Puget Sound Regional Council                                   psrc.org
  Regional Coordination     at work
  Transportation Policy Board and Growth Management Policy Board
 
              March 13, 2008

The Transportation Policy Board recommended that a Destination 2030 amendment be transmitted by the Executive Board for action by the General Assembly on April 24.

The amendment incorporates project changes made in the recently adopted update to the state's Highway System Plan. The amendment includes: strategic changes to project implementation timing, deleting or modifying existing projects, and adding entirely new projects. The proposed project changes will not alter Destination 2030's compliance with financial reasonableness and air quality requirements. The projects will undergo further project-level planning and environmental review.

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

The Transportation Policy Board approved an annual adjustment of Federal Transit Administration funds in the regional Transportation Improvement Program.

The FTA requires that PSRC review the estimates used to program FTA funds with the actual allocation approved by Congress on an annual basis. The policy board recommended approval of $8.5 million in additional federal FTA funds and moved $1.67 million in 2008 FTA competitive funding into the 2009 year.

For more information, contact Karen Richter at 206-971-3289, krichter@psrc.org.

The Transportation Policy Board approved the draft scoping report for the Destination 2030 update, concurred with the proposed plan direction, and forwarded the report to the Executive Board for their concurrence.

Policy board members received a briefing on the results of the scoping process. Scoping sets the direction for the plan, asking people for input on the content and extent of the plan update. The agency received close to 1,000 comments during the 104-day public comment period. Sixty percent of the comments related to either congestion and mobility, or energy and the environment, with an emphasis on climate change.

The draft scoping report, the complete list of the public comments received, and additional information on the plan update are available online at http://www.psrc.org/projects/mtp/index.htm. For more information, contact Michael Cummings at 206-464-6172, mcummings@psrc.org.

In other business, the Transportation Policy Board:

  • Recommended a routine amendment to the Transportation Improvement Program, adding six projects sponsored by Community Transit, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, the City of Redmond, and the Washington State Department of Transportation.
  • Heard an update on the activities of the Pricing Task Force by Aubrey Davis, chairman.