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 (DOT&PF) Denise Koch Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), Air Quality George Vakalis Municipal Mayor Patrick Flynn MOA/Municipal Assembly Tim Steele MOA/Municipal Assembly Pete Petersen** MOA/Municipal Assembly Also in attendance: Name Craig Lyon Teresa Brewer Vivian Underwood Aaron Jongenelen Tim Kosednar Bryan Hill Sharen Walsh* Laurie Cummings Jennifer Witt* Cindy Heil* Lance Wilber* Representing MOA/Community Development/Transportation Planning (CDD) MOA/CDD MOA/CDD DOT&PF PDC Engineering MOA/Port of Anchorage HDR, Inc. DOT&PF ADEC MOA/Public Transportation Department *AMATS Technical Advisory Committee Members **Designated Assembly Alternate 1. CALL TO ORDER CHAIR CAMPBELL called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. All members were present. George Vakalis represented Mayor Sullivan. A quorum was established.
Page 2 of 9 CHAIR CAMPBELL introduced Denise Koch as the new Department of Environmental Conservation representative. 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 MR. LYON noted that Item 6(d) will be postponed to the next meeting. ASSEMBLY MEMBER FLYNN requested to hear from Denise Koch following the approval of the agenda. Hearing no objections, the agenda was approved as corrected. DENISE KOCH introduced herself as the new Director of Air Quality at the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation as of April 1st. She noted that she had previously worked in the private sector in environmental consulting for approximately five years and prior to that she had worked for the Department of Environmental Conservation in the water division. She possesses a broad background of water quality and air experience that she gained in the private sector. 4. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES December 8, 2014 Joint Meeting (KABATA), December 17, 2014 Joint Meeting (Regional Travel Demand Model Collaboration) and March 26, 2015 ASSEMBLY MEMBER FLYNN moved to approve the minutes of December 8, 2014 Joint Meeting (KABATA). MR. VAKALIS seconded. Hearing no objections, the minutes of December 8, 2014 were approved. ASSEMBLY MEMBER FLYNN moved to postpone the minutes of December 17, 2014 Joint Meeting (Regional Travel Demand Model Collaboration) to the next meeting as he has not had a chance to review them. ASSEMBLY MEMBER STEELE seconded. Hearing no objections, the minutes of December 17, 2014 were postponed to the next meeting.
Page 3 of 9 MR. VAKALIS moved to approve the minutes of March 26, 2015. ASSEMBLY MEMBER STEELE seconded. Hearing no objections, the minutes of March 26, 2015 were approved. 5. BUSINESS ITEMS a. 2015-18 TIP Administrative Modification #3 BACKGROUND: An administrative modification to the AMATS 2015-2018 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is needed to update Table 3 Roadway Improvements, Table 4 Non-Motorized, Table 5 Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ), and Table 10 Pavement Replacement Programs. MR. LYON noted that Table 1 was modified to reflect the changes in Table 3. Table 3 shows the dollar figures and the transferring of dollars for O Malley Road, Abbott Road Rehabilitation and the Pavement Replacement Program. These are minor amendments and when the Policy Committee approves the TIP, it approves all of the projects and the funding in each. The project schedules are determined by the design process, the right-of-way acquisition and the construction stage because the Operating Agreement specifically states that an administrative modification pertains to minor changes to the project phasing costs and phase initiation dates. AMATS staff believes this should be considered an administrative modification since these are changes to the dates of when the project will begin and not adding a significant amount of dollars to the project, and administrative modifications do not require a public review. He added that these projects and the dollar figures had been previously approved by the, but the schedule is being changed and that is the reason why it is an Administrative Modification as opposed to a Major Amendment, and the TAC is recommending approval by the Policy. In summary, MR. LYON noted that below Table 3 it reads that the A/C has been removed from FFY16 to FFY15, which is a minor change to the Rabbit Creek Reconstruction project. The remaining changes and updates are listed below in Tables 4, 5 and 10. Table 1 Summary Table Updated 2015 Road Improvements without Pavement Replacement projects and Pavement Replacement projects amounts. Current FFY 2015-18 TIP Draft FFY 2015-18 TIP (Amendment 1) Funding Titles 2015 2015 Roadway Improvements without Pavement Replacement projects $16,900 $12,403 Pavement Replacement projects $1,074 $5,571 Table 3 Roadways
