POLICY BOARD
REGARDING MPOJC SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BLOCK GRANT (STBG)
APPLICATIONS AND FUNDING ALLOCATIONS FOR FY2021-2022
Neumann informed the group that MPOJC has just under $6 million available in STBG
funding for FY2021-2022. Four entities submitted applications totaling over $13.9 million.
Three of these applications would require changes to the adopted Long Range
Transportation Plan.
Wheatley asked if the scoring for the American Legion Road Reconstruction project has
changed since original funding in 2015. Ralston explained that scoring has changed due
to different criteria, but the new score is similar to the previous.
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From mentioned that the University Heights Melrose project has strong backing from
community and would benefit both University Heights and Iowa City.
Fruin proposed that 40% funding for the two highest scoring projects and about 50% for
the next largest two projects, which breaks down to $2,576,000 for North Liberty’s Hwy
965 project, $1,368,140 for Iowa City’s American Legion Road project, $730,000 for
University Heights Melrose Avenue project, and $1,315,860 for Iowa City’s Benton
Street project.
Dahms expressed the desire to fund projects in full, similar to past funding.
From mentioned that partial funding for FY2021-2022 would work for University Heights
since it allows for an extended time frame to attain additional funding.
Wheatley mentioned that he would like to see North Liberty’s project receive 50% of the
funding as compared to 40%.
Fruin mentioned that 40% for North Liberty’s project would allow for more funding to be
allocated to other projects.
Larson mentioned that if any funding was available for the projects that ranked lower he
preferred those funds go towards Coralville’s 1st Avenue and Oakdale project. Larson
also stated that the 1st Avenue project scored lower than it should because there have
been temporary traffic signals at this location for two years. Previous accident history
has been mitigated with signals, but concern is that traffic will increase as Liberty High
School opens.
Wheatley informed the group that the section of Hwy 965 from Penn Street north is
completed and engineering south towards Zeller Street is underway and scheduled to be
completed next year.
McClatchey asked staff if the new scoring criteria presented any surprises. Ralston
explained that Coralville roundabouts did score lower than anticipated, but no other
surprises arose.
Fruin moved to approve the funding apportionment as presented, Wheatley seconded
the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
4. CONSIDER A RECOMMENDATION TO THE URBANIZED AREA POLICY BOARD
REGARDING LOCALLY DETERMINED PROJECTS FOR THE MPOJC FY2018
TRANSPORTATION PLANNING WORK PROGRAM
Nagle-Gamm explained that each spring a list of transportation work program projects is
compiled for the upcoming fiscal year. Nagle-Gamm stated that any significant projects
added to the plan later in the year will need to be approved by the Board.
Wheatley moved to approve the work program, Knoche seconded the motion. The
motion carried unanimously.
5. CONSIDER A RECOMMENDATION TO THE URBANIZED AREA POLICY BOARD
REGARDING THE MPOJC FY2018 TRANSIT PROGRAM OF PROJECTS
Neumann reviewed the proposed Transit Program of Projects and stated that this was
an annual document required by the Federal Transit Administration. Neumann asked
the group if there were any questions regarding the plan and requested approval.
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McClatchey moved to approve the MPOJC FY2018 Transit Program of Projects, Habel
seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
6. CONSIDER A RECOMMENDATOIN TO THE URBANIZED AREA POLICY BOARD
REGARDING THE MPOJC FY2018 TRANSIT CAPITAL EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT
PLAN
Neumann explained that the MPOJC FY18 Transit Capital Equipment Replacement
Plan tracks the useful life of equipment and prioritizes needs of each transit agency.
Neumann mentioned that most of the requests are for buses.
O’Brien moved to approve the plan, Habel seconded the motion. The motion carried
unanimously.
7. CONSIDER A RECOMMENDATION TO THE MPOJC URBANIZED AREA POLICY
BOARD REGARDING AMENDMENTS TO THE FY17-20 MPOJC TRANSPORTATION
IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (TIP)
Neumann informed the group that staff received requests for two TIP amendments. Iowa
City requested to repurpose $188,000 leftover from the McCollister Boulevard project to
the Dubuque Street Gateway Project. The second amendment was from the Iowa DOT
regarding additional funding for the Forevergreen Road and I-380 interchange project.
Although this funding was not previously identified, the new source of funding is the
National Highway Performance Program.
Knoche moved to approve both TIP amendments, Larson seconded the motion. The
motion carried unanimously.
8. UPDATE ON THE MPOJC LONG RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLAN REVISION
PROCESS AND REVIEW OF DRAFT MATERIALS
Nagle-Gamm informed the group that staff has been incorporating feedback from
interested parties and is in the process of finalizing the Long Range Transportation Plan.
The plan will be published for public comment in the beginning of April.
New content to the plan includes three guiding principles and the use of data from the
Strava mobile app for bicycles. Nagle-Gamm referred to the weekend and weekday
maps derived from the Strava data set. The data includes routes recorded by users on
both trails and streets.
The final steps for the Long Range Transportation Plan include recalibration of the travel
demand model to 2045, finalizing the socio-economic forecast, and incorporating any
public comment received.
Wheatley suggested that staff may want to look at level of service maps and high
accident location statistics to determine allocation of future funds.
9. UPDATE ON THE 2017 MPOJC COLLISION ANALYSIS
Bothell noted that an update to the urbanized area traffic collision analysis has been
completed. The analysis identifies any intersection or mid-block location that
experienced 3 or more collisions from 2013-2015. The analysis ranks locations based on
the number of collision, crash rates, and severity of collisions.
Larson asked what collision points represented. Bothell explained that collision points
are given to each intersection or mid-block location based on the total number of
collisions.
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Dahms mentioned that throughout the country bicycle collision fatalities with pedestrians
have been rising and questioned whether this was an area of concern for the MPO.
Ralston explained that the University of Iowa has shown interest as well and that staff is
collecting and analyzing data.
Wheatley asked whether accident statistics included dollar value information. Ralston
explained that dollar value information is not included in the report, but can be acquired
for specific locations.
Larson asked if a separate report could be done for Coralville mid-block collisions
detailing the direction of travel and time of day. Staff mentioned that a more detailed
analysis of any intersection could be completed in the future upon request by the
community.
10. OTHER BUSINESS
Ralston mentioned that the 2016 transportation planning division annual report was
attached and included a list of projects completed by staff throughout the year.
McClatchey mentioned that a new real-time passenger information system has been
installed on Cambus and went live on March 21st, 2017. The data is still available on the
Bongo App. McClatchey explained that automated voice announcements will be used
and that the GPS system will count passengers by stop.
11. ADJOURNMENT
Knoche moved to adjourn, Habel seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 11:30 AM.