STATUS AND KEY ACTIVITIES

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "STATUS AND KEY ACTIVITIES"

Vincent Flowers
6 years ago
Views:

Memorandum Date: January 24, 2014 To: Authority Board: Commissioners Avalos (Chair), Wiener (Vice Chair), Breed, Campos, Chiu, Cohen, Farrell, Kim, Mar, Tang and Yee From: Chester Fung Principal

1 Memorandum Date: January 24, 2014 To: Authority Board: Commissioners Avalos (Chair), Wiener (Vice Chair), Breed, Campos, Chiu, Cohen, Farrell, Kim, Mar, Tang and Yee From: Chester Fung Principal Transportation Planner Through: Tilly Chang Executive Director Subject: January 2014 Monthly Progress Report for Geary Bus Rapid Transit Project Summary The Geary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project is a set of transit and pedestrian improvements along the 6.5-mile Geary corridor between the Transbay Transit Center and 48 th Avenue. In January, the project team focused on two efforts: community outreach on the staff-recommended alternative that was identified at the end of 2013; and coordination on the project s utility issues and capital cost estimate. The team is making progress toward building community consensus on the staff-recommended alternative and identifying any potential needed changes, and toward clarifying project core and separate-but-related costs. Meanwhile, the team is also completing the analysis necessary to develop the Draft Environmental Document and will be focusing more on environmental documentation in the coming months. BACKGROUND The Geary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project is a set of transit and pedestrian improvements along the 6.5-mile Geary corridor between the Transbay Transit Center and 48 th Avenue. Key features include: dedicated bus lanes, transit signal priority, boarding improvements, consolidated bus stops, high-amenity stations, and pedestrian safety enhancements. Geary BRT is a signature project in the Prop K Expenditure Plan. The project is a partnership between the Transportation Authority, which is leading the environmental review, and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which will lead the preliminary and detailed design phases and be responsible for construction and operation of the facilities. STATUS AND KEY ACTIVITIES In January, the project team has been focused on two activities: community outreach on the staffrecommended alternative; and coordination on the project s utility issues and capital cost estimate. We are continuing our outreach to share the staff-recommended alternative that was identified at the end of 2013, with a hosted community meeting on December 17, 2013, stakeholder presentations to San Francisco Bicycle Coalition leadership on December 17 and to the Japantown Organizing Committee and Task Force on December 18. The project team also presented to the Mayor s Disability Council, the SFMTA Multimodal Accessibility Advisory Committee, the Clement Street Merchants Association, the Richmond District Democratic Club, and the Urban Forestry Council this month. Upcoming activities are noted below under the Outreach section of this update. Our plan going forward after this outreach is to identify the staff-recommended alternative in the Draft Environmental Document scheduled for release in Summer 2014, then to seek an action from the Transportation Authority Board to select the alternative as the Locally Preferred Alternative in Fall More detail O:\Active Studies\GearyBRT Environmental\Management\Board Reporting\Report5\Geary BRT Monthly Board Update docx Page 1 of 3

2 on the project schedule is shown in Attachment 1. We have also continued our coordination with the SFMTA, SFDPW, and SFPUC to refine our understanding of project costs and related utility work, with reviews of project materials and staff-level coordination meetings underway. The project team has identified potential water and sewer conflicts and developed an approach to resolving them. We are also adjusting the capital cost estimate to reflect our better understanding of the potential conflicts and how they can be resolved. Current Issues and Risks: Community acceptance of the trade-offs relating to on-street parking and bus stop access continues to be important for building consensus on the staff-recommended alternative, and for this reason, we are making efforts to reach key constituent groups and dialogue on potential solutions in this round of outreach. Also, the project capital cost reflects some items that contain inherent uncertainty, including potentially required utility work, and items that are related but not core to the project, such as curb ramps or street base repair. In both cases, interagency discussions and agreements on cost-sharing are likely needed but will not be fully resolved until the next project development phase. While the project s cost estimate carries industry-standard contingencies to account for this uncertainty, these items represent costs that may increase or decrease depending on the outcome of those pending discussions. Funding: Attachment 2 shows the project funding plan. The project will use Prop K and other local funds and will seek FTA Small Starts funding. Transportation Authority staff continue to seek other funding to close the current gap. Also, depending on the result of the current review of the capital cost estimate and establishment of cost-sharing agreements with separate-but-related projects, additional funding may need to be identified. Outreach: Upcoming outreach activities include a hosted meeting on January 30, 2014, 6-8p: Japanese Community and Cultural Center of Northern California, 1840 Sutter Street, as well as presentations to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Democratic Club on February 5, 2014, and the Institute on Aging on February 7, Next Steps/Upcoming Key Milestones: In the next month, we will complete our initial outreach on the staffrecommended alternative, as well as finish our agency coordination on utilities and costs. We will also focus our attention on completing remaining environmental technical studies and developing the Draft Environmental Document. PROJECT SCHEDULE AND BUDGET Attachment 1 shows the project schedule. The current phase of work continues to be on schedule, with completion of the environmental process by the end of Beyond the environmental review phase, the Conceptual Engineering Report phase is expected to be completed by 2015, with Final Design completed by mid-2016 and construction leading to revenue service by the end of Table 1 shows the budget for the current phase as well as expenditures to date. The total cost estimate for the project is $243M. O:\Active Studies\GearyBRT Environmental\Management\Board Reporting\Report5\Geary BRT Monthly Board Update docx Page 2 of 3

