READING AREA TRANSPORTATION STUDY MINUTES OF THE TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON NOVEMBER 6, 2014 IN THE BERKS COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION CONFERENCE ROOM ON THE FOURTEENTH FLOOR OF THE BERKS COUNTY SERVICES CENTER TECHNICAL COMMITTEE Jay McGee PennDOT 5-0, Chair* Raymond Green, PennDOT Central Alan D. Piper, Berks County Planning Commission Michael Golembiewski, Berks County Planning Commission Dave Kilmer, BARTA Deb Hoag, City of Reading Charles Jones, City of Reading *Tie-breaking Vote only TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MEMBERS NOT ATTENDING Terry Sroka, Reading Regional Airport OTHERS Kathy Dimpsey, FHWA George Tomaszewski, PennDOT 5-0 Greg Vallette, PennDOT Central Matthew Long, PennDOT Central Shannon Rossman, Berks County Planning Commission Matt McGough, Berks County Planning Commission Regina Zdradzinski, Berks County Planning Commission Jason Lane, Congressmen Charlie Dent Laura Hopko, BARTA Roy Baldwin, McCormick Taylor Matt Boyer, Commuter Services Chris Gant, Grand Alliance Liam Migdail-Smith, Reading Eagle 1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman McGee called the Technical Committee to order at 1:30 p.m. 2. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE MINUTES OF OCTOBER 2, 2014 Chairman McGee asked if there were any comments, corrections or additions to the October 2, 2014 Technical Committee Meeting minutes. Mr. Golembiewski stated that there 1
is a brief correction to be made on page 3, third paragraph the fourth line down. Burkeys Bridge is in Washington Township; not Washington Street. MOTION: Mr. Green made a motion to accept the Technical Committee Meeting minutes of October 2, 2014 with the correction. Ms. Hoag seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 3. BUSINESS FROM THE FLOOR Mr. Piper stated that a recommendation is needed to endorse the 2015 meeting schedule at this meeting so it can be forwarded to the Coordinating Committee for their approval before the end of the year. Mr. Piper stated that the standard schedule is proposed with the first Thursday of the month being scheduled for the Technical Committee meeting. The Coordinating Committee meeting is scheduled for the third Thursday of every other month beginning in January. The only exception to this schedule will be that the January Technical Committee Meeting will be held on January 8, 2015. MOTION: Mr. Golembiewski made a motion to endorse the proposed RATS 2015 Meeting Schedule. Mr. Kilmer seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 4. NOMINATION/ELECTION OF TECHNICAL COMMITTEE VICE-CHAIRMAN With Mr. Knoblauch s retirement, the Technical Committee s Vice-Chairman seat was left vacant. Mr. Piper nominated the PennDOT Central Office representative to be the vicechairman. If the District Office representative cannot attend the meeting, whoever is representing Central Office will be chairman. This vote will only be good for two months. Another vote will be taken in January for all officers for next year. MOTION: Mr. Kilmer made a motion to accept the nomination and elect the PennDOT Central Office representative as vice-chairman for the balance of 2014. Ms. Hoag seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 5. PENNDOT REQUESTED AMENDMENTS/MODIFICATIONS TO FFY 2013-2016 TIP Mr. Tomaszewski gave an update on Requested Amendments/ Modifications to FFY 2013-2016 TIP Modifications from October 2, 2014 through November 6, 2014. Amendments None Administrative Actions - Addition of previously approved Transportation Alternatives Program projects to TIP (Rockland St. Upgrade, Reading; Boyertown Railroad Connectivity, Boyertown; and Lancaster Avenue Crosswalks, Cumru Township). 2
- Post & Cable Guide Rail Preliminary Engineering funding ($125,000) requested to design replacement of obsolete post & cable guide rail at various locations throughout Berks County. There were ten (10) additional actions reflecting changes in project funding based on current project schedules. 6. PENNDOT PRESENTATION OF MPMS-IQ Mr. Matthew Long, from PennDOT Central Office, gave a presentation on MPMS-IQ. Mr. Long stated that MPMS-IQ is a web-based Geographical Information System (GIS). It is an easy application to use to view information on all PennDOT projects past, present and proposed. This information can be sorted by PennDOT District, county, municipality or legislative district. Once the areas of interested are selected, a map will be displayed showing all of the projects. These can be further sorted into completed projects, those in design, those under construction, or those that are just proposed at this time. Clicking on the selected project will provide more detailed information about that specific project. The application will also provide information about state and local bridges as well as the pavement condition on state highways. Mr. Long stated that the information can be found on PennDOT s web site but that the easiest way to get to the location is just type MPMS-IQ into your web search. He noted that this information is very beneficial for municipal officials, legislators, planners and the general public. Mr. Piper noted that the legislative geography is the current district information and not the new districts. Mr. Long stated that the re-districting does not become official until January, 2015 and will be active on the site at that point. Ms. Hoag asked how long the projects will be on the site after the completion date. Mr. Long said the project information will be in the system forever. 7. UPDATE ON BARTA/RED ROSE TRANSIT MERGER - Resolution for Re-Designation of Recipient for the Reading Urbanized Area Mr. Kilmer stated that the BARTA and Red Rose Transit Authority Boards are very close to completing a merger of their two authorities. The proposal is still subject to approval by the County Commissioners of Berks and Lancaster Counties and the two authorities. 3
