CUUATS CHAMPAIGN URBANA URBANIZED AREA TRANSPORTATION STUDY 1776 East Washington Street Urbana, IL 61802 Champaign-Urbana Urbanized Area Transportation Study (CUUATS) Policy Committee MINUTES APPROVED AS DISTRIBUTED DATE: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 TIME: 10:30 a.m. PLACE: Champaign County Regional Planning Commission John Dimit Meeting Room 1776 E Washington, Urbana, IL 61802 Policy Voting Members Agency Present Absent Champaign County Ralph Langenheim (proxy) Pius Weibel Champaign Roland White (proxy) Jerry Schweighart Urbana Laurel Prussing (Chair) Savoy Robert McCleary UIUC Jack Dempsey CUMTD Ron Peters (Vice Chair) IDOT District 5 Dennis Markwell Others Present: Tom Kelso, Tom Caldwell (IDOT), Betsy Tracy (FHWA), Bill Volk (CU-MTD), Bill Gray & Libby Tyler (Urbana), Morgan Johnston (UIUC), Don Uchtmann (CU-MTD Board), Andrew Levy (CCRPC), Gary Cziko CUUATS Staff: Rita Black, Gabe Lewis, Sharif Ullah, Nicole George, Eric Hansen, Udit Molakatalla, Beth Brunk MINUTES I. Call to Order Ms. Prussing called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. II. III. IV. Roll Call The roll was taken by written record and a quorum was declared present. Audience Participation Approval of Agenda There being no changes, Mr. Langenheim made the motion, seconded by Mr. McCleary to approve the agenda as distributed. Upon vote, the motion carried unanimously. V. Approval of Minutes A. Special Joint CUUATS Policy & Technical Committee Meeting February 25, 2011 There being no changes, Mr. McCleary made a motion, seconded by Mr. Peters, to approve the minutes of the February 25, 2011 Special Joint CUUATS Policy & Technical Committee meeting as distributed. Upon vote, the motion carried unanimously. CUUATS Policy Committee 1 April 13, 2011
VI. New Business A. Tentative New Boundary for MPO based on 2010 Census Data Andrew Levy Mr. Levy, a planner at CCRPC, displayed a map of the estimated Urbanized Area (UZA) as defined by the 2010 census data. The suggested criteria were released in August 2010 but the finalized geographic boundaries will not be known until October 2012. A UZA has a central core of at least 50,000 in population. Champaign-Urbana-Savoy-Bondville is the only UZA in Champaign County the majority of small towns is classified as urban clusters. Ms. Tyler entered the meeting. One of the proposed changes in criteria concerns the inclusion of noncontiguous areas with a population greater than 1,500 by jumps from the core area. In 2002, a jump consisted of 2.5 miles along a roadway whereas the anticipated criteria have reduced the jump to 1.5 miles. Even with the additional growth in north Champaign, southeast Urbana, northwest Champaign and Savoy, the Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA) which is under the oversight of the CUUATS Policy Committee will probably not have to be redefined as the estimated UZA boundaries still fall within it. Mr. Volk entered the meeting. B. Approval of Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Amendments Gabe Lewis IDOT District 5 has two amendments for patching work in FY 2012: I-57 north of Champaign and I-74 in Vermilion County IL-130 from Windsor Road south to the Village of Philo Mr. Markwell made a motion to approve the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) amendments as presented. Mr. McCleary seconded. Upon vote, the motion carried unanimously. C. Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Amendment Discussion of North Lincoln Avenue Bill Gray The amendment request is to use $60,000 of STP(U) money for a Phase 1 project design supplement for a one mile stretch on north Lincoln Avenue between Saline Court and Olympian Drive. This is a slightly different alignment from the approved 1999 location study. The estimated cost of the revised project development report is $120,000. Per CUUATS Policy, federal funds may be used up to 50% to perform such studies which would offset the cost to Urbana and Champaign County. This agenda item is for discussion only, and the actual approval vote will occur at the CUUATS May meeting. D. Approval of CUUATS Intergovernmental Agreement Rita Black Ms. Black reviewed the changes from the Intergovernmental Agreement approved in 2001. The section on C-U Traffic Engineering Committee (CUTEC) was removed since this is a subcommittee or working group of CUUATS. The agreement focuses on the representation, voting rights and responsibilities