UFR TPR December 5th, 2024 Meeting Minutes
Location of Meeting: CDOT Region 4 – Big Thompson Room, 10601 West 10th Street, Greeley, CO 80634
Attendance:
WELD COUNTY Kevin Ross,Elizabeth Relford, Evan Pinkham, Michelle Wall Samantha Brown, LARIMER COUNTY Eric Tracy, Kristin Stephens, MORGAN COUNTY Jon Becker, CDOT Bryce Reeves, Chad Hall, Christa Curtiss, Dan Mattson, Darius Pakbaz, Deanna McIntosh, Emily Barden, Erik Sabina, Gabi Gamily, Gina Fox, Jan Rowe, Jim Eussen, James Usher, Josie Thomas, Kathleen Collins, Lou Keen, Mariah Northcott, Marissa Gaughan, Medora Bornhoft, Michael Schleicher, Michael Snow, Muhamad Nugroho, Phil Von Hake, Rich Christy, Wes Henderson, FHWA Andrew Valdez, NECALG Charles Bunnell, NFRMPO Becky Karasko, Paul Sizemore, City of Brush/Town of Hillrose Dale Colerick, ESTES PARK Dana Klein, Greg Muhonen, Fort Morgan Brent Nation, Tom Acre, KEENESBURG Matt Canterbury, PLATTEVILLE Troy Renken, WELLINGTON Cody Bird, PUBLIC Das Ellis, Jasmine Jackson.
Introductions and Determination of Quorum - Chair Becker
Chair Becker called the meeting to order at 12:59 p.m. Introductions were made around the room and a quorum was determined to be present.
Entities present:Weld County, Larimer County, Morgan County, CDOT, City of Brush/Town of Hillrose, Estes Park, Fort Lupton, Fort Morgan, Keenesburg, Platteville, and Wellington.
Approval of UFRTPR September 5, 2024, Meeting Minutes - Chair Becker
Motion: Approve the September 5, 2024, Meeting Minutes, Moved by Commissioner Ross, Seconded by Commisioner Becker. Motion passed unanimously.
Approve Meeting Dates and Locations for the Upcoming Year – Chair Becker
Motion: Approve the Meeting Dates and Location for the Upcoming Year. Motion passed unanimously.
Election of Chair and Vice-Chair for 2025 – Chair Becker
Chair Becker moved to elect Commissioner Kevin Ross as the Chair for 2025, the motion was seconded by Troy Renken. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Ross moved to elect Commissioner Kristin Stephens as the Vice-Chair for 2025. The motion was seconded by Chair Becker. Motion passed unanimously.
Transportation Commissioner Appointment Update - CDOT
A Transportation Commissioner has not yet been appointed.
NAAPME Community Clean Transportation Assistance Grant Funding Program - Darius Pakbaz, CDOT
Darius presented on the Nonattainment Area Air Pollution Mitigation Enterprise (NAAPME) Community Clean Transportation Assistance Grant Funding Program. This is a brand-new grant program for the communities in the non-attainment area and is now open for eligible projects. The non-attainment area includes most of southern Larimer County and all of Weld County. This initial call is for $17 million dollars throughout the next 6 months. The funding focus areas are projects that sustainably reduce traffic congestion, projects that reduce the environmental and health impacts of transportation, projects that improve neighborhood connectivity for communities adjacent to highways, and any federal congestion mitigation and air quality (CMAQ) project types. Project awards will be in quantities of $500,000.00 to $17,000,000.00. The final deadline for applications is April 30, 2025. For more information and updates visit: https://www.codot.gov/programs/naapme/naapme-community-clean-transportation-assistance-grant-funding-program.
Approve and Sign Resolution for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) FY24 Project Award SH 52/WCR 59 Roundabout - Evan Pinkham, Weld County
Evan explained that each year the CMAQ funding alternates between Larimer and Weld County and that this year the funding will go to Weld County. Following meeting with many of the Weld County TPR’s, they landed on the roundabout at SH 52 & WCR 59. Evan asked the group for approval to award $1,381,240.00 in CMAQ funding for this project.
