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TMA Certification Report
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Federal Highway Administration 310 New Bern Avenue, Suite 410 Raleigh, North Carolina 27601 July 11, 2002 |
Mr. Lyndo Tippett
Secretary, North Carolina
Department of Transportation
Raleigh, North Carolina
Mr. Joe Bryan
Chair, Capital Area
Metropolitan Planning Organization
310 West Martin Street
Raleigh, North Carolina 27602
| Subject: | Federal Certification of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) Transportation Planning Process |
Gentlemen:
Title 23 Section 134(I)(5) and Subtitle III of Title 49 Section 5305(e)(1) of the United States Code requires the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to jointly review, evaluate, and certify the transportation planning process in each Transportation Management Area (TMA) at least every three years. During March 20-21, 2002, the FHWA and the FTA conducted a review of the transportation planning process in the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) TMA. Since the CAMPO TMA is a maintenance area for transportation related air pollutants, the review included the consideration of the adequacy of the process to ensure conformity of plans and programs in accordance with procedures contained in 40 CFR Part 51.
The FHWA and the FTA have determined that the CAMPO TMA's transportation planning process substantially meets the requirements. The process is hereby certified subject to the corrective actions and consideration of the recommendations contained in the report. The only corrective action noted during the review was that since there is more than one designated recipient of FTA funds, it is expected that local officials operating through the MPO will determine the allocation of each recipient. The allocation should be agreed upon and documented by written agreement. The certification review report is enclosed. The certification is applicable for a period of three years from the date of this letter.
A representative from my staff will present the results of the review at one of the Metropolitan Planning Organization's upcoming Transportation Advisory Committee meetings. If you have any questions, please contact Mr. Joe Stevens, Planning Engineer, of my staff at (919) 856-4330, extension 111, or you may contact FTA staff member Mr. Alex McNeil, Transportation Program Specialist, at (404) 562-3511.
Sincerely yours,
/s/ Nicholas L. Graf
Nicholas L. Graf, P.E.
Division Administrator
Enclosure
| cc: | (with enclosure) |
| Mr. Blake Norwood, NCDOT | |
| Mr. David Wasserman, NCDOT | |
| Mr. Mike Kozak, Public Transportation Division, NCDOT | |
| Ms. Tamra Shaw, Public Transportation Division, NCDOT | |
| Mr. Jimmie Beckom, City of Raleigh, DOT | |
| Mr. Scott Lane, CAMPO | |
| Mr. Joe Huegy, Triangle Transit Authority | |
| Mr. Jim Parajon, Town of Cary | |
| Ms. Jill Vitas, NCDENR | |
| Mr. Alex McNeil, FTA Region IV | |
| Mr. Alan Powell, EPA Region IV |
File: 724N2
Reading File: 2g11pd01.jgs
JGStevens:dkr:07/11/02
FHWA/FTA CERTIFICATION REVIEW
CAPITAL AREA METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION PLANNING PROCESS
MARCH 20 & 21, 2002
I. Introduction
Pursuant to 23 USC 134 and 49 USC 5303 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) must jointly review and evaluate the metropolitan transportation planning process for each Transportation Management Area (TMA) at least every three years. The last certification for the Capital Area TMA was conducted on site March 15-17, 1999. The results of that review were that the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's (CAMPO's) transportation planning process was conditionally certified subject to prescribed corrective actions. The corrective actions from the previous review concerned the adoption of an updated air quality conforming Long Range Transportation Plan prior to lapsing of the current Plan.
The third round review of CAMPO's transportation planning process occurred on March 20 & 21, 2002. The general purpose of certification reviews is to assess the extent of compliance with the joint FTA/FHWA planning requirements, to identify noteworthy practices, and to provide advice and assistance wherever possible. The third round review for CAMPO consisted of a series of discussions on transportation planning issues with State and local transportation officials directly involved in highway and transit planning activities of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. A list of participants in the review is included in Appendix A. The certification review was advertised. Advance notification of the certification review to the public was accomplished by advertising in two local papers approximately 30 days in advance. In addition a public notice was listed on the MPO's web page. The Certification review was also included as a topic two preceding Technical Coordinating Committee meetings and two Transportation Advisory Committee (Policy Committee) meetings. Technical Committee and Policy Committee agenda's are mailed directly to a significant number of interested individuals in addition to the regular committee members.
