The Transportation Policy Board Recommended Approval of the Destination 2030 Review and Progress Report.

The Progress Report is a three year review of the region's long range transportation plan and covers the status of planning activities, projects and financing. The Executive Board is scheduled to act on the progress report on April 22, 2004. The draft Progress Report is available on the web at www.psrc.org/ projects/mtp/2004progress/progress.htm.

Comments are welcome and can be directed to Kathy McMullen at (206) 464-6172 or kmcmullen@psrc.org.

The Transportation Policy Board received an overview of the candidate to approved process for Destination 2030 projects.

The candidate to approved process was created to streamline the project implementation process. It enables regionally significant projects to be in the plan prior to the completion of their planning processes and sooner than federal planning requirements would otherwise allow. These projects are identified as candidate projects, which allows them to program federal money for planning and environmental review and helps facilitate the environmental review process. To become approved, projects must complete their environmental review, be financially feasible, demonstrate air quality conformity, and if the cost is over $100 million the project must undergo benefit-cost analysis. Only approved projects can use federal money for implementation related expenses such as right of way acquisition or construction.

For more information, contact Jeff Frkonja at (206) 464-6180 or jfrkonja@psrc.org.

The Transportation Policy Board Recommended changing project status for seven Destination 2030 projects.

Six projects are recommended for approved status. Three are sponsored by the Washington State Department of Transportation and they are I-405/SR 167 Interchange Ramp, I-5 at SR 531/172nd St., and SR 99 - S. 284th to S. 272nd HOV Lanes. The other two are Sound Transit's Eastgate Direct Access (I-90 at Eastgate Park and Ride) and the City of Seattle's Lake City Way, Multimodal. The last project being recommended for approval, the City of Bellevue's 148th Ave SE Roadway Improvements was previously at conditionally approved status. Kitsap County's Clear Creek Trail is recommended to receive conditionally approved status. The project has completed its environmental review, but the review has not received approval from all the necessary agencies.

For more information, contact Jeff Frkonja at (206) 464-6180 or jfrkonja@psrc.org.

In Other Business, the Transportation Policy Board:

• Recommended approval of a routine amendment to the regional Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), updating information for four Washington State Department of Transportation projects and one Pierce County project.
• Recommended approval of a plan refinement for Destination 2030 which would change the terminus of the City of Shoreline's Aurora Ave N. North Segment project from 175th St. NE to 165th St. NE.
• Received a summary of administrative amendments and corrections to the TIP.

The Growth Management Policy Board reviewed the proposed outline and format of the VISION 2020 Update Scoping Report.

PSRC is nearing the end of a public scoping process under SEPA to prepare for the environmental review of the VISION 2020 Update. To conclude scoping activities, PSRC will publish a final scoping report to summarize the comments that were received as well as describe alternatives and issues that will be analyzed in the environmental review. The report will also include information about assumptions on which the analysis will be based and further opportunities for public involvement.

For more information, contact Ben Bakkenta at (206) 464-5372 or bbakkenta@psrc.org.

The Growth Management Policy Board discussed VISION 2020 strategies and policies that focus on housing.

The Growth Management Policy Board has been reviewing all of the strategies and policies contained in VISION 2020 by topic area to help inform the Update Scoping Process. The discussion centered on housing diversity and maintaining an adequate supply of housing.

For more information, contact Rocky Piro at (206) 464-6360 or rpiro@psrc.org.

The Growth Management Policy Board enjoyed a presentation from the City of Bremerton's regional growth center.

Chris Hugo, Director of Community Development for the City of Bremerton, gave a presentation on progress occurring in Bremerton's re-emerging regional growth center. His presentation featured many new projects, including the regional government center, which features a mixed use conference center, and new waterfront condominiums.