of CUUATS Policy and Technical Committees. Article XI Use of STP-Urban Funds was added to the agreement. Federal guidelines require a process to prioritize projects. An evaluation procedure was established and then approved by CUUATS Committees in 2008. This article references those guidelines. Some minor changes include updating the titles of the Committee representatives, and CU-MTD now has two votes for the Technical Committee instead of one. This draft was approved by CUUATS Technical Committee on April 6, 2011. Mr. Markwell made a motion to approve the CUUATS Intergovernmental Agreement as presented. Mr. Langenheim seconded. Upon vote, the motion carried unanimously. CUUATS Policy Committee 2 April 13, 2011
E. Approval of Draft Unified Technical Work Program (UTWP) FY2012 Rita Black The UTWP outlines the tasks for CUUATS staff as directed by CUUATS Technical and Policy Committees. The main priorities include the implementation of the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) 2035, compilation of the annual transportation projects in the TIP, Champaign County Greenways & Trails Plan update and development of five models CUUATS Travel Demand Model, Mode Choice for the University District, Air Quality & Greenhouse Gas Emission Model (Move 2010), Land Use Evolution & Impact Assessment Model (LEAM) and Neighborhood Affordability Index. In addition to these tasks, staff assists member agencies with grant applications and traffic/safety studies as needed. Ms. Black noted that in the CUUATS Proposed Fee Structure for FY 2012, the local match for the member agencies stayed at the same level as FY 2011. Mr. McCleary made a motion to approve the draft Unified Technical Work Program as presented. Mr. Markwell seconded. Upon vote, the motion carried unanimously. VII. Old Business A. Subcommittee Reports 1. CUTEC 2. Olympian Drive Bill Gray The Urbana City Council is reviewing a draft Intergovernmental Agreement for Olympian Drive. The Champaign City Council will have an opportunity to approve the agreement at their 4/19/11 meeting. The Champaign County Board may have some minor changes but Mr. Gray does not anticipate any major problems with the agreement. The draft expands an earlier Intergovernmental Agreement to include land acquisition, construction and identification of future maintenance. 3. CATS III Technical Committee Bill Gray At the meeting yesterday, CUUATS staff presented an update of the University District Crosswalk Guidelines. Financial contributions from the CATS III member agencies provide free bike light distribution and installation this fall on campus. Bike to Work Day is on May 3rd to encourage more bicycle usage. The University Police have purchased new bikes to assist in patrolling campus. The Illinois Chapter of American Public Works Association recognized the bicycle education safety video C-U Sharing the Road as worthy of the Exceptional Performance Award. 4. miplan Bill Volk Once the CUUATS Travel Demand Model has been updated, work can move forward to examine pedestrian, bicycle and transit travel in the University District. The Springfield Avenue/White Street Corridor study is on-going. 5. Champaign County Transit Partnership Group (CCTPG) Rita Black The Champaign County Transit Advisory Group had its first meeting on March 3rd. Officers were elected and a quarterly meeting schedule formulated. B. Agency Reports 1. City of Champaign Roland White Champaign is going to focus most of its street maintenance in the University District with asphalt overlay, sidewalk and alley work. The storm sewer work is almost complete on the Boneyard Creek Drainage Project, Contract C, which will help mitigate the flooding of viaducts from Second Street to the west. Other major plans this season will be the Fourth Street HSIP Safety project and the University Avenue pedestrian project providing bumpouts and refuge medians in the downtown area. CUUATS Policy Committee 3 April 13, 2011