The review team attended a CAMPO Transportation Advisory Committee meeting on March 20, 2002. An opportunity for the public to comment on the planning process was provided on this same day. Two individuals representing the public addressed the review team. Each individual expressed positive comments regarding the openness of the process and the opportunity for the public to participate on a continuing basis. The Chairperson of the City's transit authority expressed positive comments regarding the planning process' outreach to transit.
In addition, the CAMPO staff prepared a report for the Federal certification review team that summarized the MPO staff's identified issues for discussion during the review. The CAMPO staff report is included as Appendix B. The review team has addressed each of the issues raised in the CAMPO Staff Report.
II. Summary of Findings and Certification
The review of the CAMPO transportation planning process focused on the following subject areas: Long Range Transportation Plan, Air Quality Conformity, the Transportation Improvement Program, Regional, incorporating environmental considerations into the planning process, public involvement, safety issues and congestion mitigation. In addition, a number of other review team emphasis areas were explored including: the public involvement process, intelligent transportation systems implementation and planning, congestion management system, financial constraint, Title VI considerations and environmental justice planning.
The Capital Area MPO is conducting a transportation planning process that is addressing the significant transportation issues facing the area. The review team identified a number of exemplary efforts that are part of the planning process. The CAMPO is to be commended for their participation in the regional modeling effort and participation in the development of a regional model protocol. In the area of incorporating environmental considerations, the MPO's inclusion of estimates of costs of wetlands is a noteworthy practice. The review team also noted that the MPO's website had a great deal of information and was easy to access.
Both the State and the MPO have made significant progress in addressing the findings from the previous review, including adoption of an air quality conforming Long Range Transportation Plan and the development of a Regional protocol to govern the maintenance of the Regional transportation model for the Triangle Area, which currently includes two MPO's and five separate transit agencies.
The MPO's public outreach includes routine mail outs, an Internet web page, a newsletter and occasional water bill inserts.
The findings of the current review are discussed as "Corrective Actions" and "Recommendations" after each major section in the report. A corrective action identified during the current review was that the individual transit agencies submitting capital grant applications to the Federal Transit Administration should be coordinating these efforts with the MPO and using the MPO process to seek Federal approval.
Recommendations made to the MPO included more transit representation on the MPO, expediting the completion of the Long Range Transportation Plan update with a corresponding air quality conformity in order to prevent the current Conforming Plan from lapsing, continuing to evaluate the public involvement process particularly outreach to minority and low income populations, and updating the area's demographic information using the 2000 Census data.
The metropolitan transportation planning process for the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is certified pursuant to improving the coordination of transit planning through increased participation in the Metropolitan Planning Organization and consideration of the recommendations offered herein.
III. Previous Certification Review Corrective Actions - Follow-up
Previous Corrective Actions:
Develop and adopt a fiscally constrained multi-modal long-range transportation plan with a 20-year (minimum) planning horizon, which meets the requirements of 23CFR 450 and 40 CFR 93.
The MPO as well as FHWA and FTA must make an air quality conformity determination on the new/updated Long Range Transportation Plan in accordance the Clean Air Act and EPA Conformity regulations.
Findings:
Since the last certification, the Transportation Advisory Committee (Policy Committee) approved a 2025 Long Range Transportation Plan meeting the joint FHWA/FTA planning regulations and made an air quality conformity determination on the Plan. The U.S. Department of Transportation made its joint FHWA/FTA conformity determination on August 20,1999.
The corrective action from the previous certification review has been satisfactorily addressed.
IV. RECOMMENDATION FROM PREVIOUS REVIEW
Develop a formal protocol for application, revision and maintenance of the regional transportation model.
Findings:
The Capital Area Transportation Advisory Committee approved and authorized the chairman to sign the Triangle Regional Model Protocol on September 19, 2001. The signatories to the Agreement are CAMPO, the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carboro (DCHC) Metropolitan Planning Organization, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, and the Triangle Transit Authority. The purpose of the Triangle Regional Model Protocol is to provide documentation of the continuing development, modification and maintenance of the official Triangle Regional Model (TRM). Specifically, the protocol defines signatories of the protocol, distribution of the model, use of the model, amendments to the protocol, and if necessary how to dissolve participation in the TRM. The protocol is intended to assure consistency of the model set, integrity of the data sets and to achieve mutual support and buy-in of all member agencies.
