TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Draft 2004-2010 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program
DATE: January 27, 2003
This memorandum reviews the Draft Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program (Attachment 1) and offers recommendations for comments to the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee. We are at the point at which the Transportation Advisory Committee must prepare a Draft Transportation Improvement Program in preparation for negotiations with the State over the final Program.
The attached resolution would identify the Town’s transportation priorities and recommend funding options.
The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee has initiated the process for developing the 2004-2010 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program. The attached diagram (Attachment 2) illustrates the process for the development of the Transportation Improvement Program.
In October, 2001 the Transportation Advisory Committee requested that local jurisdictions prepare transportation priority lists for use in the development of a Metropolitan Transportation Priority List. The Council approved a Chapel Hill Priority List November 12, 2001 (Attachment 3).
The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee released a draft Metropolitan Regional Priority List in January, 2002. The Council reviewed the draft List and provided comments to the Transportation Advisory Committee in February, 2002 (Attachment 4). The Transportation Advisory Committee revised and adopted the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Regional Priority List in March, 2002. A copy of the Priority List is included in Attachment 1.
The Regional Priority List was submitted to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for use in the development of the Draft State Transportation Improvement Program. The North Carolina Department of Transportation released a Draft State Transportation Improvement Program in June, 2002.
The Transportation Advisory Committee released the Draft Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program on December 18, 2002. The Committee also opened a public comment period until January 31, 2003. The Committee is expected to act on a Draft Transportation Improvement Program on February 11, 2003.
On February 11, 2003,the Transportation Advisory Committee will prepare a list of issues that representatives of the Committee will raise with representatives of the North Carolina Department of Transportation. These negotiations are intended to resolve differences between the State and Urban Area over elements of the 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program. Negotiations with the State are expected to begin by the end of February.
KEY ISSUES
The Transportation Advisory Committee has used the Draft State Transportation Improvement Program as the basis for the development of the Draft Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program. The only change made to the State Program has been the modification of proposed funding for the Durham Parkway and East End Connector projects in Durham County. These changes are consistent with the agreement reached on implementation of elements of the recently approved 2025 Regional Transportation Plan.
We summarize below several key issues related to the Draft 2004-2010 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program. We recommend that the Council request that these issues be raised by representatives of the Transportation Advisory Committee during their negotiations with the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Since the development of the Town’s Transportation Project Priority List in November, 2001, our assessment of transportation needs has changed and we present revised recommendations below.
Since the adoption of the Chapel Hill Priority List in November, 2001 we have identified two new transit projects.
Bus Purchase: In January 2002,the Council initiated fare free transit service and increased transit service on several existing routes. At the same time transit service was extended to new park ride facilities in Carrboro and at the Friday Center. The impact of these service changes has resulted in an approximately 40% increase in ridership. To provide these additional services and respond to the increased ridership we had to purchase 13 new buses and retain 13 buses that originally had been scheduled for retirement and sale.
A careful maintenance program has allowed us to extend the service life of the 13 vehicles originally scheduled for retirement. Although these vehicles can still be operated they require a higher level of maintenance to keep them in service. Maintenance costs are expected to increase and service reliability to decrease as the buses continue in service. We believe it is important to replace these vehicles as soon as possible. We estimate the cost of the 13 buses to be approximately $3.7 million.
Transit Facility Development: In late November, 2001 the University confirmed that it would not renew the lease for the Chapel Hill Transit facility on the Horace Williams property. Although we have purchased a site to relocate the maintenance facility we have not yet secured funding for construction of the new facility, having a preliminary estimated cost of about $15 million. The Town must vacate and demolish the existing maintenance facility by the end of 2006.
Funding
Both of the bus purchase and the facility development projects have been included in the unfunded section of the Draft 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program.
Funding for these transit projects could be secured from several sources. One option is to request that these projects be earmarked in the federal transportation budget. Projects proposed for earmarking must compete with similar projects from around the country. We understand that for large project, such as the maintenance facility, smaller requests over several years should be pursued. We are working with a staff representative from Congressman David Price’s office and understand that the process to seek inclusion of the projects in the federal transportation budget may be initiated in February, 2003.
A second option is to request that the projects be included in the North Carolina statewide discretionary transit request. The North Carolina Department of Transportation requests all transit operators in the State to submit their transit capital projects for inclusion in a single request for federal funding. Although State capital requests have received funding in the past, the amount has been much less than the total requested. Last year the State received approximately $6 million.
Another funding option would be to reallocate funding from existing highway projects in the Transportation Improvement Program. The bulk of federal funding for transportation comes from the Surface Transportation Program. These funds may be used for any transportation project, including public transit capital.
Recommendation: We believe that it will be necessary to pursue funding from all three sources to purchase the 13 buses and construct the new maintenance facility. Funding for those projects currently included in the Transportation Improvement Program, listed in the table below, could be reprogrammed to provide funding for the transit projects.
