LANCASTER COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COORDINATING COMMITTEE MINUTES OF MEETING. Lancaster County Planning Commission

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1 LANCASTER COUNTY TRANSPORTATION COORDINATING COMMITTEE MINUTES OF MEETING DATE: June 24, 2013 TIME: 12:00 p.m. PLACE: 150 North Queen Street, 1 st Floor LCPC Meeting Rooms, Lancaster PA MEMBERS: Scott Martin (Chair) Board of County Commissioners Rick Gray (Vice Chair) Mayor, Sen. Lloyd Smucker State Senator Anita Dunn (Alternate) Representative Hickernell s Office Leo Lutz Ray D Agostino Dennis Groff Kathy Wasong James Reichenbach Jeff Funk David Kratzer Jr. David Zimmerman Jim Arey (Alternate) Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Central Office Dennis Sloand (Alternate) Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 8-0 Charlotte Katzenmoyer Sam Wilsker Constantine Mandros Karl Graybill Jeff Glisson (Alternate) Red Rose Transit Authority Roy Baldwin (Alternate) Lancaster County Transportation Authority Austin Beiler (Alternate) Lancaster Airport Authority GUESTS: Beth Raves Jennie Granger Leon Bixler Richard Robyak Stephen Flickenschild Scott Hershey Stacie Gibbs Sue Sterling Ned Sterling Kim Brewer Danelle Hunter Brad Webber Craig Schulz Steve Gault Shawn Loose Tim Beckwith Bernie Harris Frank Christophel IV (Alternate) Bob Shoemaker Pat Wolff Ted Anderson PennDOT PennDOT PennDOT Michael Baker Assocs. Michael Baker Assocs. Main Street Manager Amtrak Amtrak Amtrak Mount Joy Township ELA Group Commuter Services of PA Lancaster Newspapers LCAR Lancaster City Alliance

2 Wendy Sweigart Mike Reese LCPC STAFF: James Cowhey Dave Royer (Secretary) Lauri Ahlskog Harriet Parcells Gary Jones Latoya Westbrook-Thomas Executive Director Director for Transportation Planning Senior Transportation Planner Senior Transportation Planner Transportation Planner Administrative Secretary 1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Martin at 12:05 p.m. 2. Minutes of April 29, 2013 Meeting: Mr. Mandros made a motion to approve the April 29, 2013 meeting minutes as drafted. Mr. Reichenbach seconded the motion and it passed unanimously TIP Modifications: Mr. Sloand presented Highway amendments as follows: Norfolk Southern Grade Crossing at Diller Avenue in New Holland: The proposal is to add the construction phase to the TIP in FFY 2015 for $207,000. The crossing is a number one on the Federal Railroad Administration Public Highway-Rail Crossing Predicted List and will consist of installation of railroad warning devices. PA 896 Bridge Widening Project over Pequea Creek: The proposal is to add the final design, utility, right-of-way and construction phases of the project to the TIP in 2013 through The bridge falls within the limits of the PA 896 shoulder widening and resurfacing project, in which shoulders along PA 896 will widened to better accommodate buggy traffic between US 30 and Strasburg Borough. PA 283 and State Road Interchange Project: The proposal adds $500,000 to the 2014 TIP to install traffic signals at the ramp intersections with State Road. Mr. Sloand made a motion to approve the above highway TIP amendments as presented. Mr. Kratzer seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Mr. Sloand then gave summary of the Highway TIP administrative actions. Ms. Raves presented the Transit amendments as follows: Operating Assistance: RRTA is proposing to program $850,000 in federal 5307 funds to provide operating assistance in support of RRTA operations. AVL System Upgrade/Installation: RRTA is not planning to advance the AVL project at this time. Under MAP-21 the Section 5309 Program was replaced by the Section

3 Program and RRTA is planning to use the FFY 2013 funds apportioned to RRTA for the purchase of 1 hybrid bus. Purchase of 2 Hybrid Buses: MAP-21 established the Bus Facilities Program. Under this program, the Lancaster Region/RRTA was apportioned $537,845. RRTA is proposing to use funds towards the purchase of 2 hybrid buses. Mr. D Agostino made a motion to approve the transit TIP amendments as presented. Mr. Mandros seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Mr. Gray made a motion to remove the Mt. Joy Station funding increase from the table and bring it forward for discussion. Mr. Kratzer seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Ms. Granger, Executive Assistant to PennDOT Deputy Secretary Toby Fauver presented information to the Committee as background information and in support of the request to add $12.5 million additional construction funds to the TIP. The presentation included an overview of how the Mount Joy Station fits into the Keystone Corridor, a project summary including technical issues encountered and a cost estimate. The goal is to increase speeds to 125 mph or higher and reduce travel time. Ms. Granger added that the 12 stations on the corridor will be upgraded. The Commonwealth and Amtrak continue to work on the corridor to improve passenger experience by, decreasing travel time, improving stations, encouraging ridership growth, and building a strong transit culture to maximize the Commonwealth s investment. Phase 1 included a 30 year lease agreement for additional parking, parking-lot reconstruction and installation of a covered walkway and streetscape improvements to provide access for the station. Phase II consists of adding 130+ parking spaces; 500 foot long elevated passenger platforms, elevators and stair towers, slope stabilization and other incidental improvements. Ms. Granger stated that many have questioned the cost of the project, when ridership numbers at Mount Joy are relatively low in comparison to other stations. The Mount Joy Stations ridership has grown 77% since She stated this is a 100 year investment and ridership at this station is expected to increase. ADA is the basic cost driver and if ADA improvements are not made, the station may be forced to close. Currently, maintenance is a shared responsibility with Amtrak, however in October, PennDOT will be solely responsible including things like garbage removal, painting, etc. It was noted there will be a construction phase agreement with Amtrak, with all responsibilities spelled out. The duration of the project from start to finish will be three years. Construction will not be on going over the entire site for the entire project. Some night work will be required and this will be communicated with the Borough. Chairman Martin asked if PennDOT would consider creating a citizens advisory committee. Ms. Granger is in the process of setting up something similar to this, 3