3 Table 1: Geary Bus Rapid Transit Budget and Expenditures to Date Phase Name(in $ millions) Budget ($ millions) Estimate at Completion ($ millions) Expended to Date ($ millions) 1 % Complete Environmental Studies + Advance Preliminary Engineering $6.78 $6.78 $ % 1 As of December 31, 2013 Attachments (2) 1. Project Schedule and Workplan 2. Funding Plan cc: E. Reiskin, T. Papandreou, V. Harris, J. Haley, A. Lee, R. Olea, L. Chow, J. Flynn SFMTA MEL, CF, CF, LS, AL, ES, DP, CDP Chron, File: Geary BRT O:\Active Studies\GearyBRT Environmental\Management\Board Reporting\Report5\Geary BRT Monthly Board Update docx Page 3 of 3

4 Attachment 1: Geary BRT Summary Schedule and Workplan 24 Jan 14 Schedule Technical Team Activities Geary CAC Agenda Topics Outreach Activities Early Action / Coordination BRT Design/Interim Service 2014 Jan Env studies update Outreach on evaluation and Allocate Prop K funds for recommended LPA new signals at 22nd, 26th Feb Publish Admin Draft Construct DPW bulb outs (Arguello, Palm) Mar Review by local agencies Env studies update Apr Review by FTA Implement Inner Geary 'Red Carpet'/Customer First project May June Release Draft EIR/S Review DEIR/S Noticing and outreach on Draft EIR/S; Federal Register circulation July Close of public comments Aug Response to comments Review comments and draft Notifications and outreach on responses; recommend LPA impacted areas Sept Notifications and outreach on Allocate SFMTA BRT design Board selects LPA impacted areas funds Oct Nov Dec Issue Final EIS/R TA to certify EIS/EIR, both Boards approve project Recommends approval of DEIR/S Noticing and outreach on Final EIR/S; incl. Federal Register Complete design for new signals at 22nd, 26th

5 Attachment 2: Geary Bus Rapid Transit Funding Plan Updated: January 2014 Project Phases 1 Source Type Status ENV, CER/PE PS&E CON Total by Status TOTAL 5309 Small Starts 2 Federal Programmed $0 $75,000,000 Planned $15,200,000 $59,800,000 $75,000,000 Allocated $6,746,113 $6,746,113 Prop K Local Programmed $4,151,000 $3,800,000 $14,950,000 $22,901,000 $37,796,113 Planned $8,149,000 $8,149,000 California Pacific Medical Programmed $2,500,000 $2,500,000 Center Contribution 3 Local Planned $0 $2,500,000 TBD 4 TBD Programmed $0 $127,750,000 Planned $127,750,000 $127,750,000 Totals Allocated $6,746,113 $0 $0 $6,746,113 Programmed $4,151,000 $3,800,000 $17,450,000 $25,401,000 $243,046,113 Planned $8,149,000 $15,200,000 $187,550,000 $210,899,000 $19,046,113 $19,000,000 $205,000,000 $243,046,113 1 Acronyms used for project phases include: ENV - Environmental Documentation, CER/PE, Conceptual Engineering Report/Preliminary Engineering (30% Design), PS&E - Plans, Specifications & Estimates or Final Design, CON - Construction. The construction phase includes the incremental cost for procuring new BRT vehicles for the project. 2 The Geary BRT project team plans to apply for Small Starts funds in winter 2014/spring 2015 to coincide with the end of the environmental phase. 3 The anticipated source of this contribution is the California Pacific Medical Center. The development agreement was approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors through Ordinance on July 11, The Mayor's 2030 Transportation Task Force has identified Geary BRT (listed as Geary Rapid Network Improvements) as one of the few named projects in its investment plan, with a $27 million investment. The Task Force has also deemed Geary BRT to be eligible for a portion of the $58 million identified for the Transit Performance Initiative in the Task Force investment plan.

Memorandum Plans and Programs Committee February 12, 2013

Memorandum Plans and Programs Committee February 12, 2013 Memorandum 02.06.13 Plans and Programs Committee February 12, 2013 Plans and Programs Committee: Commissioners Mar (Chair), Kim (Vice Chair), Breed, Campos, Yee and Avalos (Ex Officio) Lee Saage Deputy