MINUTES OF THE METRO COUNCIL

TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE MEETING

Wednesday, December 5 2002

Council Chamber

Present:    Rex Burkholder (Chair) and Rod Monroe

Absent:    Bill Atherton

Chair Burkholder called the meeting to order at 10:13 a.m.

1.  CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

None.

2.  CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 5, 2002 TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE MEETING.

3.  RELATED COMMITTEE UPDATES

•  Bi-State Transportation Committee

Councilor Monroe provided an update on the Bi-State Transportation Committee. He noted conversations were continuing about the conversion of the committee into the Bi-State Coordinating Committee where land use issues would be considered. He thought the transition would be complete early next year. He said there was one Clark County Commissioner who was concerned about the conversion. He reported there had been a long discussion about HOV lanes. Councilor Burkholder asked what would prevent the continuation of the HOV lane across the Interstate Bridge. Andy Cotugno, Director of the Planning Department, said the Clark County HOV study had looked into that about two years ago, and there were a lot of operational problems. He said the bridge bore a lot heavier traffic demand that either of the approaches, and it would be difficult to remove a lane on the bridge. Councilor Monroe believed having an HOV lane, which terminated just short of the bridge and continued at the other end, would be effective.

•  JPACT

None.

•  Southwest Washington RTC Board

None.

•  South Corridor Policy Advisory Group

None.

4.  RESOLUTION NO. 02-3256, FOR THE PURPOSE OF AUTHORIZING THE ISSUANCE OF A REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR PERSONAL SERVICES FOR THE HIGHWAY 217 CORRIDOR STUDY.

Richard Brandman reviewed the resolution. He said the funding has now been secured. Bridget Wieghart said the study would look at alternative approaches to adding capacity and how it would interact with regional centers. It would also look at how transit and other modes could play a role in that corridor in alleviating the projected congestion problems. She said the total potential contracts were estimated to be $405,000. Chair Burkholder asked what role FHWA would play. Ms. Wieghart said the scope of work on the Intergovernmental Agreement with FHWA and ODOT was a multi-modal scope of work and included consideration of general purpose, HOV, High Occupancy Toll (HOT) and other value pricing options. She said the only string that had been attached was that as long as they were receiving the value pricing funds, at least one value pricing option needed to be under consideration.

Chair Burkholder assigned Councilor Monroe to carry the resolution to the full council.

5.  MTIP PROCESS UPDATE

•  Status Report

Mr. Cotugno reviewed the status of the MTIP process. He said a preliminary set of applications were under development by the jurisdictions who were going through their selection and endorsement processes locally. He noted that the deadline was December 20^th.

•  Metro applications

Mr. Cotugno described the list of projects and programs that Metro staff was considering for application of funding, which have the same December 20^th deadline as the jurisdictions. He said they anticipated seeking a resolution of endorsement from the Metro in January and asked for comments or applications they may have missed before then. He added that they anticipated 2-3 times the number of applications than dollars available. In response to a question from Chair Burkholder, Mr. Cotugno said there were resources intended to implement activities in centers not along the light rail, which would deal with the more traditional transportation projects. Chair Burkholder thought it would be critical for Metro to provide some support to the smaller jurisdictions regarding centers issues. Mr. Cotugno agreed (for more detail, see copies of the memos to the Transportation Committee, from Tom Kloster re: Tentative Local MTIP Requests, and from Ted Leybold re: Metro applications for funding; Transportation Priorities 2004-07 included with the permanent record of this meeting). There was committee discussion of various projects that could be funded. Mr. Cotugno added that they still had to check on whether or not Greenspaces intended to apply for any trail projects.

6.  TEA-21/REAUTHORIZATION POLICY PAPER UPDATE

Chair Burkholder asked which of the projects on the agenda needed comment from the committee as Councilor Monroe had to leave due to prior obligations. Mr. Cotugno responded that Agenda Items #6 and #9 would need some conversation prior to the next JPACT meeting. Mr. Brandman wanted to be sure the committee was aware of what was happening with RUFTF. He said they had a draft recommendation to share.

Mr. Cotugno said he had been through the TEA-21 issues with Councilors Burkholder and Monroe separately, and asked for input. Councilor Monroe thought it would be helpful to find out from key staff people whether or not an expanded project list would be helpful. He felt the critical regional projects should be priority. Chair Burkholder un-prioritized local projects would be helpful. (See copy of a memo to JPACT/Metro Council from Andy Cotugno re: TEA-21 Reauthorization Priorities included with the permanent record of this meeting). Mr. Brandman explained how the process would work in Washington D.C. He said further conversations were needed on the projects.

[NOTE: The committee lost its quorum and adjourned at 11:36 a.m.].

7.  TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENT TASK FORCE UPDATE

None.

8.  SOUTH CORRIDOR UPDATE

None.

9.  ROAD USER FEE TASK FORCE (RUFTF) UPDATE

None.

ADJOURN

There being no further business to come before the Transportation Committee, Chair Burkholder adjourned the meeting at 11:36 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Cheryl Grant

Council Assistant

Attachments to the Public Record for the

Transportation Committees Meeting of December 5, 2002

Testimony Cards:

None.