Mr. White accompanied several local leaders to Washington D.C. to meet with Victor Mendez and other senior officials of the Federal Department of Transportation (DOT). DOT focused on livability, urban issues, sustainability, jobs and housing as important factors for future project requests. Mr. White hoped that CUUATS can position itself to take advantage of funding opportunities by working closely with IDOT. Mr. White anticipated that Champaign and IDOT can come to an agreement concerning the Windsor Road Bridge Project which shares many of the important criteria cited by DOT. 2. City of Urbana Bill Gray Urbana has bids out for resurfacing work on Springfield Avenue by campus, north Lincoln Avenue, Park Street adjacent to Crystal Lake Park, Airport Road east of Cunningham Avenue and Philo Road south of Windsor Road. Staff is reviewing a draft of the modern roundabout feasibility study for the intersection of Race Street and Windsor Road. Urbana is acquiring approximately 20 easements along High Cross Road for the multiuse path from Windsor Road to Po Boys Restaurant. Once the easements are attained, the project can be bid. 3. Village of Savoy Robert McCleary The Old Town Drainage project started last week. The Feutz Contractor has extra crews working on the job so it may be completed quicker than planned. The intersection of Church Street and Tickseed Avenue will be closed a couple weeks to correct a grading problem. The engineering on Prospect Avenue is mostly finished. Savoy intends to do a repair/overlay on their portion of Prospect Avenue to temporarily fix the road until Champaign can fund their portion. Mr. White suggested using STP(U) money after the Olympian Drive project is done. 4. C-U Mass Transit District (MTD) Bill Volk The last of 23 new hybrid buses will be in service this week thereby upgrading the fleet to 80% clean emissions. MTD intends to replace the other 20% within the next two years. This summer, work on Illinois Terminal (IT) will include replacing part of the Amtrak platform and the chiller to a more energy efficient HVAC system. The Greyhound Express from Chicago- Champaign-St. Louis now goes through IT. The pricing is similar to Megabus. Cris Rural Transit service is now operating from IT, and MTD has a contract to house their operation and maintain their buses at their old location. MTD is also working on a Very Small Starts grant opportunity to improve some street infrastructure in the University District. 5. Champaign County 6. University of Illinois Morgan Johnston The University plans to replace storm sewers and repave the street on Gregory Drive from First Street to Fourth Street in the summer while school is not is session. The Hazelwood Bike path has been completed through the arboretum from the Orchard Downs complex to the Vet Med Building. An intern will be researching a bike sharing plan to be implemented by the University at the end of 2012. An origin destination survey is being circulated to students, facility and staff to provide more detailed data that will be used to expand the CUUATS Travel Demand Model (Mode Choice) for campus. 7. Champaign County Regional Planning Commission (CCRPC) Rita Black Last week, RPC submitted two grant applications to IDOT: 1) an update to the Greenways & Trails Plan for Champaign County and 2) a traffic circulation study for the University. A third grant will be submitted for bus/passenger facility design guidelines as requested by MTD. Last week, six interns began the traffic counts at 1,500 locations throughout the urbanized area and the county. CUUATS staff has completed a HSIP grant application for the intersection of Race Street and Main Street on behalf of Urbana. Ms. Black thanked MTD for their cooperation/collaboration with Cris Rural Transit to provide transit services in the rural areas. CUUATS Policy Committee 4 April 13, 2011
8. IDOT District 5 Dennis Markwell The governor s office released IDOT s $11.5 billion Multi-Year Construction Program for fiscal years 2012 through 2017. The major projects for Champaign-Urbana include a resurfacing of US-45 at the south end of the county by Cross Construction for this year and the rehabilitation of the south lanes of I-57 north of town for construction in 2012. 9. IDOT Central Office Tom Kelso 10. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Betsy Tracy In June, FHWA will conduct a federal planning review of CUUATS. Ms. Tracy mentioned that the discussion will involve some input from members of the CUUATS Policy and Technical Committees. She has found these reviews to be beneficial to FHWA, IDOT and the MPOs. C. Announcements VIII. IX. Audience Participation Adjournment There being no further business, Mr. Dempsey made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Mr. McCleary seconded. Upon vote, the motion carried unanimously. Ms. Prussing adjourned the meeting at 11:10 a.m. CUUATS Policy Committee 5 April 13, 2011