REPORT ON TRANSPORTATION PLANNING ACTIVITIES

Transcription

1 REPORT ON TRANSPORTATION PLANNING ACTIVITIES A. H-GAC LONG RANGE PLANNING TPC Agenda Item 10A Staff conducted a joint RTP and TIP Subcommittee meeting on March 8, The meeting included discussion on the schedule and proposed activities for the 10-Year Plan Amendment and 2045 RTP Update. Staff prepared meeting materials for the RTP Subcommittee meeting planned for April 24, Subregional Planning Initiatives (SPI) A Notice to Proceed was issued and kick-off meeting was conducted for Waller County Mobility Plan. SH 146 Subregional Study is underway and staff coordinated on the planning project with partners and consultant. 2. Safety/Operations Planning Incident Management Strategic Plan: Staff is working with City of Houston s Legal Department to finalize interagency agreement language to reinstate the Quick Clearance Program at no cost to the stranded patron. DWI Task Force: Staff coordinated with participating agencies on the invoicing for the DWI Task Force operations conducted over Spring Break. Reimbursement requests were reviewed and submitted to TxDOT. There are 12 agencies participating in this year s Task Force. 3. Freight Planning The Greater Houston Freight Committee meeting was conducted on March 20, Staff coordinated with various freight stakeholders on the preparation of the Critical Freight Urban Corridors (CFUC) network. 4. Hurricane Evacuation Planning Staff coordinated with various regional stakeholders on upcoming revisions to the Emergency Evacuation Traffic Management Plan. Staff attended the following events and coordinated on evacuation planning o Houston Community Preparedness Collaborative on March 10, 2017 o Brazoria County Emergency Preparedness Meeting on March 21, 2017 o Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management on March 21, 2017 B. H-GAC SHORT RANGE PLANNING TIP Development Update Page 1 of 3

2 TIP documents and additional supporting materials can be found online at: The H-GAC Board has approved the selection of EcoInteractive Inc. to supply and support a replacement project database and information management system. A timetable for deployment of the new system will be finalized as part of contract negotiations. 2. Transit Planning Update: Copies of semi-final draft deliverables for the Regionally Coordinated Transportation Plan (RCTP) were made available to the Regional Transit Coordination Subcommittee (RTCS) in advance of the April 13, 2017 quarterly meeting. The deliverables include revised drafts of the RCTP Gap Analysis and Financial Plan and a draft Final Report. Staff presentations during the meeting included a New Member Orientation, a summary of the RCTP Deliverables and some results from the Regional Community Transportation Needs Assessment Survey. Comments from the RTCS members were requested to be sent by to H-GAC staff, by April 27, Information was also shared about the RCTP Focus Group Report. Background information about the RCTP and audio recordings of past RTCS meetings, indexed by agenda items, are available on the project website at C. PUBLIC OUTREACH 1. Public Meetings None scheduled. 2. Brown Bag Lunch Series May Brown Bag Lunch Series Monday, May 15, 2017, Noon-1:00 p.m., Rm B 3. Commute Solutions Planning Activities Staff held its regularly scheduled monthly meeting with NuRide staff to discuss progress and outreach efforts. As of March 1 st, the NuRide program documented a reduction of 540,260 VMT for carpools and 2,244,776 VMT reductions for all documented modes. The number of NuRiders increased to 29,658 representing 1,650 organizations. Staff continued to manage and oversee several CMAQ grants that fund the Commute Solutions and Clean Air Action Programs and Outreach activities. Commute Solutions staff met with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) on February 8 to coordinate with them on their new Houston ConnectSmart project. Staff met with representatives from KUBE TV/Channel 57 to discuss ways they can assist H- GAC to promote new Road Warriors for Smarter Commutes marketing campaign to reach a larger group of people among the Commute Solutions Program target audiences. Staff conducted an H-GAC Commuter Survey among its employees. A total of 145 employees responded to the commuter survey. Page 2 of 5

