Agenda - 05-08-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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6 1 move a project up. He said an interchange cannot be done without doing a full widening of I- 2 85. He said if you can keep it in a 10 year Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) you are 3 better off than if it is pushed out 15-20 years. 4 Chair Jacobs said he thinks that the new formula and the focus on regional projects 5 indicates the interstates in Orange County may be addressed more quickly. 6 Commissioner Gordon said her understanding is that the prioritization 3.0 scoring 7 formula puts interstates in a higher tier and makes this project more likely to receive favorable 8 consideration. 9 Kathleen Ferguson asked what can be done to increase prioritization. 10 Craig Benedict said each year Orange County and other jurisdictions put in their priority 11 list. He said this is pulled together, and the priorities have to be co-mingled. He said the DOT 12 then looks at the list and considers their regional priorities. He agrees that interstates could 13 move up in importance. He said it is important to vie to keep it high in the MPO priority list. 14 Margaret Hauth said staff has gone through the submission of local priorities and are 15 now waiting on the DOT to score it. She said that the last step is for the County and Town to 16 lobby for as many points as possible to be put on Interstate 85. 17 Kathleen Ferguson asked if there was anything else. 18 Margaret Hauth said that is the only step left to be done. 19 Commissioner McKee said the more aligned the affected governmental entities are, the 20 better the chance of getting the project approved. 21 Commissioner Price said she thinks, based on the TARPO meetings, that because 1-85 22 connects the economic development areas, this will be prioritized at the state level. She asked 23 about the status of the bridge. 24 Craig Benedict said the bridge on new 86 would be widened as part of the project. He 25 said the one on Churton Street would be a completely new bridge. 26 Margaret Hauth said these will both be new bridges, in part because there are widening 27 projects for both 86 and South Churton Street that are waiting for 1-85 to be widened in order to 28 properly configure the interchanges. 29 Craig Benedict said the points system is not just internal to the MPO. He said the 30 projects rated in the MPO have to vie against other MPO's. He said there is competition for 31 money to come to division 7. He said the re-negotiation will be an important step, and 32 decisions may have to be made about where to put the chips in the MPO. 33 34 2. Transit 35 a) Update on Orange County Bus and Rail Investment Plan (OCBRIP) 36 Implementation 37 Craig Benedict noted that Eric Langfried was in attendance from Triangle Transit. 38 Craig Benedict said the Orange County Bus and Rail Investment Plan (OCBRIP) was 39 approved by the BOCC in June 2012 and in November 2012 voters approved a one-half cent 40 sales tax to implement the program. He said this plan addresses a variety of transportation 41 modes including: the Amtrak station; the bus rapid transit along the Martin Luther King corridor; 42 the light rail project; as well as the additional bus service hours, which is the focus tonight. He 43 said the bus service hours will be available to three bus providers: Orange Public 44 Transportation (OPT), Triangle Transit Authority (TTA), and Chapel Hill Transit. He said the 45 monies are now becoming available from the half cent sales tax and the $7 vehicle tag fee. He 46 said there will be another $3 regional tag fee by the first part of next year. 47 He said the amount of hours available for new service over the next 4 years will be 48 about 30,000 hours. He said Chapel Hill runs about 200,000 hours per year, and OPT runs 49 about 20,000 hours per year, including the demand response service and the Hillsborough 50 circulator. He said of those 30,000 hours; 64 percent of the funding goes to Chapel Hill; 24