Cooperate with modal authorities to promote a single, comprehensive planning process involving all the jurisdictions and transportation modes in the MPO area in order to pursue well-coordinated regional transportation issues.
Findings:
Under choice provisions in the draft Transportation Plan Update 2025, CAMPO intends to adopt a high level of commitment to providing regional transit choices in those corridors that are already congested and are not resolved by additional roadway capacity. The MPO has identified five of these corridors. The MPO intends to continue to support the triangle regional rail project. In addition, the MPO proposes to support plans and specific actions that increase connectivity between different transit systems and other modes of travel, increase viability of transit services through technological improvements and actively encourage the preservation of transit rights-of-way.
Develop effective liaison between CAMPO and the environmental agencies.
Initiate partnership with NC Department of Transportation on development and implementation of the Department's Best Planning Practices program during the Systems planning process.
Findings:
The first goal of CAMPO's current transportation plan update is to develop a regional transportation network that improves quality of life and the environment. One of the ways CAMPO is seeking to achieve this goal is through the input of Expert Peer Review Panel. Members of the panel had expertise in performance areas such as community impact (environmental justice), mobility/safety, reliability/accessibility, economics, wetland/stream impacts, air quality, and open space preservation. One out-of-state and one in-state expert were chosen for each performance area. The panel members were asked to review and offer comment on options analysis, complete a brief survey and attend an open forum on transportation options. Issues discussed included trends related to the reaction of land use to new transportation facilities, the importance of smart growth development that minimizes vehicle miles of travel and maximizes transportation options, and the need to develop corollary planning for open space and wetland protection.
CAMPO has developed a two-tiered system for considering and evaluating environmental impacts during systems planning. The Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) is developed and evaluated in terms of impacts on such things as low income and minority group accessibility, stream crossings and wetland area impacts. In addition, projects are prioritized with an extensive system of weighted factors for each mode of travel except transit. The factors include air quality considerations, stream crossings, community impacts, and wetland acreage. CAMPO also anticipates the adoption of a map showing areas and places that are important to avoid, preserve, mitigate, and serve with transportation facilities. They are calling the map a "Greenprint", a term commonly associated with open space and natural area preservation.
Revise the TAC adopted public involvement process policy statement to more comprehensively express the full range of CAMPO's public involvement program activities.
Develop a comprehensive Public Involvement Program element to the Long Range Transportation Plan, which includes a Quality Assurance mechanism for evaluation and feedback regarding the effectiveness of the program.
Findings:
CAMPO made a number of revisions to their to their public involvement program since the last certification review including the identification of the LRTP and the Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program as separate opportunities for public involvement, increasing the availability of information to low income and minority populations, including their citizen advisory committee and the internet site, offering public comments times at all TCC and TAC meetings, and adding a review period for the draft priority listing.
CAMPO has a comprehensive public involvement program which is effectively keeping transportation issues in the area in the public eye as evidenced by the amount of local news paper coverage received and topics from time to time on local talk radio programs. Measuring the effectiveness of their efforts remains subjective.
CAMPO should take an active part in engaging in planning for ITS implementation in conformity with the USDOT ITS National Architecture.
Findings:
Intelligent Transportation Systems deployment in the CAMPO metropolitan area consists of freeway management on Interstate 40 from I-440 westerly to the Durham County line. This same section of freeway also has incident and event management in place. A shorter portion of this same freeway also has a Regional Traveler Information system. The existing Triangle ITS Deployment Plan proposes short and long term strategies to expand many of the existing to all of the freeways in the area and some of the higher order principal arterials. The proposals in the CAMPO are part of a larger deployment plan developed to guide implementation in the Triangle Area. The plan has been endorsed by both the CAMPO and the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carboro MPO. ITS projects, which result from this plan, will be developed and implemented in accordance with the USDOT National Architecture.
V. UNIFIED PLANNING WORK PROGRAM / PROSPECTUS
Findings:
CAMPO approved a revised Prospectus on November 28, 2001. In addition to the normal planning activities associated with a metropolitan planning process, CAMPO's current Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) includes work items to begin updating the Triangle Regional Model, to complete the update of the 2025 Long Range Transportation Plan, and to develop a county-wide bicycle suitability map. The planning activities proposed for funding in the UPWP appear to support the current status of the planning process for the area.