3 Staff conducted a commuter survey among the tenants and their employees at 3555 Timmons Lane, Houston, TX where the H-GAC office is located. Staff is still waiting to receive responses to the commuter survey. Staff has participated in several public outreach events during this reporting period to promote commute alternatives among commuters. Staff has also conducted a Commuter Survey among attendees at these outreach events. Commute Solutions staff gave a Power Point presentation to the Workforce Solutions Board to discuss the Commute Solutions program. Staff has held several meetings internally with the H-GAC Workforce Solutions staff to discuss ways that Commute Solutions and its TDM partners can work together to provide alternative transportation, such as transit, vanpooling and carpooling, to businesses, employees, customers who partner with H-GAC s Workforce Solutions program. We are also discussing ways to assist new job seekers to get to and from job training and new job sites after they are hired for employment. Staff attended the Mobility as a Service Workshop Part 2 held on February 22 at the TxDOT Houston District office. The workshop was sponsored by the Red River Chapter of the National Association for Commuter Transportation (ACT). The purpose of the workshop was to continue discussion on the application of transportation mobility in the Greater Houston area. Staff held a conference call with Jonathan Brooks of Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) to discuss the development of follow-up surveys for employers and commuters as part of Phase IV of the State Planning and Research (SPR) Study Scope of Work. 4. Drayage Loan Program/Clean Vehicle Program Planning Activities: Clean Vehicles Program: To date, the Clean Vehicles program has completed 3,076 engine/station replacements trucks for $96 million. Additionally, $2,201, in TERP and $5 million in CMAQ funding were awarded for drayage truck replacement. Drayage Loan Program: This program has loaned more than $11.75 million to replace 225 trucks. Staff uses revolving loan funds to award new loans. 5. General Air Quality Planning Activities Due to a proposal submitted in January, Electrify America, the organization created to implement the Volkswagen settlement investment plan, has announced that the Houston region will be one of 11 metropolitan regions in the US to receive investment towards the installation of zero emission vehicle charging equipment within the region. In total, Electrify America will install over 300 charging stations throughout the country. At this time, it is not known how many of those will be installed within the H-GAC region. Staff held a meeting of the Regional Air Quality Planning Advisory Committee (RAQPAC) on March 30 th to discuss several issues related to: foreign pollution impacts on the region and a legislative update. This meeting also included a regional air quality monitoring update and agency updates from TCEQ and EPA. Staff began development of the 2016 Air Quality Initiatives report. It is anticipated that additional information about this updated annual report will be presented to TPC at future meetings. Page 3 of 5

4 Staff continues to work on developing a data management plan to better capture and use data that can be used to calculate emission reduction progress resulting from H-GAC air quality projects. Staff coordinated with Environmental Defense Fund and local marine stakeholders to discuss opportunities for local organizations to use MERCS credits for marine emissions. Staff worked to develop and submit a new Department of Energy grant proposal to focus on providing incentives to increase the distribution of idle-reduction technologies within the region. H-GAC staff were unable to submit a final proposal, however the these discussions will become the basis for planning activities focusing on: the installation of battery-powered Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) in police vehicles; the purchase or retrofit of alternative fuelpowered light- medium- and heavy-duty vehicles for governments and companies that operate within the region; the purchase of all-electric yard tractors for freight facilities within the region; and the purchase of electrified trailer refrigeration units (etrus) for freightrelated operations within the region. Staff submitted the results of the annual Houston Galveston Clean Cities 2016 Annual Survey to the Department of Energy. This survey collected data on fleets and activities within the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria region to document the use of alternative fuels, vehicles, and fuel saving technologies in the region during the previous calendar year. Through this survey, it is estimated that in 2016, regional Clean Cities activities resulted in a reduction of 15.3 million gallons of gasoline equivalent among regional fleets; or 20% more reductions than in Additionally, regional Clean Cities activities resulted in a reduction of 70,000 tons of greenhouse gases within the region; an 18% increase in reduction over E. Travel Demand Forecasting Staff continues to provide travel demand modeling technical supports and assistances to support H-GAC s member agencies and their transportation planning studies. Modeling support continues for air quality projects including management of technical studies conducted both by the staff and consultants. Staff continues the development of an advance Activities Based Model (ABM). The ABM will be complete and in use by the end of Staff continues to develop a dynamic travel demand model for use in corridor analyses. F. Other Planning Activities Staff participated in the Texas Smart Cities forum in Austin Texas. The forum was designed to support public/private partnerships advancing technological solutions designed to increase use of transit and other alternative travel modes, improve delivery of transit services, and improve traveler information about travel conditions and choices. The Metropolitan Transit Agency of Harris County (METRO) is the lead Agency for innovation efforts with Team Houston. Staff continued to coordinate with several organizations and cities in December 2016 and January 2017 regarding their participation in the State Planning and Research (SPR) Study Page 4 of 5

5 marketing campaign to encourage employers to provide incentives and enhancements to their employees to use commute alternatives. Participating organizations and cities include the following: METRO STAR Vanpool, Energy Corridor District, Upper Kirby District, Westchase Management District, Central Houston, Inc., City of Sugar Land and City of Conroe. Page 5 of 5