Page 4 of 9 Updated 2015, 2016 and 2017 programmed amounts and phasing as summarized below: Current FFY 2015-18 TIP Draft FFY 2015-18 TIP (Amendment 1) Project 2015 2016 2017 2015 2016 2017 O Malley Road Reconstruction $14,300 $11,000 $0 $4,255 $3,815 $14,700 Abbott Road Rehabilitation $0 $3,000 $14,700 $5,548 $7,212 $0 Pavement Replacement Program $1,074 $1,449 $1,919 $5,571 $1,449 $1,919 Remove the A/C from FFY16 to FFY15 for the Rabbit Creek Reconstruction project. Table 4 Non-Motorized Update the project numbers for the Bicycle Plan Project Implementation and the Pedestrian Plan Project Implementation projects. Reflect the need for design and construction funding for the Dimond Center Pedestrian and Transit Improvements project. Table 5 Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Update the STIP need ID s for the Anchorage Ridesharing/Transit Marketing and Air Quality Public and Business Education Campaign projects. Reflect the FFY14 money that is being transferred to FTA with the FFY15 money for the Bus Stop & Facility Improvements and Transit Fleet Expansion/Replacement/Operations projects. Table 10 Pavement Replacement Programs Projects removed from the AMATS Pavement Replacement Program include: o Dimond Boulevard Jewel Lake Road to Sand Lake Road o Jodphur Road Dimond Boulevard to Raspberry Road o Kincaid Road Jodphur Road to Sand Lake Road o Sand Lake Road Dimond Boulevard to Raspberry Road There were no public comments. CHAIR CAMPBELL commented that the O Malley Road and Abbott Road projects were swapped because the right-of-way acquisition on O Malley Road is proceeding slower than expected.
Page 5 of 9 ASSEMBLY MEMBER FLYNN expressed that there was a lot of Advanced Construction (A/C) and asked Mr. Lyon to summarize the status of the project costs. MR. LYON explained that the Commissioner approves the Advanced Construction schedule annually and the other A/Cs are planned ahead of time, but the only one that is being looked at to do this year would be the funding for the Abbott Road Rehabilitation in 2015, which is $7.2 million and $150 thousand for the Minnesota Drive Mobility and Safety Study. Basically, they are looking to move that amount into 2015 so it can begin this year. ASSEMBLY MEMBER FLYNN clarified, for 2015, that it is being anticipated to utilize approximately $7.2 million of the 2016 funds for 2015 execution. MR. VAKALIS moved to approve the 2015-18 TIP Administrative Modification #3 as presented. ASSEMBLY MEMBER STEELE seconded. Hearing no objections, this motion passed. b. Other Business Items None 6. INFORMATION ITEMS a. 1 st Quarter Obligation Report MR. LYON informed the Committee that this is an informational item only because the changes were included in the Administrative Modification and that has already been approved. He noted that there have been a few changes made to make the report easier to understand. Table 3. Roadway Improvements: O Malley Road Reconstruction, Abbott Road Rehabilitation and the Pavement Replacement Program are projects that AMATS is asking approval from the TAC. o O Malley Road reflects $14.3 million in the TIP and currently $4.25 million has been obligated from FFY15 to FFY14 for right-of-way work. The current estimate for obligation construction has slipped beyond 2015. o Abbott Road Rehabilitation did not have any money in the original TIP, but now $5.5 million is expected which would be for construction because this project is moving faster. o Pavement Replacement Program was originally at $1 million for FFY15 and the $5.6 million has already been obligated. The design starts at Post Road
Page 6 of 9 ($623,501) and Rabbit Creek Road ($525,000) and this also reflects the AC of $4.4 million from FFY15 to FFY14 for Eagle River Road. o Spenard Road Rehabilitation may slip to 2016 due to the agreement being for the Municipality to fund the environmental document and complete the right-of-way. o Eagle River Road Rehabilitation shows an increase of $1.2 millionand an additional $1.8 million is needed for this project. Since this project is in the construction phase it will automatically be funded. o Old Seward Highway and the Old Glenn Highway show $742,000 worth of deobligations. Table 4. Transportation Enhancements: The name of this table will be changed to Non-Motorized Enhancements. Bicycle