VI. LONG RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLAN / TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
Findings:
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) currently has an air quality conforming 2025 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and a 2002-2008 Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program (MTIP). The MTIP is a subset of the LRTP. As previously discussed, the US Department of Transportation made an air quality conformity determination on CAMPO's LRTP on August 20,1999. Federal regulations require non-attainment areas to update their plans at least every three years. Therefore, in order to maintain eligibility for federally funded transportation projects, CAMPO will need to complete an update of their current plan with a corresponding air quality conformity determination with sufficient time remaining to allow the US Department of Transportation to review the plan and MPO conformity determination and make USDOT joint FHWA/FTA conformity determination on or before August 20, 2002.
It is anticipated that the Capital Area Transportation Advisory (Policy) Committee will give tentative approval to the updated 2025 Long Range Transportation Plan for the CAMPO Metropolitan Area at their April meeting. The approval is contingent upon the updated plan being in conformance with air quality requirements.
VII. CAMPO STAFF REPORT
The CAMPO staff prepared a short report identifying "Issues for Certification Review, 2002" (Appendix B). The report provided additional background information and requested that the Federal review offer comments.
Issue #1 is "Environmental Justice actions taken by CAMPO to insure compliance with Title VI and Executive Order 12898."
The CAMPO comments under this issue are an update of activities since the last certification review. Title VI activities were discussed at length during the review. The findings are discussed in the Title VI section of the certification report.
Issue #2 is "Successful integration of air quality and long range transportation planning processes."
The issue here seems to be that the planning process is being increasingly driven by the air quality conformity requirements and deadlines. CAMPO feels that their resources continue to be stretched further as new regulations are brought forward. They feel the result is that other planning activities, including options analysis and public involvement, are reduced in their importance and effectiveness.
Since the air quality and transportation requirements are well documented in law and regulation, and existing processes have been modified to meet the changing requirements, we consider the current processes adequate to meet both programs. However, the FHWA Division Office would be open to consider any restructuring of CAMPO's planning programs to meet the same requirements and accomplish the same end.
Issue #3 is "Funding concerns."
As stated by the MPO staff, the issue is lack of funding needed to accomplish basic road maintenance, capacity improvements, and intelligent transportation system (ITS) initiatives. In addition, the MPO staff expressed concern about the inability of NCDOT to provide future funding forecasts and the project selection process.
Unfortunately, the State is currently in a budget crisis exacerbated by State laws such as the Highway Trust Fund. MPO concerns about inadequate levels of funding to keep up with travel demand in a growing area certainly are a valid concern.
With regard to NCDOT providing future year funding forecasts, the current practice of providing historical funding levels to the MPO and suggesting that the MPO determine a per year average factor in a growth rate and incorporate any anticipated sources of future revenue meets the intent of the Federal requirement for a financial plan and fiscal constraint.
Federal regulations require that a Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) include all Federally funded capital and non-capital transportation projects with a few exceptions such as Section 402 safety projects, IVHS planning grants, transit planning grants, metropolitan planning funds, Statewide planning funds, and emergency relief projects. The regulation further states that the local transportation improvement program (LTIP) be included without modification into the STIP once it has been approved by the MPO and the Governor. Since the LTIP has to be approved by both the MPO and the Governor, any differences between the LTIP and the STIP would have to be negotiated and agreement reached before Federal funds could participate in all or a portion of the projects in the MPO area. This constitutes the approval of the LTIP by the MPO and the Governor. The STIP is the actual programming document for authorization of Federal-aid transportation projects. Therefore, in order to be able to determine project-by-project agreement by both the State and the MPO, the projects need to be the same in each of the documents.
Project initiation by either the MPO or the State occurs prior to the draft STIP development stage. Unfortunately, as stated by the MPO, it is a fairly long process. All projects are subject to public involvement and MPO and State agreement. In the event that an MPO adopted a LTIP that was different than the STIP, only those Federal-aid projects that the MPO and the State agreed upon could be advanced. For example, if the LTIP and STIP compared favorably, except for one project, then all Federal-aid projects could advance except for the one project in question as long as that was the course of action agreed upon by the State and the MPO.
Issue #4 is "TIP development process."
The issue stated by the MPO is lack of coordination of roadway and transit planning.
The Federal review team addressed this matter during the review, and the findings are discussed in the Transit section of the report.
Issue #5 is "Land use and transportation integration."
The issue is that the MPO believes that there is no requirement to assess and integrate the impacts of land use into transportation planning.
