Mr. Manley motioned to approve the minutes from the October meeting. Ms. McQuay seconded, and the motion was carried unanimously.

Transcription

1 OZARKS TRANSPORTATION ORGANIZATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING MINUTES December 21, 2006 The Board of Directors of the Ozarks Transportation Organization met at its scheduled time of 12:00 p.m. in the Busch Municipal Building, 4 th Floor Conference room in Springfield, Missouri. The following members were present: Marc Thornsberry, City of Springfield (Chair, a) Dave Coonrod, Greene County Commission (Vice-Chair) Harold Bengsch, Greene County Commission Jim Bresee, Christian County Bryant Doss, City of Strafford Sheila Wright, City of Springfield (a) Judy Stainback, City of Battlefield Phil Wannemacher, City Utilities Dennis Robbins, City of Republic Donna McQuay, City of Ozark Dale Ricks, MoDOT J. Howard Fisk, Citizen-at-Large Representative Tom Keltner, City of Willard Bob Chancellor, Citizen-at-Large Representative Ralph Manley, City of Springfield Conrad Griggs, City of Springfield (a) Denotes alternate given voting privileges as a substitute for a voting member not present. The following members were not present: Mokhtee Ahmad, FTA Regional Director Tom Carlson, City of Springfield Jim Collins, City of Republic Mark Schenkelberg, FAA Jim Payne, Airport Board Doug Marrs, City of Nixa Brad McMahon, FHWA Virginia Fry, City Utilities (a) Others present were: Steve McIntosh, Congressman Roy Blunt s office; Frank Miller, MoDOT; Joel Keller, Green County Highway Department; Gary Cyr, Director, Airport; Kent Morris, Greene County; Ann Razer, City of Springfield; Sara Edwards, OTO; Natasha Longpine, OTO; and Dan Rudge, OTO Executive Director. Mr. Thornsberry called the Board of Directors meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. I. Administration A. Approval of Board of Directors Meeting Agenda???????????? motioned to approve the agenda as presented. Ms. Wright seconded, and the motion was carried unanimously. B. Approval of the October19, 2006 Meeting Minutes Mr. Manley motioned to approve the minutes from the October meeting. Ms. McQuay seconded, and the motion was carried unanimously. C. Public Comment Period No one from the public spoke.

2 D. Executive Director s Report Mr. Rudge provided a review of the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) staff activities since the October Board of Directors meeting. He stated staff has been busy working on the North-South Corridor study, the US 60 East study and the Transit Coordination Plan. Mr. Rudge said later in this meeting he will be discussing the North- South Corridor study. He stated the US 60 East committee met yesterday and it was agreed that they were looking for concept drawings of what the corridor would look like so that all jurisdictions can move forward with preserving right-of-way. He said there will probably be an action on behalf of the MPO to adopt a concept plan with the caveat that MoDOT s stamp will be removed so it does not show they are agreeing on what the final design will look like. He said this should allow them to preserve about 70% of the corridor. The Transit Coordination Plan is required by Federal law and with that program they are trying to figure out what are all the human service agencies providing transit services and if there are any gaps in service for individuals. He said if so they are trying to develop a plan to allow them to better coordinate all the transit groups. Mr. Rudge stated they have also been working on their Ride-Share program. They have met recently with the Branson Chamber of Commerce who are interested in developing express bus service from the OTO study area to Branson to assist with staffing some of their major outlet malls and jobs in the hospitality industry. He said Branson is experiencing problems finding a labor market and this may be an opportunity to do some economic development work by providing jobs to individuals in the OTO s service area. Mr. Rudge was asked to clarify his statement regarding MoDOT on the US 60 study. Mr. Rudge stated there was some concern raised because a couple years ago MoDOT did some concept drawings for the US 60 corridor and because they are not considered preliminary designs MoDOT did not believe they should be used by local jurisdictions and be held to that in future negotiations. A concept plan will be used without MoDOT s name on it so they do not appear to endorse it. A concern was expressed that the project could be abandoned and could affect the area between the cloverleaf and Rogersville. Mr. Rudge said he received a call and the letter that was received has been rescinded. He said the two different districts would be consolidating and the project was not being dropped. Mr. Rudge stated they would hopefully be meeting in January to adopt the US 60 East concept plan. II. New Business A. Route 14 in Downtown Ozark TIP Amendment Request Sara Edwards said the City of Ozark is undertaking a downtown revitalization program for the area east of the Finley River. As part of their program, the City has decided that improvements to Route 14 between the Finley River Bridge and Oak Street are necessary. The City of Ozark is requesting a TIP amendment to spend their Urban STP funds on the design of an improved Route 14 corridor that would include the addition of median controls and protected turn lanes. She stated that Route 14 is a high priority project for MPO and is designated a top five priority corridor. She stated staff and the Technical Committee are recommending approval