4 and information will follow within the next few weeks. Mr. Reichenbach noted when the process first started he received a lot of feedback from the community. He thanked Ms. Granger for coming forward and providing information to the community. Mr. Lutz added this project wasn t a big issue until the cost doubled. He added we all have something to learn from this experience both sponsors and committee members. The recent field view was very helpful and these should occur more often with major TIP projects. Mayor Gray supports the rail service and suggested that perhaps the MPO should establish a short list of priorities on which to focus. Senator Smucker added we are very fortunate to have access to high speed rail and upgrades are very important. He noted it is unfortunate the cost of this project is so high but that It is very important to continue to make these kinds of upgrades. Sam Allen a Mount Joy business owner stated the Borough is very lucky to have an in-town station and its improvement will make the Borough/downtown unique. Mike Reese indicated that the station is very convenient and the new parking is great. Pat Wolff hoped that focus can be put on the environmental impacts of the station. Wendy Sweigart and Ted Anderson raised issues and concerns with receiving false information. Documentation was handed out at the meeting for the board to review. Mr. Groff noted that the TIP process needs work. Monies should not be spent before final construction costs are known. Mr. Hershey shared information with the committee regarding other investments made at other train stations and indicated many are around the same cost if not higher. Kim Brewer commented that she understands that everyone has their own opinion about the project and the community is frustrated. Chairman Martin indicated this project has been in the works for a long time. He noted that we and PennDOT need to work very closely with those who are impacted. There are no plans to add other stations in Lancaster County - and we need to improve those that we have. He thanked the community for being present at the meeting. Chairman Martin reminded the committee that they have already approved $15 million on the TIP for this project. A motion is needed to approve an additional $12.5 million dollars of funding on the TIP to complete it. 4

5 Mr. Mandros made a motion to approve the additional $12.5 million. Mr. Funk seconded the motion and it passed with Mr. Zimmerman, Ms. Katzenmoyer, Ms. Wasong and Mr. Groff voting No. 4. Smart Growth Transportation & Transportation Alternatives Program Update Mr. D Agostino noted there was a Smart Growth Transportation Task Force meeting held on June 24 th to review the Notices of Intent. A brief summary was presented at the meeting. Mr. D agostino noted there were 13 Notices of Intent received from 11 different municipalities with a total funding request of $7.65 million. Application forms will be forwarded to sponsors on July 1 st and are due back on August 15 th. In September the task force will interview the applicants. Funding recommendations will be brought forward in the fall. 5. CMP Corridor & Intersection Delay Analysis Summary: A summary of the analysis was presented at the meeting by Mr. Royer. The analysis summary is of the congestion management network corridors and intersections using TomTom average speed data ( ). The corridors were than ranked, with Centerville Road being the worst in terms of delay per mile. The intersections were ranked by PM delay (average delay per vehicle). Also the summary shows the intersection levels of service for those at LOS D, E or F. These analyses and data will be used in the development of our biennial Congestion Management Process report (early 2014). Chairman Martin asked how many of the worst corridors/intersections are currently on the TIP or LRTP. Mr. Royer noted that the top five on each list have either been improved recently of are on the TIP for improvement. 6. Updates and Announcements: Major Projects: Mr. Sloand reported on the following: PA 324 Safety Improvement project in Martic Twp. the notice to proceed was given April 15 th for this $1.5 million construction project. Utilities have been relocated and drainage is currently being worked on. US 222 at Millwood Road Safety Improvement in West Lampeter Twp. - this intersection safety project is complete. Eby Chiques Amtrak Bridge the notice to proceed was given last fall and the expected completion date is October 31 st. Harvest Drive and Irishtown Road Amtrak crossing closure - started on March 12 th with completion expected in July. Amtrak: Danelle Hunter briefly reported on the Lancaster Amtrak Station. Lobar construction is currently on site that is making plaster/painting repairs to the main concourse. Amtrak workers have been working on the concourse bridge. Three of the six clocks donated from Brent Miller Jewelers have been installed; the remaining three will be installed once the plaster and painting repairs are completed. Amtrak recently signed a letter of understanding for assistance in finding retail tenants. 5

6 Transit: No report Transportation Authority: Mr. Baldwin reported the Authority continues to work on the signal coordination projects. Bike/Pedestrian Advisory Committee: No report Commuter Services of PA: Mr. Beckwith reported CS just wrapped up Earth Day and had 272 participants log over 53,000 miles. Bike to Work Week in May had 90 participants who logged over 2,700 miles. The Dump the Pump promotion is scheduled for later in June. MPO Committee Plan: Mr. Cowhey noted the study review committee met on June 13 th and that committee members will be asked to complete surveys in the near future. 9. Other Business & Public Participation: None 10. Adjournment: 2:15 p.m. Next Meeting: September 23,