Mr. Kilmer stated that, in the event that the new authority is formed, it would need to be the designated recipient for federal funds for the Reading and Lancaster Urbanized areas. He referenced a resolution from the BARTA board requesting that RATS pass a resolution requesting the Governor to designate the new authority, to be named the South Central Transit Authority, as the designated recipient for Federal 5307 funds in the future. BARTA staff has prepared a draft resolution for consideration that has been reviewed and endorsed by the Federal Transit Administration and the authority s solicitor. It is his understanding that the Coordinating Committee meeting is not scheduled until November 20, 2014, which would be after the final decision would be made by Berks County Commissioners on November 13, 2014. A similar resolution will be passed by the Lancaster MPO regarding Red Rose Transit. funds. Passage of these resolutions is required for the new authority to receive federal MOTION: Mr. Piper made a motion, conditional on the Berks and Lancaster County Boards of Commissioners approving the creation of the new authority, to recommend passage of this resolution by the Coordinating Committee. Mr. Jones seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Mr. Green asked, if a merger would happen, what would happen with the TIP process. Would there be only one TIP? Mr. Kilmer stated that one of the things FTA mentioned that the two urbanized areas would have to continue to be treated separately. Any of the federal funds coming into each urbanized area must be spent within each urbanized area. There will be two separate TIPs and tracked accordingly. 8. UPDATE ON P-3 RAPID BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT Mr. Piper stated that the Secretary of Transportation announced that the decision was made to hire the firm called Plenary Walsh Keystone Partners to do the public/private partnership Rapid Bridge Replacement Project. It is to replace 558 bridges across the state. There are a number of different sub-contractors involved, which are listed on the handout. Mr. Piper stated that there are five bridges in Berks County included in this group. The bridges are located on SR 625 in Cumru Township, SR 1004 (Leesport Avenue) in Ontelaunee Township, SR 1006 (Crystal Cave Road) in Richmond Township, SR 1008 (Windsor Castle Road) in Windsor Township, and SR 3009 (Wyomissing Road) in Cumru Township. Mr. Piper stated that the project is divided into groups. There are two sets of bridges in northeastern and southwestern Pennsylvania listed as early action projects. Those bridges are scheduled to be constructed between FFY 2015-2016. The balance of the bridges falls in FFY 2016-2017. The Berks County bridges fall into this phase of the program. Mr. Piper stated that the goal was to find similar sized and designed bridges and use a standardized design, finish it quickly and save as much funding as possible on design and construction. 4
Chairman McGee stated that this is a whole different way of contracting. Final contact negotiations and executions will be worked on over the winter months. Once the official Notice to Proceed is given, the consortium will begin with construction and design, since the bridges are design/build. Only the early action projects have Right -of -Way and environmental clearance at this point. More rapid delivery will be seen. PennDOT and the whole contracting industry are moving that way. Mr. Piper stated that another aspect under Act 89 is that there is a provision building for local bridge bundling. There was an initial phase done as a test case in a few counties. The savings were 25-30% in design costs and 5-15% savings in construction costs for groups of similar size bridges. There are two Phase 2 areas where PennDOT is looking to expand this process to local bridges. Within the next two years, local bridge bundles will be started in District 6 (Philadelphia area) in 2015 and in District 11 (Pittsburgh area) in 2016. They are still waiting to see how much money is available and how broad they can go in the 3 rd and 4 th years (2017 & 2018). 