CENTRE COUNTY METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION 2643 Gateway Drive, State College, PA 16801 Phone: 814-231-3050
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Centre AGENDA 1.
Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance 2.
Appointment of a Secretary 3.
Approval of Minutes:
July
16, 2008 Coordinating Committee meeting 4.
Citizens’ Comments: For
items not on the agenda 5.
Federal Safe Routes to School (FSRTS) Program: Comments
about State College Borough application Action: Approve comments for submission to statewide review committee 6. Route 322 Corridor Safety Improvements (Harris and Status
Report from PennDOT District 2-0 No action required
Status report
from CCMPO staff No action required 8.
Discussion
of topics and issues for next major update of the LRTP No action
required 9.
Member Reports: Reports
about a significant item(s) of interest from each member (limited to 1 minute) No action required 10.
Announcements 11.
Adjourn
Effective on Historically, the CRPA Director has been appointed as
the Secretary of the CCMPO Coordinating Committee.
However, the appointment of a new CRPA Director to replace Mr. Crum is
not anticipated to occur until late 2008 or early 2009.
Thus, the CCMPO should consider the appointment of a Secretary for the
remainder of 2008. The CCMPO Bylaws adopted in July 2008 state that the
Secretary does not have to a member of the Coordinating Committee.
Staff offers the following options: ·
Appoint Robert B. Jacobs, Director, Centre County Planning and Community
Development Office ·
Appoint a voting member of the Coordinating Committee Voting members of the
Coordinating Committee include:
Presented by: Dan Klees, CCMPO Chair
FEDERAL
SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL PROGRAM Comments
about
In May 2008, the PennDOT Central Office announced the
opening of an application cycle for funding from the Federal Safe Routes to
School (FSRTS) Program. The
program provides a new source of federal funding for projects that enable and
encourage children to walk or bike to school. The
new program is not affiliated with Applications were due to PennDOT on ·
State College Borough – Easterly Parkway
roundabouts ( At its July 16, 2008 meeting, the CCMPO Coordinating Committee approved
a process for providing comments, based on a review by the following staff
committee: ·
PennDOT District 2-0 Office – Vickie Rusnak ·
PennDOT Central Office – Frank Hampton ·
Centre County Planning and Community Development Office
– Mike Bloom ·
Centre Regional Planning Agency – Trish Meek Attached are:
State College Borough staff will be available at the meeting to answer
questions about the application. The
Coordinating Committee should receive a staff presentation, and consider
approving comments to be submitted to the statewide FSRTS review committee.
Presented by: Trish Meek, CRPA
Action: Approval of comments about the State College Borough FSRTS
application for submission to the statewide review committee.
ROUTE
322 CORRIDOR SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS Status
Report from PennDOT District 2-0 The
current 2007-2010 Centre County Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), and
the new 2009-2012 Centre County TIP that will take effect on October 1, 2008
include funding for the Route 322 Corridor Safety Improvements project.
The intent of the project is to identify and implement short-term
improvements in the corridor until a process for planning long-term improvements
can be initiated. The
CCMPO included the project on the TIP and the Centre County Long Range
Transportation Plan (LRTP) in response to the termination of the South Central
Centre County Transportation Study (SCCCTS) in Spring 2004.
SCCCTS had been focused on a long-term solution to transportation needs
in this part of Centre
County. The
Preliminary Engineering (PE) phase for the Route 322 Corridor Safety project was
initiated in early 2008, and a feasibility study is expected to be completed in
late 2008. Because
a number of crashes have occurred in the Route 322 corridor in 2008, citizens
and officials provided comments about the need for both short and
long-term improvements during the public comment period for the new 2009-2012
TIP and the 2008 update of the LRTP. PennDOT
has indicated that planning is already underway to implement short-term safety
improvements such as center-line rumble strips, and work also continues on the
feasibility study, which is expected to identify other projects such as turning
lanes and sight-distance improvements. Long-term
improvements must be addressed through the CCMPO’s LRTP.
