WCCTAC
West Contra Costa
Transportation Advisory Committee
Minutes
The regular meeting of the West Contra Costa
Transportation Advisory Committee was called to order at 7:37 a.m. by Chair
Brown in the City Council Chambers of the City of
1. Call to Order and Self Introductions
PRESENT: Sharon
Brown, Chair (
STAFF: Linda
Young, WCCTAC Transportation Project Specialist
John Rudolph, WCCTAC Management Assistant
Nancy Cuneo, WCCTAC Administrative Analyst
Hisham Noeimi, CCTA Staff
Bryan
Otake, WCCTAC General Counsel
2. Public Comment
Peter Loubal,
On motion by Janet Abelson, seconded by Joe
Wallace and carried unanimously, the Board approved the Consent Calendar as
follows:
3. Minutes, Sign-In Sheet, and Meeting Summary
from the July 28, 2006 Meeting
4. Employee Staff Reports from the Managing Director,
the Management Assistant, and the Transportation Project Specialist for July
2006
5. Received Transportation for Livable Communities call
for projects and application.
6. Approved funding for the El Cerrito/Richmond
specific plan for
7. Received future agenda items.
Regular Calendar
8. Board
Member Comments and Announcements: Joe Wallace announced AC Transit now has
WIFI on their Transbay fleet.
Bob Franklin stated BART and AC
Transit will hold a joint meeting September 14th at 2:00 pm in the
BART Boardroom.
9. 511
Contra Costa Annual Report
Linda Young stated, for the
past 8 years, WCCTAC has prepared and produced the Annual Report booklet. Although a useful tool, the cost to produce
and print the booklet as well as the staff time has become a burden. Staff is looking for a way to provide the
information to WCCTAC and the County that is more consolidated. Staff will continue to provide information on
the county-wide programs, but will gear the information more towards west
county and the services provided in this area.
Linda reviewed the PowerPoint presentation to the Board. She requested a recommendation to produce the
WCCTAC brochure and the Annual Report.
On motion by Irma Anderson,
seconded by Joe Wallace and carried unanimously, the Board directed staff to
continue to provide information for the Annual Report but research lower
production costs; and directed staff to move forward with the WCCTAC brochure.
10.
Measure J Strategic Plan and the Subregional
Transportation Mitigation Fee Program (STMP) Strategic Plan
John Rudolph presented the
Board with the draft document the Technical Committee has been studying for the
last couple of months. He stated staff
would request a recommendation on priorities at the September meeting. Chair Brown encouraged all members to talk
with their city staff and bring any concerns to the next TAC meeting on
September 14th prior to any recommendations being made.
Gerald Parsons stated the
I-80 interchanges are not in the draft and encouraged staff to review before
prioritizing any of the projects.
11.
State Infrastructure Bond for Transportation
Projects
Michael
Bernick reported that in the thirty years he has been involved in
transportation issues, agencies are seeing the largest influx of transportation
funding ever. This is a great
opportunity to move projects forward, and to consider new approaches to
mobility, especially in a built-out corridor.
The current 19.75 billion dollar transportation bond campaign is gearing
up. The polling looks good, however,
there is much activity going on behind the scenes. Lisa Hammon has been participating in the
Corridor Mobility Improvement Account Work Group and this group is developing
criteria to be used for the program as well as for performance measures. The state bond does not identify specific
projects, only the guidelines. Lisa is
also working with the UC Berkeley ITS Program on new technologies to reduce
congestion in a built-out corridor.
The
CCTA has made it clear that they want projects ready to go in anticipation of
the bond passing. The schedule is to
have the guidelines completed by December 1st, with a call for
projects. Both the Hercules Train
Station and the
Mr.
Bernick stated the High Speed Rail has not been placed on the backburner; he
expects the issue to be on the 2008 Ballot, and planning continues.
John Rudolph stated that
there will be a workshop co-hosted by WCCTAC at CCIT on August 29th,
and asked that interested parties RSVP.
12. Presentation
on High Occupancy/Toll (HOT) Lanes
Lisa Klein from MTC presented
information on HOT Lanes and distributed copies of a PowerPoint
presentation. She gave a detailed
summary of the use of HOT Lanes, as well as the technologies used in different
locations for the HOT Lanes already established. The Transportation 2030 Plan proposes a
regional network for more efficient use of freeway capacity. HOT Lanes will offer travelers, “congestion
insurance” with pilot projects in
Janet Abelson asked if the
studies have addressed the impact of the HOT Lanes on carpool lanes. Miss Klein responded that the results are
varied, but in general, an impact on the carpool lanes has not been shown. A more detailed study would provide better
information on such a relationship.
Miss Klein stated the first
project will be on Interstate 680 on the Sunol Grade. The Joint Powers Authority is governing the
project, and the HOT Lane will convert an existing southbound lane scheduled
for 2010. There will be no solid barrier,
and three entrances and exits are to be constructed. She stated the Transportation 2030 Plan will
look at the network concept as a whole, the revenue and costs, hours of
operation, eligibility rules, enforcement, and how bus riders and carpoolers
would benefit from the new program. The
second phase will be a more detailed analysis of the projected demand revenue
and costs.
Ed Balico asked how
Interstate 80 and the
The
Chair thanked Ms. Klein for her report.
13.
Correspondence/Other Information:
Incoming:
Report on the Olson Project at Del Norte by Peter
Loubal, 6.30.06.
Memo from Citizens Advisory Committee to CCTA
re:
Outgoing:
To Juan Ortellado at BAAQMD re: Letter of Support for
To Jennifer Carman, City of
Newspaper/Internet
Articles (all articles from
“Vote to settle Debate Over Urban Limit;” 7.26.06.
“Are we Really Sparing the Air?” 7.27.07.
“Putting Region’s Vision Into Focus;” 7.27.07.
“BART Trustees Told to Prepare for Major Long-Term
Cash Shortfall;” 7.28.06.
“Developer Wants to Add Housing at BART Station;”
7.28.06.
“Poll Shows Public Supports Transportation Bond
Measure;” 7.28.06.
“Free Ride on BART Brings Together Variety of
Commuters;” 7.29.06.
“Finally, an Urban Limit Line Measure;” 7.30.06.
“Does Spare the Air Program Really Work?” 8.1.06.
“Telecommuting Intrigues Workers;” 8.2.06.
“Americans’ Love Affair With Cars Starts to Skid;”
8.2.06.
Letters to the Editor; 8.6.06.
“Hybrid Slots for Carpool Near Cap;” 8.6.06.
“Rideshare Perks Extended;” 8.6.06.
“Poll Shows High Gas Prices Causing Drivers to Hit
Brakes;” 8.9.06.
“Lanes on
Articles:
“Building a Boulevard;” by Elizabeth Macdonald,
ACCESS, Spring 2006.
Conferences:
Infrastructure: A Regional Challenge;
September 24 to 26 in
6th Annual New Partners for
Smart Growth; February 8 to 10 in
14. Other Business