9. UPDATE ON MULTI-MODAL TRANSPORTATION FUND PROGRAM Mr. Piper stated that another program that came out of Act 89 and was the creation within PennDOT of a multi-modal deputate and a special pot of funding known as the Multi-Modal Transportation Fund. Mr. Piper stated that there are actually two funding streams under the Multi-Modal program. One is handled through the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) through the Commonwealth Financing Association. These projects were announced earlier this year. The second funding stream runs through PennDOT. Last week, PennDOT announced the projects that were selected for the first and second rounds for SFY s 2015 and 2016. Because PennDOT announced two years worth of programs, there will not be a new round of applications under the Multi-Modal program through PennDOT until 2016 for the 2016-17 FFY. There will be a Multi-Modal fund solicitation through DCED in 2015. Mr. Piper stated that, within Berks County, there was only one project that was funded. Sinking Spring Borough received $783,805 to apply to its re-alignment of Penn Avenue, Columbia Avenue and Cacoosing Avenue in the borough. There is still a lot of coordination that needs to take place with this project. The borough s goal is to try to work with PennDOT to coordinate this work with the Penn Avenue-Wernersville to Rt. 724 Betterment Project. One of the areas that need to be worked on would include Right-of-Way, relocations and clearances. Mr. Piper was contacted by Mr. Ludgate, the Sinking Spring Borough engineer, and they are considering requesting funding assistance from the MPO to supplement this funding. Mr. Piper is going to suggest to him that he attend the next Coordinating Committee meeting to present this request. The $780,000 is roughly a third of funding requested for the Sinking Spring Borough project. 5
10. UPDATE ON ROUNDABOUT STUDY Mr. Piper stated that there is a certain amount of funding set up in Berks County and the Lehigh Valley to do a preliminary study on identifying potential locations suitable for roundabouts within each of the three counties. The effort is based on a similar study that was done in Lancaster County in 2012. Intersections were looked at across the county. Some things will be different from the study done in Lancaster County. They were looking at very low volume roads. Ultimately, roads that were not a very high priority for improvements within the municipalities ended up getting recommended. The scale of the roads being looked at will be higher in the Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties. Mr. Piper stated that the goal will be to look at intersections that have both safety and congestion issues and look at whether or not the application of a roundabout is a feasible alternative at that location. Inclusion in the study does not mean that the intersection will definitely become a roundabout. It narrows down the number of locations that are considered to be feasible alternatives. Mr. Piper stated that there is a fairly rapid turnaround on this study and it is being done at a very high level. If the project was selected, it would still need to go through the individual project development process. Within the next few weeks, the goal is for the consultants to collect traffic and accident data from the counties and come up with a preliminary list of locations, and then have meetings with county planning organizations and municipalities regarding potential improvements. The goal is to have this report done by spring of 2015. 11. REPORT ON MAJOR ISSUES FOR 2014 PENNDOT PLANNING PARTNERS MEETING Mr. Piper stated that the statewide Long Range Transportation Plan was discussed. It is nearing a draft and an element of that is the statewide Comprehensive Freight Study. The MPO should be receiving a draft copy of the Long Range Transportation Plan. The goal is to adopt the plan by early 2015. Mr. Piper stated that there is a lot of current and twenty-year projected freight data that will be made available to all of the MPO s across Pennsylvania through the Commodity Information Management System (CIMS). This can be incorporated into our MPO s Long Range Transportation Plan. Mr. Piper stated that another program talked about was the state s new Green Light Go Program, which is coming out of Act 89. It is allowing the state to partner with municipalities in maintenance of traffic signals. This is the first year of this program and only a limited number and type of projects are available during this calendar year. During the next calendar year and beyond, all of the eligible programs will be available. Mr. Piper explained a few different programs. There is a local grant program that goes to municipalities for signals on streets where the average daily traffic (ADT) is less than 10,000 vehicles. The signals that are included have to be pre-approved by the 6