3 Mr. Fisk motioned to amend the TIP to program FY07 Urban STP funds for the design of Route 14 in Downtown Ozark. Mr. Breese seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. B. MoDOT Support Letter Request Mr. Rudge stated recently MPO staff received a letter from the MoDOT Central Office requesting a letter of support from the OTO to seek federal grant funds to establish a pilot program to convert the existing I-44 Weigh Scale locations into areas for parking for Commercial Motor Vehicle carriers. The USDOT has identified addressing long-term parking shortages along the National Highway System for Commercial Motor Vehicles as a priority to improve the efficient movement of goods across America. If MoDOT is successful in obtaining these grant funds, additional transportation funds would be brought into the OTO study area and no existing funds designated for the OTO area would be used on this project. He stated the Technical Committee was supportive of the letter but there were concerns about the lack of restroom and food facilities at the existing truck stops as well as safety concerns for drivers walking across I-44 and ramps to access those facilities. Because of those concerns they asked the letter be drafted but also address the concerns expressed. Mr. Ricks said the demand for parking exceeds what is available causing the vehicles to line up on the ramps every night. He stated those areas would be marked truck parking and would not preclude passenger car parking. Mr. Ricks said by adding restroom facilities you significantly increase the cost of operating those parking areas. Portable restroom facilities are believed to be a feasible option for these locations. Mr. Coonrod motioned to send a letter of support, signed by incoming Board Chair Dave Coonrod, to MoDOT for the conversion of weigh scales on I-44 to long-term parking for Commercial Motor Vehicles with the addition of We would request that MoDOT consider adding portable restroom facilities at the weigh stations. Ms. Wright seconded, and the motion was carried unanimously. C. Presentation on Interim Access Proposal for New Mid-Field Terminal. Several local interest groups and Board members have expressed concerns about how the general public will access the new Midfield Terminal once it opens. While a new access road is being developed, the construction of this new access road will not be complete when the Midfield Terminal becomes operation. Director of Aviation for the Springfield-Branson National Airport, Gary Cyr, discussed how they propose to route traffic to the airport during the gap between the new terminal opening and the completion of the new airport access road. Mr. Cyr said currently there are three access points into the facility, Division and EE, Farm Road 115 and EE, and Farm Road 107. The airport will be paying for the design of the north-south corridor and the city will be responsible for the east-west corridor design. The new Mid-Field Terminal is expected to be operational in the Fall of 2008 and because the funding for the corridors are not yet in place there needs to be routes in place to access the new terminal in the interim. Mr. Thornsberry added Greene County has also been involved in this process. Mr. Coonrod said he believes this will not continue to evolve into a fully developed area without widening Highway EE into three lanes. Mr. Cyr said the preliminary design of the roadway into the terminal from 266 and I-44 will go into a roundabout which will go north going across Farm Road 107 then back onto the airport property.

4 He said this would be a five way round-about with the fifth leg being the future direct access from the south. D. Update on North-South Corridor Study Mr. Rudge stated the North-South Corridor Subcommittee has selected a priority order for roadway improvements on North-South Corridors in the OTO service area. Mr. Rudge referred to the maps provided to the Board and stated the consultant is recommending developing a hybrid version of what was originally considered by this Board. He said originally the four proposed corridors to the south with the main corridor being existing West Bypass, FF, south into Christian County and swinging to connect back south of Nixa, shown on the map as proposed Kansas Expressway extension and State Highway FF with a blue line. He stated there is also the hybrid portion indicated by the purple line which would be the Kansas Expressway extension. He said that alignment would not be set until the EIS is developed. He said a recommendation is to use existing Nicholas Road for a portion of that even though it will be swung away from Nicholas Road because Nixa has constructed a school there and the committee is not comfortable with the safety issues associated with that. He stated the reason they are selecting the West Bypass as a primary route is because it offers the most opportunity to develop at expressway standards. He said using the existing right-of-way, which has already been purchased for Kansas Expressway, it becomes at most a 3-lane facility running through residential areas which they do not believe is a wise investment of funds. The Kansas Expressway corridor will connect into a new West Bypass corridor. The study has found all of these four corridors need to be developed and the subcommittee has simply prioritized them based on how they scored within several categories. The recommendation from the subcommittee is to move forward with the hybrid version as the first priority and the second priority would become the widening of US 160 north of I-44 while operational improvements continue to Campbell and US 160. National and the new Highway 13 connection to I-44 would be lower on the priority scale. National and Kansas Expressway would have to be locally driven although there is possibly some other funding for Kansas. He said the subcommittee is asking the Board to allow them to conduct public meetings prior to the full Technical Committee voting on it in January. The public meetings would be held on January 8 and 9. Mr. Coonrod stated Greene County has been discussing the possibility of a transportation tax that could be used to provide monetary support for projects such as this. Mr. Griggs said he believed the agreement was not to extend Kansas Expressway until the east-west corridor was complete. Mr. Rudge stated the East-West Corridor was going to have to be developer or locally driven. Mr. Griggs stated that was not the agreement and asked who determines the criteria. Mr. Rudge stated the realism of the situation is that it will be difficult to convince the state or the federal government to spend money on it. Mr. Thornsberry stated staff has yet to make all of their comments on the report. III. Other Business A. Board of Directors Member Announcements None. B. Transportation Issues for Board of Directors Member Review None

5 C. Information Items Mr. Thornsberry noted there are articles about transportation issues located in the back of the agenda packet as well as the meeting schedule for IV. Adjournment?????????????????? motioned to adjourn the meeting.?????????????????????? seconded, and the motion was carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 PM. The next regular scheduled meeting for the Board of Directors has been scheduled for Thursday, February 15, 2007, 12:00-1:00 p.m., 4 th Floor Conference Room, Busch Municipal Building.