CFR 450.322 (b)(9) states that a metropolitan transportation plan should, "reflect to the extent that they exist, considerations of the area's comprehensive long-range land use plan and metropolitan development objectives." Land use planning and implementation remains a local responsibility.
VIII. TRANSIT
Findings:
The Capital Area TMA is currently served by two operators of public transportation, the Capital Area Transit (CAT) system operated by the City of Raleigh, and the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) system that operates between the Raleigh and Durham urbanized areas. Based on discussions held at the certification review with representatives of the Town of Cary, it is apparent that Cary is developing plans and programs at this time to begin providing public transportation in the near future.
CAT operates two highly integrated systems within the City of Raleigh: a fixed-route bus system and a system of feeder services, which are both fixed-route and demand-responsive called the CAT Connections. The City of Raleigh provides paratransit service through the city's Accessible Raleigh Transportation (ART) Program. The ART Program meets the City's federal requirements for ADA paratransit service as mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the U.S. Department of Transportation regulations. The City of Raleigh Department of Transportation, through its Transit division, provides management oversight, performs planning, marketing and grants administration. The CAT participates directly in the MPO planning process by having voting representation on the technical Coordinating Committee.
The TTA operates bus service from the Triangle Research Park with routes connecting Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary, Garner and Apex and the Research Triangle Park (RTP), and the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). TTA also operates vanpools, as well as a carpool matching service. TTA's Transit Development Program (TDP) has both a short and long-range component. The long-range component includes planning for a Regional Rail Project supported by congressional earmarks. The Regional Rail Project is currently in the Preliminary Engineering phase of FTA's New Starts process. An issue that has been brought up in all three certifications concerned representation of the TTA on CAMPO's Policy Board. As stated previously, TTA participates in the MPO planning process as a voting member of the TCC.
Other transit providers in the area include Carolina Trailways, which provides intercity bus service, and the Wolfline, a university oriented bus system at the North Carolina State University. Both of these systems participate in the MPO planning process through representation on the TCC. Neither participated in the third round planning certification review.
The Town of Cary offers a door-to-door transit service for residents who are 55 years or older or have a disability. Qualified riders are able to travel to any destination within the Town. The system also serves medical destinations in Wake, Orange, and Durham Counties and, for disabled riders only, will provide transportation to work locations throughout the three county areas. Cary advised the review team that they intend to produce the necessary documentation to become an FTA grantee in the near future and begin operating mass transportation as defined in transit law. The representative of the Town of Cary is a voting member of the TCC and the Mayor serves on the TAC.
CORRECTIVE ACTION:
In those areas with more than one grantee or designated recipient, FTA expects local officials, operating through the MPO, and designated recipients to determine the allocations of the FTA Urbanized Area Formula funds together. The subarea allocations should be determined fairly and rationally through a process agreeable to the designated recipients. Documentation showing how the allocation will be split should be provided to FTA by the MPO. A written agreement is required between the designated recipient and each entity involved. FTA may request a copy of the written agreement signed by a representative of each entity involved.
Recommendation:
IX. AIR QUALITY PLANNING
Findings:
The planning area under CAMPO's jurisdiction is currently designated as a maintenance area for air quality purposes. The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) made an air quality conformity determination on CAMPO's 2025 LRTP and the 2002-2008 MTIP on August 20, 1999, and October 1, 2001, respectively. Since CAMPO is required to update their current plan by August 20,2002, a corresponding USDOT air quality conformity determination will also have to be issued by then in order to remain in conformity. The updated transportation plan will be evaluated based on the one-hour ozone standard.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), representative on the Federal certification review team presented an overview of the new air quality area designations and the status of the 8-hour ozone standard. The EPA is currently developing implementation guidance for the 8-hour ozone standard and anticipates issuance of the guidance in early 2003. New area designations will follow in late 2003/early 2004, and conformity based on the new standard will be required one-year later in late 2004/early 2005.
Work on CAMPO's 2025 LRTP update and conformity determination is currently underway. CAMPO has hosted two interagency consultation (IC) meetings that focused on the 2025 LRTP update/conformity schedule and outlined tasks to be performed by CAMPO and the IC agency partners. CAMPO also with the assistance of the IC agency partners determined which projects in the 2025 LRTP met the (non-Federal) regional significant criteria.