Department. The local program requires a municipal application and a 50% match for the project. The municipality manages the project. Mr. Piper stated that, at a higher level, there are projects which fall under PennDOT Project Management for highways that have an ADT of over 10,000 vehicles. Municipalities make the application and there is a 50% match. The project is managed as a PennDOT project through the Electronic Contract Management System (ECMS). Mr. Piper stated that for the current program, applications are due by November l4, 2014. Applications will get distributed to both the District and the MPO for review and comments. A recommendation will be made on December 2, 2014. By December 31, 2014, an announcement will be made regarding which projects will receive first year funding. Because of the short time frame, municipalities should not try to get funding for a bigger project. Start the process now to apply for next year s funding for major projects. Mr. Piper said that most of the projects that are eligible for funding now are small and simple. Mr. Piper stated that the highest level program covers streets that have an ADT of over 25,000 vehicles. The goal of the program is that PennDOT will identify, evaluate, update and maintain the signals in those corridors with municipal approval. The reason this is a goal is because new legislation is needed to allow the state to manage municipal traffic signals. Their goal is to have that phase of this program operational in three years. Mr. Green stated that the Green Light Go Program award and match amounts must be shown on an approved TIP. Mr. Piper stated that, once the grants are done, action will be made to make a modification to the TIP showing new funds and sources. Mr. Golembiewski asked if this action would have air quality implications. Mr. Piper said initially, no, but in later years it might if there is major coordination of signals. Mr. Piper stated that PennDOT s Bureau of Public Transit is working on a capital planning tool that will help transit authorities manage their capital assets. Mr. Kilmer has been working on this is actually ahead of where the state is. He will be coordinating with PennDOT to bring the two programs together. When the UPWP was adopted this year, both Berks and Lancaster counties had a $50,000 special study that will be used by BARTA and Red Rose Transit to look at that for both systems. Mr. Kilmer stated that there was always a 25-year capital plan for all the various classes of assets. Mr. Piper stated that was carried in the Long Range Transportation Plan the last few times. Mr. Tomaszewski stated that there is an emphasis on cash flow with the new TIP s, so other projects can be started. Currently, all the construction funding needed for a project had to be obligated before construction starts. Chairman McGee stated that bigger projects will be seen and better financial constraints will be needed. Does it make sense to break them into smaller projects? Does it make more sense to let it as a big project knowing that it will be a six-year construction project? Why penalize a region by making them fund a six-year construction project out of one year s allocation? 7
12. COMMUTER SERVICES UPDATE Mr. Boyer stated that Try Transit Month was held in September. The final results are that 271 peopled logged their non-vehicular trips. The people are from 16 different counties with a total of 277,000 miles were logged. Mr. Boyer stated that Commuter Services continues to move forward with the Best Places for Commuter s recognition program. This program tries to identify businesses in every county that Commuter Services serve that would meet national criteria to be recognized by that program. Mr. Boyer stated that Commuter Services, County of Berks and the Chamber of Commerce continue to work on the issue of the downtown bridges. Mr. Boyer explained that Commuter Services is in the process of helping Lebanon Transit with a study for the northern half of Lebanon County. This will delve into Berks County at the Dollar General/Pet Smart area. There will also be some reference in the study about the fact that BARTA and Lebanon Transit does not service that area. Mr. Boyer stated that the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is still pending with NEPA for expansion into that area and he hopes to have information regarding service there shortly. Mr. Boyer stated that Commuter Services has an RFP out until tomorrow from market research. Commuter Services uses this for their CMAQ guidelines reporting their performance measures. He said there was a merger that went into effect in the past three weeks between URS and AECOM, which are two of the largest consulting firms in the United States. They are now one organization. It is not widely known that Commuter Services is run through URS. Mr. Piper did explain that Commuter Services is not run by URS/AECOM. It is run by the Susquehanna Regional Transportation Partnership (SRTP), which is a board composed of MPO s, transit authorities, and Chambers of Commerce who contracts URS/AECOM them to run it. The Reading MPO, BARTA, and Greater Reading Chamber of Commerce and Industry are represented on the SRTP Board. 13. PENNDOT UPDATE ON BRIDGE PROJECTS Chairman McGee gave an update on the bridge projects. (See attachments). Ms. Hoag asked if there is an exact date for to Buttonwood Street Bridge project. Mr. Piper stated that it is listed for let on January 29, 2015. Construction should begin 6-8 weeks after that. Mr. Piper asked for an explanation of the third bullet point regarding the Schuylkill Avenue over Norfolk Southern project. Ms. Hoag explained that the proposed sidewalk with the change in elevation become switchbacks. Parking areas are an issue, retaining walls in front of existing homes, there are already a few handicapped parking spaces exist is that area. Chairman McGee stated that there are a number of access issues with the requirement to meet 8