A major update of the LRTP will begin in Fall 2008, and is tentatively
scheduled for completion in 2010 (see Agenda Item 8). PennDOT District 2-0
will provide a status report about the feasibility study and the implementation
of short-term improvements. The Coordinating Committee should receive the status report, and provide
comments to District 2-0.
I-80
TOLL CONVERSION PROJECT Status
Report from CCMPO Staff 
September
11, 2008
I-80 tolling
presentation
In
July 2007, Pennsylvania Act 44 was approved by the legislature and signed by
Governor Ed Rendell. Act 44 provided
increased state funding for highways, bridges and mass transit, and also made
fundamental changes to the way the mass transit funding is distributed in the
Commonwealth. A
portion of the new transportation funding authorized by Act 44 was intended to
come from revenue generated by the conversion of I-80 to a toll road, which
would be operated by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) through a
50-year lease agreement with PennDOT. The
PTC and PennDOT submitted an application to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
in October 2007 seeking approval to convert I-80 to a toll facility. In December
2007, FHWA requested additional information from the PTC and PennDOT.
In July 2008, an amended application was submitted to FHWA. In
July 2008, the PTC consultant team met with CCMPO staff to review the I-80
Capital Improvement Plan, and to provide information about the proposed method
of toll collection. The proposed
method would use automated toll gantries utilizing EZPass technology and license
plate readers to bill users. Vehicles
would pass through the gantries at normal travel speeds.
Act 44 authorized a maximum of ten toll gantry locations, and the PTC
consultant team was studying nine areas for gantries. At
the request of staff, the PTC’s consultant team attended the
Because
of FHWA’s decision, the PTC consultant team will not be in attendance at the
September 23 Coordinating Committee meeting.
CCMPO staff will provide a brief report about the information presented
to the Technical Committee. Also
attached is:
The Coordinating Committee should
receive the staff report, and discuss the FHWA response.
Presented by: Tom Zilla, CRPA No
action required ***** For more information about
Act 44 and the I-80 toll conversion project, please visit the PTC’s project
website at http://www.paturnpike.com/i80/
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ITEM 8
Discussion
of Topics and Issues for The
CCMPO adopted the Centre
County LRTP 2030 in September 2006. The
Plan was updated in June 2007 and July 2008 to address the requirements of the
federal Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act – A
Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) and new federal transportation planning
regulations. The CCMPO staff will begin to prepare a major update to the LRTP in Fall 2008, with adoption of a new Plan tentatively scheduled for September 2010. Several significant
issues will affect the preparation of a new LRTP, including the rapid escalation
of material costs, the shortfall of both federal and state funding, and energy
policy. In addition, the priorities
of large and small highway projects, PennDOT’s expanded bridge program, and
the use of public transit, bicycle and pedestrian modes of travel will be
important issues in Centre
County. To begin the
preparation of the new LRTP, a significant portion of time should be devoted at
this meeting to a broad discussion of the various issues by the Coordinating
Committee. The questions below are
provided to help initiate the discussion. a.
What is the goal(s) of the LRTP, and what are key objectives that should
be utilized to shape the future of b.
What funding strategies should be used in the LRTP/TIP process to achieve
the goal(s) and objectives? (e.g.
inflation factors; projects vs. line items; flexing of highway funds; earmarks;
small vs. large projects; etc.) c.
What are key land use and community development factors that should be
considered in the new LRTP, and how should those factors be incorporated into
the process? (e.g. growth forecasts;
project ranking criteria; air quality; energy policy; etc.) d.