Elizabeth Relford asked what the plan is for the $1,600,000.00 in funding shortfall for the total estimated cost of the project. Lou Keen responded that they will need to get together with the stake holders for this project and talk about the amounts being contributed now that they have a much better handle on the estimated cost than they did a few years ago.
Chair Becker Motion: Approve the resolution for CMAQ FY24 Project Award SH 52/WCR 59 Roundabout. Moved by: Commissioner Ross, Seconded by: Commissioner Stephens. Motion passed unanimously.
FY24-28 Multimodal Transportation and Mitigation Options Fund (MMOF) Projects Presentation (Project Sponsors)
Evan Pinkham explained that recently the Executive Committee met to score the projects submitted for MMOF and they recommended funding for four of the five projects. Presentations of these projects were provided to the group which included, Estes Park Moraine Ave Trail, Estes Park Transit Operations, Platteville Downtown Business District Sidewalk, and Weld County On-Demand Transit.
Elizabeth Relford stated to the group that the Executive Committee plans to bring a summary of their recommendations of how the funding will be allocated to the next meeting in March. However, before any recommendations are made their needs to be a discussion on the match rate reduction mentioned next on the agenda.
Resolution of support for MMOF Match Reduction requests - Evan Pinkham, Weld County
Chair Becker discussed with the group that Weld County and Platteville have requested a match rate reduction for their projects submitted for MMOF. Both would need to be approved and are asking to go from the requirement of a 50% match rate to 25% match rate.
Evan Pinkham explained that Weld County is asking for a reduction because they have a local match that they are putting together with the communities that they are working with, and that many of these communities qualify for a lower rate themselves. They believe that a 25% match rate will be more affordable and enable them to bring forward the funds required and provide the service to their communities.
Troy Renken explained that Platteville is asking for a match rate reduction because they are a smaller community and have had lower rates with grants in the past.
Chair Becker Motion: Approve Resolution of support for MMOF Match Reduction for Weld County. Moved by: Commissioner Stephens, Seconded by: Troy Renken. Motion passed unanimously.
Chair Becker Motion: Approve Resolution of support for MMOF Match Reduction for Platteville. Moved by: Commissioner Ross, Seconded by: Commissioner Stephens. Motion passed unanimously.
Elizabeth Relford announced to the group that these resolutions will be signed by Commissioner Becker and then put into letter format to be submitted officially to the Transportation Commission for their action. They will not know officially on the applications status until they approve that match rate reduction.
Michael Snow mentioned that they should be able to get this in front of the TC for approval in time for the March meeting.
CDOT 2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) - Marissa Gaughan, CDOT
Marissa presented on how they are guiding the Transportation Planning Region (TPR), to develop their 2050 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). A survey was sent out to the group since the last meeting in September to see if they wanted to change their vision, goals, or focus areas, and they have been working hard with Region 4 to update the project list. What they are needing from the group today is if there are any changes they have decided on and decisions on the approach to be used to establish priority projects for the 2050 RTP. Selected approach will be executed by the March meeting.
Included in this presentation was Gabi Gamily talking to the group about how Region 4 put on a series of Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) workshops to kick off their planning process for the 2050 RTP. For additional feedback and questions regarding SHSP you can send an email to the project team: shsp@state.co.us or visit the online engagement platform: https://cdot-shsp.mysocialpinpoint.com.
Elizabeth Relford added that if you have communities that have a state system that runs through them as their main street or something like that, she strongly encourages you to go into the my social pinpoint link and put a pin in the place where you have concerns in your community. This is a great way for CDOT to get outside input on locations that they may need to be aware of.
Next, Marissa included a couple new tools to help with the planning process for the 2050 RTP including a map of Wildlife Vehicle Crash data for 2023 that was requested by the group in a prior meeting, and the 2050 Long Range Transportation Plan Visualizer. This map has layers relating to safety, transit, etc., that you can turn on and off allowing you to view many maps in one place. Here is the link to view this map: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience.Marissa also went over the goals for the UFR RTP, and the feedback received from the survey results. The suggestion was made to remove the goal: further the creation of natural gas infrastructure and the use of compressed and liquefied natural gas and alternative transportation fuels. The group agreed and decided to remove this goal from the UFR RTP plan goals. Another change that was made was to include Metropolitan Planning Organizations to the goal: coordinate projects with other entities within the region, including, Rocky Mountain National Park, adjacent communities, TPRs, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and states. The suggestion was also made to modify this same goal to change Rocky Mountain National Park to federal and state entities to ensure inclusivity.