Plan Project Implementation originally had $650,000 and that amount is expected to be obligated this year. The construction of escape ramps and the striping and signing of bike lanes could possibly be obligated in 2015 at approximately $2.3 million additional pending timely completion of design work by the consultant. Throughout the year, deobligations will be reviewed allowing the possibility of more money being moved into this project. Pedestrian Plan Project Implementation has $650,000 in the TIP and they are still expecting to obligate that amount. The design work is estimated at $500,000 in FFY15 or FFY16 and a contract is currently underway. MR. LYON noted that they are within the 7.59% of what was to be obligated and also within the required +/- 15% at the end of the first quarter, which is tracking fairly well. There were no public comments. ASSEMBLY MEMBER STEELE mentioned that he had an informal conversation outside of the meeting and was told that the $1.5 million might be moved to 2016. b. Household Travel/Transit Surveys & Travel Demand Model TERESA BREWER noted the Household Travel Survey Report was completed in late winter by RSG, Inc. and assisted by McDowell Group, Inc., Spring Planning Services and R&M, Inc. The purpose of this presentation is to show the results of that survey, the Transit Onboard Origin Destination Survey, and to show how this helps in the development of the Travel Demand Model Update.
Page 7 of 9 JEFF FRKONJA with RSG, Inc. provided a PowerPoint presentation and discussed the update via teleconference. He provided a brief overview on the following Household Travel Survey highlights: Sampling timeframe: Seven weeks in September-October 2014; One-day household diary for all persons greater than five years; Included general behavior and attitude questions with typical frequency of travel by transit, walk or bike; Significant public and stakeholder outreach; Translation options in Spanish, Korean, and Tagalog; 2.2% sample of study area households (AB+CER+MSV); and 25% of completed HH responses from MSV.
Page 8 of 9 MR. FRKONJA added that the next steps for the Household Travel Survey will be to analyze the weighted data, prepare estimation data for trip generation and mode choice, analyze mode by trip purpose and analyze trip generation rates by district. For the Transit Survey, the next steps will be to analyze the weighted data, prepare calibration and validation targets for mode choice and assignment and analyze trip ends by district. There were no questions or comments. c. Interim 2035 MTP Schedule & Update VIVIAN UNDERWOOD presented the update and noted that the 2035 MTP is on schedule, and thanked the DOT&PF for allowing AMATS to use their procurement process. DOT was able to sign a contract with PDC Engineers, Inc. and is represented by Bryan Hill, Project Manager. Their goal is to have a first draft presented to the TAC in May 2015 with a public review draft in June 2015, and possibly presented to the in June as well. Project cost information and refreshing the financial plan were the main items updated in the plan using the 2035 modeling. She added that Mr. Lyon spoke with Jerry Weaver, Director of the Community Development Department and Erika McConnell, Manager of Current Planning and it was decided that the Interim MTP does not need to be presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission because there are no changes, additions or deletions in the plan related to the Comprehensive Plan, but they have not had a response as to whether this needs to be presented to the Assembly. She pointed out that for the first time in Chapter 8 Implementation, they will provide a progress report card for themselves as to how well they have done implementing the MTP. ASSEMBLY MEMBER STEELE believes the Assembly would prefer to see it as an informational item.
Page 9 of 9 There were no public comments. In response to Assembly Member Steele, MS. UNDERWOOD replied that because they are using the 2035 projections the lifetime of the plan has a 20-year horizon and would have to be approved by the end of 2015. There were no further questions or comments. d. AMATS Website Update Postponed to May 2015. e. Other Informational Items - None 7. COMMITTEE COMMENTS - None 8. SCHEDULED AMATS MEETINGS Freight Advisory Committee & TSAIA Tour: April 24, 2015, 2:00 4:00 PM Technical Advisory Committee; May 14, 2015, 2:30 4:30 PM, May 28, 2015, 1:30 3:30 PM Bikeway Design Workshop: June 24, 2015, 6:00 9:00 PM 9. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 2:08 p.m.