Chapel Hill Signal System Upgrade
After the adoption of the Chapel Hill Transportation Priority List in November, 2001 we identified significant deficiencies in the Town’s existing traffic signal system, which serves both Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Elements of the signal system, particularly the ability to coordinate the signals in an efficient manner, have deteriorated and require upgrading with fiber optic technology.
On February 11, 2002 the Council requested that this project be given higher priority in the Draft Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Regional Transportation Priority List, (Attachment 3) and the Transportation Advisory Committee included it in the final Priority List as regional priority #9. (Attachment 1, page 40) We note that the first step in pursuing projects of this type would be to complete a feasibility study, which would determine the final scope of work and projected cost.
Recommendation: We recommend that funding for a feasibility study and the signal system upgrade project be included in the 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program. The preliminary amount budgeted for the signal system upgrade could be based on the cost of similar projects in other communities in the State and could be revised upon completion of the feasibility study.
The table below provides a summary of the status of Chapel Hill projects in the proposed Draft State 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program.
|
Project |
Comparison of the Adopted 2002-2008 TIP and Draft 2004-2010 State TIP |
Proposed Schedule Draft 2004-2010 TIP |
Proposed Project Budget |
|
South Columbia |
No Change |
ROW-2003 Construction-2005 |
$2.85 million |
|
Homestead Road |
Construction delayed one year to 2005 |
ROW-2003 Construction-2005 |
$6.9 million |
|
Estes Drive Extension |
Right-of-Way moved to post year |
ROW-post year Construction-post year |
$5.6 million, post year |
|
Weaver Dairy Road |
Right of way and construction delayed one year |
ROW-2004/2005 Construction-2006-2007 |
$10.7 million |
|
US 15-501 Erwin Road intersection-Superstreet |
Right of way and construction delayed one year |
ROW-2003 Construction –2004 |
$2.0 million |
|
Seawell School Road Bicycle Facilities
|
New project, proposed for Feasibility Study |
Not Specified |
No funding included |
With the exception of the South Columbia Street bicycle and pedestrian facilities project, all previously programmed Chapel Hill projects are recommended for delay. We note that three projects, South Columbia, Erwin Road/US 15-501 Intersection Superstreet and Homestead Road, are currently programmed for right of way purchase in FY2003 (which began on October 1, 2002 and ends on September 30, 2003). It is our understanding that the State has not initiated right of way purchase for any of these projects.
The State Draft 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program recommends removing the Estes Drive Extension project, which had been allocated $1.5 million for right of way purchase in the 2002-2008 Transportation Improvement Program. We note that approximately $1.6 million in new funding has been proposed for the Elizabeth Brady Road project, in Hillsborough, in FY 2009. The Estes Drive project was the #2 in the Regional Priority List while the Elizabeth Brady Road project was priority #10.
Erwin Road/US 15-501 and South Columbia Street Projects: While some of the proposed delays in project schedules in the draft State Program may be justified, we believe that the right of way purchase for several projects, including Erwin Road/US 15-501 Intersection and South Columbia Street could be completed in FY2003. There has been no agreement on the design of the Homestead Road project and right of way purchase for that project will probably not be possible by the end of FY2003 (September 30, 2002).
The design of both the Erwin/US 15-501 Intersection project and the South Columbia project has been completed and right of way purchase should proceed before the end of the fiscal year. If the right of way for these projects is not purchased in FY2003 not only will the projects be delayed, but the State Transportation Equity Formula, which governs the distribution of funds within the State, would count those funds against Orange County again in the new 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program. Those funds had previously been counted as part of the Orange County total in the 2002-2008 Transportation Improvement Program.
Weaver Dairy Road Project: We note that the Draft Transportation Improvement Program includes the original scope for the Weaver Dairy Road project. The North Carolina Department of Transportation is reviewing the Town’s proposed scope for the Weaver Dairy project, which includes a three lane cross-section. We believe the 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program should include the revised cross-section and include a revised cost estimate. Those funds not necessary to complete the Weaver Dairy Project as a three lane cross section could be reallocated to projects listed below.
Greenways
While the Draft 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program includes a feasibility study for Seawell School Road Bicycle Facilities it does not include any greenways construction funding from the State Bicycle and Pedestrian Program. Both the Parks and Recreation Commission and Greenways Commission have recommended that the Town request funding for greenways projects.
Recommendation: We recommend that the Council identify the following projects as the Town’s top transportation priorities for funding.
· Purchase of 13 transit buses ($3.7 million)
· Construction of new transit maintenance facility ($15 million)
· Feasibility Study and funding for Town signal system upgrade (cost to be determined).
Funding could be reallocated from existing projects in the Transportation Improvement Program or from an increase in overall funding for in the 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program.
Although Orange County is part of the federally delineated Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban area, it has been included in Highway Division 7 for purposes of administering the allocation of federal and State transportation funding as part of the State Transportation Allocation Formula. North Carolina is made up of 7 highway districts, each of which is made up of two divisions. Division 7 is composed of Guilford, Orange, Alamance, Caswell, and Rockingham County.