The CAMPO Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) adopted the 2025 LRTP update on April 17, 2002 (the 2025 LRTP adoption was contingent on passing the air quality analysis/conformity). CAMPO is currently determining the speed and vehicle miles of travel data that will be input into the air quality conformity analysis. The speed and travel data will be provided to the North Carolina Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, the State's air quality oversight agency for their concurrence. The planning assumptions upon which CAMPO's plan is based have not changed significantly since the last LRTP update (the demographic data was adopted by the TAC in 1997). CAMPO and the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) will jointly prepare the air quality analysis and CAMPO will be responsible for preparing the conformity determination report. The conformity determination will be made by the MPO. Based on delays encountered during the development of the LRTP, CAMPO is estimating an air quality conformity lapse of 4 to 6 weeks.
The certification review team strongly recommended to CAMPO that they do everything possible to meet the LRTP update and conformity determination deadline. The review team emphasized that the main consequence of not meeting the LRTP update and conformity determination deadline would result in the CAMPO area becoming ineligible for federally funded transportation projects.
Recommendations:
X. TITLE VI AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Findings:
The appropriate time to ensure an MPO's compliance with Title VI and to substantiate the MPO's annual self-certification is during the planning certification review. This section discusses CAMPO's demographic profile and how CAMPO addresses Title VI and Environmental Justice (EJ) in their planning process and public involvement process.
CAMPO's demographic profile covers all of Wake County and is based on census blocks which correspond to their transportation analysis zones. CAMPO used census data to identify minority and low-income areas within the county. Income data from the 2000 census was not yet available, so the latest available had to be used. As soon as the 2000 census income data is published, CAMPO will revise the demographic profile. The profile currently shows that minority and low-income areas are very dispersed throughout the county. Only one area in the southwest part of the county appeared to be a "hotspot" - an area with a fairly heavy concentration of both low-income and minority communities.
CAMPO has not received any Title VI or EJ complaints. Title VI and EJ are addressed in the planning process through the modeling process. Although no specific needs assessment has been conducted for minority and low-income populations, various factors are being considered in the update of their long-range transportation plan. As an example, CAMPO analyzed commute times under several scenarios in order to identify any imbalances regarding minority and low-income areas. Additionally, CAMPO includes in their project ranking criteria an environmental index that addresses minority and low-income areas.
With regard to public involvement, CAMPO has been using fairly traditional outreach techniques. Due to the fast growing Hispanic population, the CAMPO is now having their newsletter translated into Spanish. When issuing press releases, CAMPO uses the City of Raleigh's Public Affairs media list which has a diverse and widespread distribution. CAMPO uses Citizen Advisory Committees as needed for which it ensures a diverse membership.
Effectively engaging minorities and low-income citizens has been a challenge for CAMPO. Successful public involvement requires constant reevaluation and creativity. It was suggested that the MPO try to piggyback off of other appropriate public forums so as to capture an audience that is already in place. A specific suggestion was to request to be added to the agenda of PTA meetings for schools in target areas. It was also suggested that the MPO take advantage of the alumnae chapters of African American fraternities and sororities which are highly organized (as well as other organized minority civic groups) with regard to their mailing list and other outreach efforts.
Recommendations:
XI. CONGESTION MANAGEMENT
Findings:
Objective B under Goal Four in the Transportation Plan Update 2025 is to maximize the highway system efficiency using means other than adding general purpose traffic lanes. As part of their Plan, Campo intends to pursue new technologies, improve transit services, and educate the public to improve transportation efficiency. The primary performance measure for the congestion management system will be volume/capacity ratios. CAMPO's Plan proposes statewide, corridor and site-specific strategies. CAMPO staff pointed out that they also intend to re-do the 35 travel time runs previously conducted and evaluate the results. CAMPO also studies and evaluates approximately 40 intersections each year.
XII. ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS
Findings:
Under the options analysis phase of the Transportation Plan Update 2025, each transportation plan option with the associated construction was evaluated with regard to proximity to historic sites, direct open space impact, acres of wetland impacted, and air quality impacts. The NCDOT and the CAMPO are actively identifying environmentally sensitive areas within the metropolitan area. These areas are being identified on geographic information systems as they are identified. This information is being shared with other agencies.
Follow Up:
Joint FHWA/FTA actions on future products of the MPOs planning process, such as approval of the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), review of the transportation plan update, plan and TIP conformity determinations, and the 3-C finding on the STIP, will address the progress made in the corrective action noted above.
