ANCHORAGE METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING

Transcription

1 POLICY COMMITTEE MEETING Mayor s Conference Room, 8 th Floor 632 West 6 th Avenue Anchorage, Alaska 1:30 p.m. Members Present: Name Representing Robert Campbell Alaska Dept. of Transportation & Public Facilities, Regional Director () Cindy Heil Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), Air Quality Dan Sullivan Municipal Mayor Patrick Flynn MOA/Municipal Assembly Chris Birch MOA/Municipal Assembly Also in attendance: Name Craig Lyon Teresa Brewer Vivian Underwood Tim Steele *Brian Lindamood Steve Noble Rachel Steer Sara Mason Bart Rudolph James Boyle Tom Schmid Jamie Acton Christine Sondej Mike Aronson Dan Hunter Kris Riesenberg Representing MOA/Community Development Department (CDD) MOA/CDD MOA/CDD MOA/ Municipal Assembly Alaska Railroad Corporation MOA/Public Transportation Department (PTD) MOA/PTD Kittelson & Associates FHWA, Juneau (via phone) *AMATS Technical Advisory Committee members

2 Page 2 of 5 1. CALL TO ORDER CHAIR CAMPBELL called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. All members were present. Cindy Heil represented the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in Alice Edwards absence. A quorum was established. 2. PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT CRAIG LYON encouraged public involvement in this meeting of the AMATS Policy Committee. He explained staff would first make their presentation, followed by any comments from Committee members, and the floor would then be open to public comment. 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MAYOR SULLIVAN moved to approve the agenda. ASSEMBLY MEMBER BIRCH seconded. Hearing no objections, the agenda was approved. 4. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES - None 5. BUSINESS ITEMS a TIP Administrative Modification #8 BACKGROUND: Funds for the MTP update were originally included in 2013, but the project didn t get started. $600,000 of those funds were allocated to the Model Update project and the remaining $200,000 was deobligated. This funding is needed to get an RFP out as soon as possible. MR. LYON briefed the Committee on the modification noting that additional funding is needed for the O Malley Road Project for right-of-way acquisition and to accomplish that, funds are being moved out of the Pavement Replacement Program. The majority of this would be offset through either State Funds or the fact that that possibly the Eagle River Road may not be done this year. He pointed out that funds in the CMAQ category need to be moved into the Consolidated MTP. In response to Assembly Member Flynn, MR. RUDOLPH stated no funds will be deobligated from the Dowling Road Project, but what is being anticipated to A/C from 2014 into 2013, may

3 Page 3 of 5 be smaller than what was anticipated. He explained that regarding Dowling Road in 2013, AMATS was going to A/C $12 million from 2014 into 2013, and that amount may have been less so whatever they didn t have to A/C would go back into Pavement Replacement. MS. HEIL moved to approve the TIP Administrative Modification #8. ASSEMBLY MEMBER BIRCH seconded. Hearing no objections, the motion passed unanimously. b Designated Recipient Request BACKGROUND: In order for the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to award a grant to an urbanized area over 200,000 in population as part of FTA s Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities program under Title 49 U.S.C. 5310, as amended by MAP-21, (The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 st Century Act) a grant recipient must be a Designated Recipient for that urbanized area. The designation of recipient shall be made by the Governor in consultation with responsible local officials and publicly owned operators of public transportation. The Governor s office then notifies the FTA regional Office in writing of the designation. FTA s records indicate the Municipality of Anchorage s population is over 200,000 and requires a designation of recipient for the 5310 funds. Therefore staff recommends the AMATS recommend to the Governor that the Municipality of Anchorage Public Transportation Department serve as the designated recipient for FTA Section 5310 funds apportioned to the Municipality of Anchorage. MR. LYON summarized the request pointing out that due to the changes in MAP-21, in order for the Public Transportation Department to receive and utilize the funds, they need to be a designated recipient. AMATS has drafted a resolution for the to approve and forward to the Governor asking him to designate the Public Transportation Department as the designated recipient. In response to Chair Campbell, MR. LYON stated the funds are in addition to the AMATS allocation. The 5310 funds are Federal Transit Administration funds that come into the City.

4 Page 4 of 5 MS. HEIL moved to approve the resolution for designation of the Section 5310 funds. ASSEMBLY MEMBER BIRCH seconded. Hearing no objections, the motion passed unanimously. c. Other Business Items - None 6. INFORMATION ITEMS a. Glenn Highway Muldoon Road Interchange Project STEVE NOBLE with provided a PowerPoint presentation and updated the Committee on the status of the project. He explained the purpose of this project is to improve operations, capacity, and safety for interchange traffic (vehicles, freight movements, and nonmotorized vehicles), and pointed out that an improved interchange is needed for the following reasons: Ramp intersections are congested and queues exceed available storage Not enough through lanes on Muldoon Road bridge Pedestrian facilities are circuitous and 1/3 of the pedestrians do not use them Existing bridge clearance over the Glenn Highway is below the minimum standard He stated that this project has been in the works since late last spring. Workshops have been held with stakeholders while traffic, safety and noise studies, and an alternatives analysis have also been done. He described the different configurations, the Partial Cloverleaf and the Diverging Diamond, that are being considered and what each would involve in the Construction Phase of the project. Mr. Noble with the assistance of Tom Schmid, Project Manager with, responded to questions from the Committee. b. MTP Update VIVIAN UNDERWOOD presented the update to the Committee. She indicated that the Technical Advisory Committee requested AMATS to prepare this report and maintain it to show a schedule of all of AMATS integrated UPWP tasks for the next two years. The Committee credited AMATS for doing such a great job with limited staff.

5 Page 5 of 5 CHAIR CAMPBELL suggested including intermediate deadlines and intermediate goals on the report, and to present the update to the Committee periodically rather than monthly. Mayor Sullivan left the meeting at 2:28 p.m. c. Other Informational Items JAMES BOYLE, Transportation Planner with, introduced himself and informed the Committee that he will be replacing Mr. Rudolph as the AMATS Coordinator for DOT. MR. LYON mentioned that AMATS has been working with KABATA to present their updated assumptions and the work they are currently doing. Judy Dougherty is expected to appear at the TAC meeting next month. 7. COMMITTEE COMMENTS - None 8. SCHEDULED AMATS MEETINGS Technical Advisory Committee, February 13, 2014, 2:30 PM 4:30 PM, February 27, 2014, 1:30 PM 3:30 PM Technical Advisory Committee, March 13, 2014, 2:30 PM 4:30 PM, March 27, 2014, 1:30 PM 3:30 PM 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 2:34 p.m.