Attachment 5 summarizes the funding for each County in Division 7. The first table compares total transportation funding for each county in Division 7 on a per capita basis. This comparison shows both federal and State roadway funding, including Highway Trust Funds. The draft State Transportation Improvement Program would provide $.70 per capita in funding to Orange County, below the Division average of $1.58 and all other counties except Alamance. The second set of tables shows the same comparison but removes the Highway Trust Funds. In this comparison the average per capita spending for the Division is reduced to $.99 and Orange County is still at $.70.
Recommendation: We believe it would be reasonable to seek a larger proportion of funding in the Transportation Improvement Program, using the average per capita revenue as a goal.
A source of funding for non highway transportation projects is the Surface Transportation Program Direct Allocation Program, which is part of the Transportation Improvement Program. These funds are allocated directly to all Urban Areas over 200,000 in population. The Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area was the first Urban Area in North Carolina to take the initiative to program these funds. Chapel Hill has received Direct Allocation funding for a variety of projects, including the purchase of transit vehicles, construction of park ride facilities and sidewalk construction. The Town also has utilized Direct Allocation funds for transportation planning studies, such as the 2001 Mobility Report Card.
The table on page 32 of Attachment 1 is the adopted Direct Allocation program, which includes a list of projects programmed for funding beginning in FY2004. This program was developed using estimates of future revenue provided by the North Carolina Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration. Within the last month, the Urban Area has been notified that revenue allocation for FY2003 have been revised. Although the total Direct Allocation Program funding has remained unchanged, the 2000 census has added three Urban Areas over 200,000 in population and eligible for funding. Rather than $3.1 million the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area will receive approximately $1.88 million in FY2003. This reduction in funding is anticipated to continue in the 2004-2010 period.
Attachment 6 is the Direct Allocation Program, as adopted, with the revised revenue estimates.
When the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area assumed responsibility for managing the Direct Allocation Program in the early 1990’s the Transportation Advisory Committee directed staff to fund transportation projects that had traditionally not been adequately funded by the North Carolina Department of Transportation. Those projects included public transit, bicycle and pedestrian capital improvements.
One use of the Direct Allocation Program has been to provide funding for sidewalk and bicycle features of larger roadway expansion projects. Recently the federal Highway Administration released guidance on the design of federally funded transportation facilities. That guidance directs that bicycle and pedestrian facilities should be part of the overall design of all federally funded projects. The Transportation Advisory Committee has requested that the North Carolina Department of Transportation implement the federal policy. Implementation of this policy by the State could make available additional Direct Allocation funds.
Recommendation: We recommend that Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area refocus the expenditure of the Direct Allocation Program towards transit, bicycle and pedestrian projects. In particular, we recommend that additional funding should be provided for the Urban Area sidewalk construction program beginning in FY2003 and for an update to the Town’s Mobility Report Card in FY2004 and FY2007.
NEXT STEPS
The public comment period on the 2004-2010 Draft Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Plan will end on January 31, 2003. Regional staff will collect the comments and provide the Transportation Advisory Committee with a recommended list of issues on February 12, 2003 in Durham. At that time we anticipate the Committee will approve a set of issues to be raised in the negotiations between the Urban Area and the North Carolina Department of Transportation which are expected to occur in late February, 2003.
A final Draft 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program is scheduled to be presented to the Transportation Advisory Committee on March 26, 2003 and the Committee is expected to approve the final Metropolitan Program in April, 2003. The final North Carolina 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program, which will incorporate the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Urban Area Program, will be approved by the State Board of Transportation in June, 2003.
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Transportation Board Recommendation: (Attachment 7) The Transportation Board voted
6-0 to recommend the following:
Comment: We believe the Transportation Board’s concerns are incorporated into Manager’s Recommendation.
Planning Board Recommendation: (Attachment 8) The Planning Board voted 10-0 to recommend the following:
Parks and Recreation Commission Recommendation: (Attachment 9) The Commission voted 9-0 to recommend the following:
Comment: We have included a request for additional greenways funding in the Manager’s Recommendation
Greenways Commission: (Attachment 10) The Greenways Commission voted 5-0 to provide the following recommendation:
Comment: We have included a request for additional greenways funding in the Manager’s Recommendation.
Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board: The Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board will not be able to review the Draft Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program prior to the Council’s January 27, 2003 meeting. The Board has been asked to provide individual comments for transmittal to the Council prior to January 27, 2003. A summary of the Board members’ comments will be provided to the Council prior to its January 27th meeting.
Manager’s Recommendation: We recommend that the Council adopt the attached resolution providing the Transportation Advisory Committee with the following recommendations:
ATTACHMENTS
Comments from Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Board
A RESOLUTION PROVIDING THE DURHAM-CHAPEL HILL-CARRBORO TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE WITH RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REVISING THE DRAFT 2004-2010 METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (2003-01-27/R-13)
WHEREAS, the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee has released a draft 2004-2010 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program; and
WHEREAS, the Transportation Advisory Committee has request public comment on the draft Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program; and
WHEREAS, the Town Council has reviewed the draft Program;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Council recommends that the draft 2004-2010 Transportation Improvement Program be revised to include the following:
This the 27th day of January, 2003.