The UFR RTP goals were also discussed along with the focus areas and any modifications needing to be made.
A brief review was given to the group of the TPRs current projects and their background including status, cost, and project description.
Josie Thomas then presented the group with two lists of projects for consideration when developing the 2050 RTP. The first list was collected from the 4P meetings CDOT Region 4 held in the summer of 2023, and the second was put together by CDOT engineers familiar with the area.
The method of scoring the projects from the 2045 RTP was reviewed with the group so the discussion could be made as to whether the group will decide to continue to score projects in this manner for the 2050 RTP. No suggestions for changes were brought forward by the group at this time.
Medora Bornhoft then gave a presentation on how CDOT is going to aid in bringing forward the best possible projects in UFR TPR by using the “Complete Project Approach”. Using this approach, they will review each project and decide if it meets multiple considerations such as safety, cost effectiveness, demand, etc. Medora also gave an explanation to the group of what Active Transportation is: any human powered mode of transportation, and the importance of investing in Active Transportation. Medora and her team have put together an Active Transportation Plan (ATP) to help identify Active Transportation needs in each region.
Erik Sabina presented information on a statewide travel survey which chose roughly 20,000 random households to keep a diary of their day including where they went, and which mode of transportation, they used to get there. The goal of this survey is to improve regional mobility for all residents through effective coordination, planning, and delivery of transit services.
Christa Curtiss also talked to the group about how transit can fit into the RTP, and how agencies and CDOT can use the ongoing Transit Connection Study as a resource in their plans.
FHWA Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) Central Federal Lands - Andrew Valdez, FHWA
Andrew Valdez presented on behalf of Central Federal Lands (FHWA). FHWA is working with CDOT to update the federal lands access sections of the state’s TPR long range plans. There was a multi-agency workshop held by Larimer County on November 15th with CDOT, Larimer County, Weld County, and others. During this workshop the Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) long range plan list from 2020 was updated leaving them with thirteen projects on state highways and local roads to focus on. Andrew is looking for validation from the group on the list of the 13 projects and will return for the March meeting to discuss the possibility of adopting these projects for the UFR RTP.
CDOT Presentation SH 14 Safety Plan - Bryce Reeves, CDOT
Bryce Reeves gave a quick presentation on the State Highway 14 safety plan. The stretch of road in the study is from LCR 5 to WCR 43 along SH 14. For the study they are collecting information from crash data, travel pattern analysis, audits, field review, and stakeholder interviews that were conducted to receive recommendations. Some of the recommendations that were made were a corridor-wide speed study, crossroad advance signs, no passing zones, install double rumble stripes and painted median, potential passing lanes, and flat spot mitigation. Bryce also gave a list of intersections along this stretch that have a high loss, a fatal crash in 2023 and/or an issue identified through analysis. For this study their team is also looking at pedestrian safety in this area and has a list of recommendations of areas that need intervention.
CDOT INFRA Grant Award – US 287 Safety Improvement Project (CDOT)
Chad Hall suggested to include this item for the March agenda in light of the time available in this current meeting and the group agreed.
Community Roundtable
The group thanked Elizabeth Relford for her time served on UFR TPR as she moves to a different role within Weld County.
No other updates were provided by the communities at this time.
Public or Additional Comments
Das Ellis, a member of the community and recent amputee spoke to bring light to the current gap in public transportation options available in the area between Brighton and Evans.
Josie Thomas is going to pass along Das’s contact information to the Division of Transit and Rail (DTR) who are in the process of doing a transit connection study and determining the need of alternative transportation options in this area.
Jasmine Jackson also spoke to the lack of transportation options available as a someone who was recently released from jail and needs to be able to have a way to make it to court. Having reliable transportation would allow her to stay out of the Greeley area and out of temptation but still have a way to get to trial and do what she needs to stay sober and meet the requirements of her release.
Inactive Projects Report (Handout)
Handout was provided to the group giving status updates the Inactive Projects Report.
Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 4:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Samantha Brown, Secretary