TRI-CITIES AREA METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION POLICY COMMITTEE Meeting Agenda Virtual meeting held from the Crater Planning District Commission Offices 1964 Wakefield St., Petersburg, VA 23805 March 11, 2021 4:30 PM Meeting Type: Annual Regular Special (Called) Invitees: Agency Name Voting Members: Chesterfield County Kevin Carroll City of Colonial Heights John Wood Chairman Dinwiddie County William Chavis Vice Chairman City of Hopewell Brenda S. Pelham City of Petersburg Samuel Parham Prince George County T.J. Webb For the Secretary of Transportation Shane Mann Petersburg Area Transit Charles Koonce Crater Planning District Commission Alec Brebner Non-Voting, Staff & Guests Crater Planning District Commission Ron Svejkovsky MPO Secretary VDOT Mark Riblett VDOT Liz McAdory DRPT Tiffany Dubinsky FHWA Richard Duran FTA Ryan Long 1. Call to order 2. Public Comment Period ACTION ITEMS: 3. Approval of Agenda Approval 4. Approval of minutes from February 25 meeting – Attachment 1 Approval March 11, 2021 Tri-Cities MPO Policy Committee Agenda Page | 1 5. UPC 117838 MTIP Amendment – Attachment 2 Action VDOT has provided us with a $127,000 (Federal Funds – Other) MTIP amendment sheet pertaining to UPC 117838. As part of a 2017 $23.1 million agreement between VDOT, the Dept. of the Army, and FHWA’s EFL, UPC 117838 covers three access improvement projects in VDOT’s Richmond District: • Fort Pickett - rehabilitation of Route 750 from the Main Gate to Route 40 (beyond the Roundabout project); replacement of tank crossings and railroad crossings along Route 40; • The Defense Supply Center at Richmond (DSCR) – realign Strathmore and “G” Road intersection; and • Fort Lee - extend an additional eastbound lane along Hickory Hill Rd (Route 109) from approximately the Battlefield Park entrance to Mahone Gate (0.8 miles). The $23.1 million of funding comes from the closing of Fort Monroe and is intended to fully fund 7-8 projects statewide. Attachment 2 includes the $127,000 MTIP Amendment sheet and project aerial. MPO staff concurs with the request and TAC recommends Policy Committee approval of the MTIP Amendment. Action requested: Policy Committee approval of the MTIP Amendment by resolution. 6. FY21 Accomplishments and FY22 Priorities – Attachment 3 Action Attachment 3 includes an additional request to the Draft for additional study work by VDOT by FOLAR for the Prince George section of the Appomattox River Trail. The Draft UPWP will be brought to VDOT, FHWA and DRPT then brought to the TAC and Policy Committee in May with adoption in June. TAC recommends Policy Committee approval of the FY21 Accomplishments and FY22 Priorities. March 11, 2021 Tri-Cities MPO Policy Committee Agenda Page | 2 Action requested: Policy Committee approval of the FY21 Accomplishments and FY22 Priorities. 7. MPO Support for SMART SCALE Applications – Attachment 4 Action As noted at the February 25, 2021 Policy Committee meeting, on January 19, 2021, OIPI presented to the CTB the scores and OIPI staff-recommend scenario for Round 4 of SMART SCALE. At the February 25, 2021 Policy Committee meeting, Shane Mann (Richmond District Engineer) noted that there were corrections made to the scores and a Revised Staff Recommended Funding Scenario was presented to the CTB at its February 17, 2021 meeting. Attachment 4 includes the Revised spreadsheets. Also, as noted at the February 25, 2021 Policy Committee meeting, none of the 13 applications by the MPO and its members were recommended for funding. However, at the February 25, 2021 Policy Committee meeting, it was noted that at the January 19, 2021 CTB meeting the Director of the SMART SCALE Program stated that the District Grant Funding for Richmond District has a $14.5 Million balance (now is $7.0 million under the Revised Scenario). Chesterfield County and Prince George County each requested to the CTB member that these available funds be used for the Matoaca/Hickory Roundabout projects (Chesterfield County) and the Middle Road/Prince George Road Roundabout projects (Prince George County). After discussion with the Policy Committee Chair, it was decided to add (for Policy Committee consideration) a resolution of support by the MPO for these two projects (to be sent to the CTB member). Attachment 4 also includes a resolution of support requesting the CTB member select these two applications. The CTB will make its final SMART SCALE project selections decision in June. Action requested: Policy Committee approval of the MPO resolution of support for the two SMART SCALE applications for CTB member selection. March 11, 2021 Tri-Cities MPO Policy Committee Agenda Page | 3 INFORMATION ITEMS: 8. Plan2045 Vision, Goals, and Strategies - Attachment 5 Information MPO staff completed the Vision, Goals, and Strategies Metroquest survey on January 31. As of 1/31/21, 85 (our goal is 100) surveys were completed. At the March 5 meeting, the TAC went over the detailed survey results. Attachment 5 is a summary of the survey results, which consist of the prioritized Goals, importance of aspects of these Goals, and prioritization of project type. MPO Staff will present the survey results slide show at the Meeting. The MPO will adopt its Vision, Goals, and Objectives later this Spring. As noted at the February 25 Policy Committee meeting, the TCAMPO was successful in obtaining a GAP Planning Grant. This consultant technical assistance would begin in April and will allow us to create a full ongoing performance-based planning process that can be used for Plan2045 and other MPO plans and programs. 