H-GAC TAC

Meeting notes - June 17, 2009

Steve Hawley, Jun 17, 09.

Tagged with recovery plan, hgac, meeting notes, safety, university of houston, livable centers, texas legislature

H-GAC Technical Advisory Committee
June 17, 2009, 9:30 am

Houston Tomorrow publishes notes from public meetings to help local governments in their mission to provide transparency and to allow a greater pool of Houstonians to participate in important policy discussions. These notes are not official meeting minutes, nor do they record every agenda item.

The Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) approved the Liberty County Transit Plan on Wednesday and heard presentations regarding state legislation, air quality conformity, stimulus projects, traffic safety, livable centers, and the University of Houston Transportation Plan. The draft 2010-2011 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), which was initially scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, has been postponed until the next meeting on July 15.

TAC agenda, June 17, 2009

Introductions
Dr. Carol Lewis, director of the Center for Transportation Training and Research at Texas Southern University (TSU), introduced about 15 high school students who were observing TAC as part of the 2009 Houston National Summer Transportation Institute. The four-week program is designed to get high school students involved in transportation-related careers and is sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration and administered by the Texas Department of Transportation. In 2009, the program expanded to Texas City and Beaumont, and in 2010 organizers hope to extend it all the way to Corpus Christi.

Liberty County Transit Plan
Kari Hackett of H-GAC gave a presentation about the Liberty County Transit Plan, which he said would help the county obtain federal funding in the future. Hackett said that the county has had to delay a number of projects in recent years due to reduced state funding. The major transit providers in Liberty County are the Brazos Transit District and several senior centers.

The plan recommended a number of short-term (1-2 years), mid-term (3-5 years), and long-term (over 5 years) recommendations for the county. The short-term recommendations include implementing a countywide demand-response (dial-a-ride) system, starting a park and ride service connecting Dayton to downtown Houston, and continuing a transit pilot project for medical trips. The mid-term recommendations include park and ride feasibility assessments—one in Cleveland and one in Dayton—and the long-term recommendation is to study a possible intermodal transfer center near IH-10 and State Highway 146.

TAC unanimously approved the Liberty County Transit Plan, and it goes to the Transportation Policy Council and the Liberty County Commissioners Court later this month.

Legislative Update
Allen Richey of H-GAC provided a brief overview of transportation-related legislation, although he said the legislature failed to meet many of its goals, including passage of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Sunset Bill. The primary reason for its failure, he said, was the controversial local-option gas tax, which some lawmakers refused to support and others insisted on including.

Richey said the legislature passed 10 safety-related bills, the most prominent of which was the Safe Passing Act, establishing minimum passing distances between cars and pedestrians, bicyclists, and other vulnerable road users.

Conformity Update

Dr. Graciela Lubertino of H-GAC briefly described several changes to the air quality conformity plan, which was last approved by the Transportation Policy Council (TPC) in June 2008. The conformity plan predicts a decrease of nitrous oxide (NOx) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and an increase in vehicle miles traveled (VMT). NOx emissions are expected to drop from 154.93 tons per day in 2009 to 43.05 tons per day in 2035, while VOC emissions are projected to fall from 79.02 tons per day currently to 50.95 tons per day in 2035. Over the same time period, VMT is expected to increase from 147 million miles to 260 million miles, an increase of 77 percent. One TAC member noted that the VMT estimate had increased in the last year, and Lubertino said that was due to an increase in the seasonal adjustment factor.

Lubertino said that a 30-day public comment period regarding the updated conformity plan would begin in late June, although the exact date had not been set, and that Federal Highway Administration approval was expected as early as the end of July.

Maintenance Projects Funded by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Alan Clark of H-GAC said that H-GAC staff are working with TPC officers to determine selection criteria for maintenance projects to be added to the contingency list of stimulus projects. He said that H-GAC expected a call for projects to be ready by the end of the month, and that the response deadline would probably be around September 1.

Clark said that most of the contract bids so far are significantly less than expected, meaning that there is a high likelihood that some contingency projects will receive stimulus money. However, he said that larger projects are unlikely to be underbid, because fewer companies can handle complex projects and the contracts are not as competitive as a result. At the last TPC meeting, Chairman James Patterson said that all of the original contingency projects will receive priority over any new maintenance projects.

State of Safety Report

Jeff Kaufman of H-GAC discussed the latest annual traffic safety report. He noted that overall, crashes in the region had decreased 11.4 percent between 2003 and 2007, and that 2008 data should become available in August. He attributed this to several different initiatives, including teen driver education, red light cameras, and “no refusal” nights and weekends, in which a judge stay up all night to provide blood search warrants in case DWI suspects try to refuse testing.

Between 2003 and 2007, fatalities decreased by 16 percent and injuries dropped over 25 percent. The number of unbelted drivers decreased by more than 50 percent over that period. The per capita crash rate has also fallen, but it remains higher than the statewide average. Kaufman said that more traffic accidents occur on Fridays than any other day, and the least number of accidents happen on Sundays. He also said that rush hour is the prime time for accidents, with the exception of late-night DWI crashes.

Livable Centers Study

Jeff Taebel of H-GAC discussed the Greater East End Management District Livable Centers study. The study area is adjacent to downtown on the east side at what Taebel called a “tremendous confluence” of future activity. The area is expected to see two light rail lines—the Southeast and East End lines—as well as a new soccer stadium for the Houston Dynamo. The study was the first completed under the H-GAC Livable Centers Program.

Unlike some urban redevelopment projects across the country, Taebel said that most of the redeveloped land in the East End would be underutilized industrial space, meaning that the new projects would not displace affordable housing. The next stage, he said, is to develop specific projects that would be eligible for inclusion in the Transportation Improvement Program.

Diane Schenke of the East End Management District also spoke and said that the Livable Centers study included three public meeting and had generated strong support from local communities and elected officials.

Presentation on University of Houston (U of H) Campus Transportation Plan

John Walsh, Director of Real Estate and Planning at U of H, said that transportation is key to achieving Tier 1 status. The main campus is expected to grow from 36,000 students to 45,000 students by 2020, and many of those students are commuters. By then, local vehicle traffic will have increased from 125,000 vehicles per day to 160,000 per day, creating gridlock at several locations.

Walsh said that U of H wants to manage the traffic rather than trying to build its way out. The university wants to shift I-45 access to the underutilized Spur 5 and rely on transit for 10 percent of all trips. In addition, the university will convert many of its parking lots to parking garages, freeing up more land on campus for development. The university also hopes to extend Spur 5 all the way to the 610 Loop, as well as extending Wheeler to Old Spanish Trail and the planned university business park just east of campus.

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