| Puget Sound Regional Council psrc.org | |
| Regional Coordination at work | |
| Transportation Policy Board and Growth Management Policy Board | |
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September 14, 2006
The Transportation Policy Board released the Draft 2007-2010 Regional Transportation Improvement Program for public comment. The Draft TIP contains 122 projects recommended by the Executive Board in July to receive $502.4 million in new PSRC federal funds, as well as one new locally funded, regionally significant project. Air quality modeling of the projects found the projects meet state and federal requirements for clean air. To view the list of recommended projects and other information about the Transportation Improvement Program, go to http://www.psrc.org/projects/tip/index.htm. For more information, contact Karen Richter, 206-464-6343, krichter@psrc.org.
The Transportation Policy Board recommended adding $70,000 in federal Jobs Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) and New Freedom funds to the PSRC work program. The funds will be used to complete work on countywide human services transportation plans and the regional Coordinated Transit-Human Services Plan PSRC's work in this area is designed to meet new planning requirements under the Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act - a Legacy for Users. For more information, contact Ben Brackett at 206-389-2162, bbrackett@psrc.org.
The Transportation Policy Board heard a briefing on the status of the preferred alternative for the SR-520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Lane project. Two alternatives are being considered: four lanes or six lanes. Both alternatives will create a seismically sound and safe new Portage Bay Bridge and Evergreen Point Floating Bridge with full shoulders, and a bike and pedestrian path through the entire project corridor. After extensive outreach throughout the stakeholder communities this fall, affected jurisdictions will recommend a preferred alternative in October. More information is available online at wsdot.wa.gov/projects/SR520Bridge/.
The Transportation Policy Board heard an update on the Roads and Transit proposal being developed by Sound Transit and the Regional Transportation Improvement District. Joni Earl, Chief Executive Officer, Sound Transit, and Kjris Lund, Project Manager for the Regional Transportation Investment District, briefed the board on joint work of the two agencies to develop an integrated roads and transit proposal. Public meetings on the proposal are being conducted and the first meeting attracted more than 200 people. For more information, go to http://www.soundtransit.org or http://www.rtid.org.
The Transportation Policy Board discussed transportation impacts of the four VISION 2020 growth alternatives. The VISION 2020 Draft Environmental Impact Statement released in May analyzed four options for distributing future growth through the year 2040. At its meeting, the policy board compared the results of each alternative in terms of vehicle miles traveled, hours of delay, congestion, travel times, and the share of people using transit, single-occupant vehicle, carpooling, or biking/walking. For more information, contact Kevin Murphy at 206-464-6411, kmurphy@psrc.org.
In other business, the Transportation Policy Board:
The Growth Management Policy Board discussed a potential distribution of population and employment in the preferred growth alternative for VISION 2020. The policy board's selection of a preliminary preferred growth alternative is scheduled for October. This preliminary decision will allow PSRC staff to conduct sensitivity tests and modeling for the board's review in early 2007. After final review and recommendation by the policy board and Executive Board approval in spring 2007, detailed analysis of the preferred growth alternative will be published in a supplemental environmental impact statement. For more information, contact Ben Bakkenta at 206-464-5372, bbakkenta@psrc.org.
The Growth Management Policy Board took an action to proceed with the public outreach report in the update to VISION 2020. The report summarizes public comment on the draft environmental impact statement and is meant to assist the policy board in the selection of a preferred growth alternative for accommodating future growth. During the public comment period, PSRC received 85 comment letters, a majority from local governments, followed by organizations and individuals, and a more limited number from businesses. For a copy of the report, contact the PSRC Information Center at 206-464-7532, infoctr@psrc.org.
The Growth Management Policy Board took action to proceed with the evaluation criteria report in the update to VISION 2020. The evaluation criteria are meant to assess how each of the four growth alternatives performs using more than 40 measures, such as air quality, travel time, and jobs/housing balance. The criteria are one tool among many that are being used to compare the growth alternatives. The report concluded that for a few measures, the analysis found the growth distribution doesn't matter. However, for most of the measures, the focused growth alternatives provided the most promising results. For more information, contact Ivan Miller at 206-464-7549, e-mail imiller@psrc.org. For a copy of the report, contact the PSRC Information Center at 206-464-7532, infoctr@psrc.org.
In other business, the Growth Management Policy Board: | |