9. VTrans Mid-Term Prioritization Policy and Project Pipeline – Att 6 Information At the February 17, 2021 CTB meeting, OIPI staff presented a proposal for the “VTrans Multimodal Project Pipeline” (Attachment 6). Next steps recommended by OIPI staff: • Board consideration of VTrans Mid-term Needs Prioritization Policy in March. (Note: as noted in earlier TAC and Policy Committee meetings, a common theme of the comments by the MPO (and its counterparts and localities in Virginia) is the concern that this will further reduce the ability of key rural and small MPO needs to be addressed.) • OIPI (with help from VDOT and DRPT) will coordinate with each Board member by March/April on up to 5 “Priority 1” needs to study (Note: Board would be able to select a “non-Priority 1” VTrans need, to address potential concerns about geographic diversity and/or other local knowledge about specific needs) • Complete studies by late Fall to provide new pool of potential projects for consideration in Round 5 of SMART SCALE and other funding programs. March 11, 2021 Tri-Cities MPO Policy Committee Agenda Page | 4 10. Interstate Operations and Enhancement Program – Att. 7 Information At the February 17, 2021 CTB meeting, OIPI staff presented the update to the Program and planning efforts (Attachment 7). MPO staff will give the Policy Committee the MPO staff and TAC’s assessments of the presentation. 11. DRAFT FY22-27 SYIP RSTP/CMAQ Allocations – Attachment 8 Information On February 25, VDOT received the RSTP/CMAQ allocation projections and sent MPO staff the Draft FY21-26 RSTP/CMAQ Allocation Plan tables for the existing projects (Attachment 8). TAC met on March 5 and approved the Draft (existing projects only) for the 30-day public review. TAC will hold a special TAC meeting later this month regarding adding new CMAQ projects and finalizing the existing projects’ allocations. Key points: • RSTP: o The TCAMPO’s FY22-27 SYIP Draft RSTP funding program represents an approximately $2 million reduction compared to the FY21-26 SYIP’s RSTP funding program o The Draft RSTP allocation table fully funds all existing projects in FY22-27 to the updated estimates and schedules except UPC 109230 (Duncan Road) and UPC 115783 (Rivermont Road Sidewalk) o Reduces the annual RSTP Planning Supplements to $45,000/year o Also, the N. Enon Church Rd Project is fully funded to the current $4.2 million estimate o The Balance Entry account is kept very small in all years (@$100k per year) • CMAQ: o The TCAMPO’s FY22-27 SYIP Draft RSTP funding program represents an approximately $1 million reduction compared to the FY21-26 SYIP’s CMAQ funding program o The Draft CMAQ allocation table fully funds all existing projects March 11, 2021 Tri-Cities MPO Policy Committee Agenda Page | 5 o The Balance Entry account is kept very small in all years (@$100k per year) o Based on the above, it appears up to $3.75 million is therefore available for new CMAQ projects. o Eight new CMAQ applications were submitted for this round of CMAQ allocations. As noted earlier, the recommended projects will be brought to the TAC in the TAC special meeting later this month, with TAC and Policy Committee approval of the entire allocations tables (existing and new) in April or May. As noted above, in order to have a public involvement process for the RSTP/CMAQ allocations, TAC approved a notice be placed in the Crater PDC/Tri-Cities Area MPO webpage on March 8 with an April 7 deadline for public comments (with the Draft Allocation Plan of existing projects tables). The final RSTP/CMAQ allocations would be approved by the MPO in April or May. 12. DRPT Report Information DRPT report follows the agenda 13. VDOT Report Information VDOT Report follows the agenda 14. Upcoming Information April 8 - Plan 2045 update (Information) - Final FY 22-27 RSTP/CMAQ Allocations Plan (or in May) - Draft FY22 UPWP (if ready, otherwise in May) May 13 - Final FY22 UPWP (if ready, otherwise in June 15. Other Business 16. Adjournment Next meeting: Thursday, April 8, 2021 (via Zoom). March 11, 2021 Tri-Cities MPO Policy Committee Agenda Page | 6 Agency Update March 2021 5303 Grants • 5303 grant application period is open and will be closing May 14th • Reminder to upload Draft final UPWPs with your application • DRPT will circle back to collect UPWPs once approved Transforming Rail in Virginia • On February 18, the CTB approved the authorization for the DRPT Director to execute the final legal agreements for the CSX, Amtrak and VRE agreements.