Should performance measures be incorporated into the LRTP? Examples
include: §
Public
transportation ridership §
Average
age of public transportation fleet §
Percentage
of population with access to public transportation §
Miles
of pedestrian/bicycle facilities §
Average
bridge condition §
Number
of structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges
rehabilitated/replaced §
Crash
rates/reduction in injuries and fatalities §
Level
of Service/travel time §
Pavement
condition ratings At its Using
the questions provided above to help initiate discussion, the Coordinating
Committee should discuss the issues related to preparation of a new LRTP, and
provide comments to staff. Because of the number
and complexity of issues associated with the new LRTP, the Coordinating
Committee may also wish to consider scheduling a special meeting in October that
would be devoted primarily to the discussion of the Plan.
Typically the Coordinating Committee meets on the fourth Tuesday of the
month in which meetings are scheduled, which would be
Presented by: Trish Meek, CRPA No
action required
ITEM 9 MEMBER
REPORTS About
Significant Item(s) of Interest This
agenda item provides an opportunity for voting and non-voting members to briefly
report on an item(s) of significant interest within their organization,
municipality, or planning region. Items
of interest may relate to transportation, other infrastructure, capital
budgeting or land use. Members are
asked to limit their reports to approximately one minute in length. Please
note that Tom TenEyck, who represented the PennDOT Central Office on the
Coordinating Committee for many years, retired in August 2008.
Larry S. Shifflet, Director of PennDOT’s Center for Program Development
and Management, will represent the Central Office on a temporary basis until a
permanent appointment is made. On
behalf of the staff and Coordinating Committee members, we express our
appreciation to Mr. TenEyck for his efforts over many years, and wish him the
best of luck. Voting members of the
Coordinating Committee include:
Presented by: Committee members No
action required
ITEM
10 ANNOUNCEMENTS 1. Future Meeting
Dates Please
note that the Coordinating Committee may elect to schedule a special meeting in
October 2008 to continue discussions about the next The
next regularly scheduled meetings of the CCMPO are:
a.
Technical Committee:
ð
Route
26 Pine Grove Mills project ð
Route
322 Corridor Safety Improvements project ð
2009-2012
Centre ð
ð
Centre
Commute (regional rideshare) Program ð
FY
2009-10 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) ð
Memorandum
of Understanding for transportation planning
b.
Coordinating Committee:
ð
Route
26 Pine Grove Mills project ð
Route
322 Corridor Safety Improvements project ð
2009-2012
Centre ð
Centre
ð
Centre
Commute (regional rideshare) Program ð
FY
2009-10 UPWP ð
Memorandum
of Understanding for transportation planning 2. As noted in
discussions at previous meetings, the CCMPO staff has been participating in
meetings of a statewide task force working on a procedure to develop a database
and project prioritization method for local (municipal and county) bridge
projects. Staff will provide an
update about the discussions at the January 2009 CCMPO meetings. 3. At its 4. Attached are the
revenue and expenditure pages of the CCMPO’s portion of the proposed 2009
Centre Region Council of Governments (COG) Budget.
The pages provide a detailed view of the revenues and expenditures
associated with providing staff support to the CCMPO.
Although the federally-required Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) is
developed and adopted by the CCMPO on an annual basis, the Technical and
Coordinating Committees have not received the CCMPO’s portion of the COG
Budget in the past. This year, to
provide a more detailed view of the revenues and expenditures associated with
CCMPO staff support operations, the appropriate budget pages are being provided
for information purposes. 5.
Mr. Frank Hampton has been appointed to represent the PennDOT Central
Office on the Technical Committee, replacing Harold Nanovic, who retired in
June. Also, Mr. Jim Simler,
Philipsburg Borough Manager, has been appointed to represent the Moshannon
Valley Planning Region on the Technical Committee, replacing John Knowles,
Philipsburg Borough Council. 6.
As noted
earlier in the agenda, effective on 7.
CCMPO staff contact information:
Centre Regional Planning Agency
Telephone:
814-231-3050
Tom Zilla, Transportation Planner
tzilla@crcog.net
Trish Meek, Transportation Planner
tmeek@crcog.net
Greg Kausch, Transportation Planner gkausch@crcog.net
or gkausch@catabus.com
Lori Shingler, Office Manager
lshingler@crcog.net
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