Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-02-23 Joint Meeting with Ada County Highway District JOINT MEETING OF THE MERIDIAN CITY COUNCIL AND THE ADA COUNTY HIGHWAY DISTRICT COMMISSION City Council Chambers, 33 East Broadway Avenue Meridian, Idaho Thursday, February 23, 2023 at 4:00 PM All materials presented at public meetings become property of the City of Meridian. Anyone desiring accommodation for disabilities should contact the City Clerk's Office at 208-888-4433 at least 48 hours prior to the public meeting. Minutes ROLL CALL ATTENDANCE MERIDIAN CITY COUNCIL ADA COUNTY HIGHWAY DISTRICT __x__ Joe Borton __x__ Jim Hansen __x__ Liz Strader ___x__ Alexis Pickering __x__ Brad Hoaglun __x__ Miranda Gold __x__ John Overton __x__ Kent Goldthorpe ____ Jessica Perreault __x__ Dave McKinney __x__ Luke Cavener __x__ Mayor Robert E. Simison ADOPTION OF AGENDA DISCUSSION TOPICS \[Action Item\] 1. Meridian Intersection & Pedestrian Safety Task Force Updates 2. Leading Pedestrian Interval Campaign 3. Linder Road Overpass Update 4. Ustick Road Maintenance Complex Update 5. Integrated Five-Year Work Plan (IFYWP) Process ADJOURNMENT 5:33 PM Meridian City Council -ACHD Joint February 23, 2023. A Joint meeting of the Meridian City Council and the Ada County Highway District was called to order at 4:01 p.m. Thursday, February 23, 2023, by Mayor Robert Simison. Members Present: Robert Simison, Joe Borton, Luke Cavener, Brad Hoaglun, Liz Strader and John Overton. Members Absent: Jessica Perreault. ROLL-CALL ATTENDANCE MERIDIAN CITY COUNCIL ADA COUNTY HIGHWAY DISTRICT _X Liz Strader _X Jim Hansen _X Joe Borton _X Alexis Pickering _X Brad Hoaglun _X Miranda Gold _X John Overton _X Kent Goldthorpe Jessica Perreault _X Dave McKinney _X Luke Cavener _X Mayor Robert E. Simison Simison: Council, we will go ahead and call this meeting to order. For the record it is February 23rd, 4:01 p.m. and this is a joint meeting of the Meridian City Council and the Ada County Highway District Commission. Does the ACHD also need to call the meeting to order? Pickering: We will go ahead and call the meeting to order. Simison: Okay. Thank you. All right. If we can just do the roll call. Pickering: And there is a quorum for the ACHD Commissioners. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA Simison: Okay. First up is adoption of the agenda. Hoaglun: Mayor Council? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move adoption of the agenda as published. Borton: Second. Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 2 of 27 Simison: I have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. Is there any discussion? If not, all in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it and the agenda is adopted. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. DISCUSSION TOPICS [Action Items] 1. Meridian Intersection & Pedestrian Safety Task Force Updates Simison: All right. Then with that we will just move on into Item 1 . The first item is the Meridian Intersection and Pedestrian Safety Task Force updates. As Miranda comes forward I just want to say thank you to both ACHD and West Ada for getting together with us all and taking a look at what Miranda is going to talk about. We have, obviously, had some unfortunate situations and accidents and deaths in our community over the last several years and I think this is important for us to take a look at. So, Miranda, I will turn this over to you. Carson: Thank you, Mayor. So, I did distribute our scope that -- for the task force. This is a draft scope we can discuss tonight and make some changes based on your input. So, as the Mayor said, this task force came from the catalyst of the tragic accidents that occurred in Meridian. It was as a result of a request from you elected officials that staff and elected officials be involved together to look at various sites throughout Meridian and how we can improve the safety at those locations for pedestrians. So, specifically we are looking at major intersections and pedestrian crossings particularly around schools. Our major goals for this are to improve the mobility network for all users. Use data, both -- we are using both data that we currently have collecting data and, then, also using some of that feel through site visits and centralizing the leading agency's resources, so that the community can have a better feedback loop when they make requests and when we make improvements. There are several members of the task force from several different -- different agencies. As you can see there we have a broad representation from lots of different groups. We began our kickoff meeting by reviewing the past efforts and the current efforts that are going into improving pedestrian safety in these areas. There are many different agencies that look at these things that overlap geographic boundaries and overlap in efforts. So, we began by looking at those and seeing where we can coordinate through those processes and where some of those processes can assist in this task force. We have -- we set our timeline in that kickoff meeting and agreed to a timeline of around six months. It may be extended slightly, but we are looking to accomplish this in a six month time frame for this initial evaluation. The sites that we are going to be looking at in Meridian will be arterial-arterial intersections, arterial-collector signalized intersections, enhanced crosswalks -- and those will be the ones with HAWK -- HAWK signals and RRFPs. We wanted to gather data on every intersection that will be done through ACHD staff, planning staff and Meridian Police Department will be going out and doing site visits and collecting photos. ACHD staff and Meridian staff will be working together to compile data and, then, Meridian Police Department will also be compiling data with staff for crash data that we Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 3 of 27 can review. So, after that initial data gathering happens, the next step that we are going to be working towards in our next meeting, which will be late March or early April time frame, will be to start identifying solutions to these areas. We are going to be looking at short-term and long-term solutions for pedestrian safety, reviewing public comments that have come in, the data analysis, site visits and reviewing policy and code to see if there is anything overarching that we can make changes to have improvements continue on through policy and code. After we have identified some solutions and we are coming to the end of that six month'ish effort, we are going to bring forward those recommendations to both City Council and ACHD Commission to review and go forward. We are also hoping from that kickoff meeting we heard a lot of feedback that the group was hoping this effort would continue past the six month, not just be this six month evaluation, but that from this some kind of interagency group can evolve and be a continuing effort that goes on into the future. So, at this point that's a brief explanation of the scope and I can stand for any questions and expand on anything you are interested in further. Simison: Thank you, Miranda, and I know we also had a couple of folks up here on the dais that were present for those conversations. So, I will see if any of them first have anything that they would like to add to what Miranda has presented from your perspective. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Thank you. I think maybe one piece that was missing is just there -- there was definitely a thought around gathering feedback from the community in a centralized way and making sure that we are getting the perspective of Meridian residents on all of the intersections and crossings and I think one piece that we were hoping -- and this is a great summary -- that would come out of this long term would be even an ongoing website or portal or a centralized place where citizens could bring forward concerns that would be directed to the agencies plural. So, something more centralized. I don't think we have thought through what that would look like yet, but that was one thought that the stakeholder group had so far. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Excellent job, Miranda. When we first started this I think one of the main points I really wanted to make sure that we stressed was at no point in this task force is there any comment to say that these intersections that already exist are unsafe. They are safe. What we are trying to do is take them to the next level and see what we can do as a collaborative effort to take them beyond where they are now and make them even safer and part of that discussion on coming up with a -- almost a one stop shop where people can go to a place and look at this information and have all the input from Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 4 of 27 all the different players at the table, instead of having to try to go to five or six different websites to get that information. But it's a work in progress. I know we will get there and, Miranda, you are doing a fantastic job. Thank you. Carson: Thank you. Simison: Commissioner Pickering. Pickering: Yeah. I just want to say thanks, Miranda. Thank you to ACHD staff. Thank you to West Ada and thank you for -- thank you to our council leadership as well. I think I was really heartened by the meeting and I really am -- I applaud you all for partnering with us on this and I'm -- I'm definitely optimistic that the Commission and all of us will love to hear the priorities and the needs that come out of this task force's work. So, thank you for your leadership. Simison: Thank you. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Thanks, Miranda. First I don't know who was in charge of putting together the dream team of membership, but it's really like a who's who of thoughtful community leaders. So, I really appreciate all the folks that have given up some of their time to -- to be members. Maybe a -- a suggestion and a question. So, as you kind of laid out the scope, Miranda, a piece that I -- I think is probably contemplated, but not captured here is -- is the informed site. So, once you have all come together, you have brought forth some ideas, you have presented to, you know, ACHD and the city, how are we informing our community about this and I guess part of that stems from how are we also communicating with our charter schools that are in Meridian. It makes complete sense that West Ada, as large it is, it has got membership, but as we continue to see an increase in charter schools across Meridian and in the valley they also present some of the similar challenges that we are trying to attack here. So, I just would encourage that however we can translate that same information that we are sending to West Ada that we are sending it to those other individual schools or their leadership so that they can be kept in the loop and invited to pretend as -- as viewers or attendees -- maybe not as a member, but that they can be kept in the loop with these recommendations that might be towards them as well? Carson: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Go ahead. Carson: Councilman Cavener, that's a great point and it did come up in our stakeholder meeting, our kickoff, and in the expanded version of this scope that's many many pages, there is note that we need to keep the charter schools involved. There is also Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 5 of 27 note that we can reach out to school administrators, because they know best what's going on around their schools on the ground and get their feedback about issues that they are hearing from from parents and charter schools will be involved in that as well. Hansen: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Commissioner Hansen. Hansen: Yeah. Thank you. I'm very excited about this. You do have a dream team. You have Ryan Head, who led the effort at ACHD to develop our livable streets performance measures, which are level of traffic stress on a scale of one through four. And so those tools are already there. So, it's very exciting to see that metric that can be used and, then, are used in more and more circles to say, ah, this is how do we move from this area being a level of traffic stress three to a level of traffic stress one so people will feel safe using it. So, those metrics are there. We have got those tools. The great thing is we might, through this process, actually get even better input to refine them even more, so they become more of a planning tool. So, this is fantastic. And if Ryan was here I would give him a round of applause, because he -- he put a huge amount of work into developing those metrics that our agency is now using. Carson: Mr. Mayor, I just want to speak to that -- that dream team and I love the way that's phrased. This effort started with the West Ada School District, ACHD, and the City of Meridian and word spread very quickly about the task force. Mentioned it at one public meeting and after that I got requests from other agencies to be involved. So, that's why we do have additional agencies involved in that as well. So, it really is a dream team and I agree with that and people are excited to be participating in it. Simison: Any additional questions or comments? Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: A couple of questions. I will just -- I will give you all three just to see how they are being addressed. One is does the scope of what's being reviewed also contemplate recommended changes in design standards for future growth and development for pedestrian safety or is it just addressing an existing infrastructure? Carson: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Borton, yes, we did -- we do want to look at policies and code going forward, so that we can address these things proactively in the future. Borton: Okay. The second one -- Mr. Mayor, if it's okay. This is the second question concerns -- and maybe this is ahead of myself, but whether or not there may be consideration to recommend changing some weight structure in the five year integrated work plan to address pedestrian safety point calculation. Is that part of it as well? Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 6 of 27 Carson: Mr. Mayor, Councilman Borton, yes, that did come up. So, we did look at, as a group, how this effort can inform the integrated five year work plan prioritization. We haven't gotten into the nitty gritty about how that would inform the weights, but we did talk about how that would inform as a city our prioritization process and, hopefully, as an ACHD organization that this can bleed into that process as well. Borton: It's on the radar. Mr. Mayor, the last two were comments that I heard that I think are fantastic components of it. One is that -- that one of the takeaways is -- sounds like create some -- some permanent structure to this process. It's an ongoing endeavor to promote pedestrian safety improvements. So, I -- which I think is a brilliant model to use and that there is going to be some form of permanent component for public input, some repository of these types of improvements. We all know that folks in the neighborhoods who are impacted daily by some of these challenges see it first and it's just a great way to -- to use that tool to find out, even before any of us might know, ways to get something on this group's radar to improve. So, having both of those as part of it is going to make it successful long term, so well done. Carson: Thank you. Simison: All right. Seeing no other questions or hands raised, thank you, Miranda. Appreciate it very much. 2. Leading Pedestrian Interval Campaign Simison: And we are just going to dovetail off of that to a certain extent for -- in a different way and move on to Item 2, which is Leading Pedestrian Interval campaign and Kelly will be providing that information from ACHD. Baker: All right. Mayor, Council Members, Madam President, Commissioners, thank you for having me. My name is Kelly Baker. I'm a traffic engineer at ACHD. So, I'm just here today to kind of go over our let's get there safely -- safely signalization project and that's implementing the Leading Pedestrian Intervals at our signals throughout Ada county. So, this is part of an ongoing effort that we have had part of the let's get there safely program and that includes many pedestrian enhancements that we have made kind of dovetailing off -- we just want to enhance the safety that's already there. So, what is an LPI? Leading Pedestrian Interval -- Interval is a signal timing adjustment that at intersections it increases the pedestrian safety. So, what it does is when a pedestrian approaches the signal and they push the push button it gives them typically a three to seven head start or enhanced cross, so they are in the crosswalk passed the first lane of travel before the cars in the parallel direction have their green signal. So, it helps establish their presence in the crosswalk. Part of the LPI process is there has been a 13 percent reduction in pedestrian vehicle crashes. This is part of a study from FHWA. It also increases drivers yielding due to the pedestrians visibility. There is already movement in the crosswalk before the cars get the green signal, as well as it establishes their right of way. They are already in the crosswalk. They don't need to yield to the vehicles. The vehicles yield to them. It does require the accessible Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 7 of 27 pedestrian signals. Those are the audible push buttons that we have at some signals throughout the county. It will adjust the signal length or the available green time for the drivers. So, part of our LPI implementation progress we do currently have it at 21 signals throughout Ada county. There is 457 total signals. So, we are just building off that progress and going to get going with that. So, our 2022-2023 plan is to plan and also begin implementing them at the signalized intersections all throughout Ada county. We are prioritizing our first kind of emphasis on implementing them. Our locations, near schools, near parks, pedestrian attractors -- and that includes downtown cores. So, next step. We are currently just finalizing our planning and collecting data and really getting a good inventory of what we have out there, what needs to be improved, and we have an ACHD work session with the Commission on March 1 . Next week. So, I'm open to any questions or comments. Simison: Thank you, Kelly. Council, commission, questions, comments? Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Just a comment. What a fantastic initiative. Thank you. I'm sure I speak for everybody that this is a great idea and we really appreciate you guys doing this. Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: Kelly, thanks. ACHD does a good job of synchronizing stoplights in certain areas that help facilitate flow of traffic and move it quickly, but with this, if there is a school zone, that sort of thing, and a crosswalk, how does that impact a traffic lane? Ten Mile I know has a school on it and different places do, that -- does that have an impact to those synchronizations? Baker: It does, Councilman. So, it -- we do take that into effect when we are doing the corridor signal timing. We look at those signals, what's along the roadway, what the drivers are doing to help with that coordination. Simison: Commissioner Goldthorpe. Goldthorpe: I thought that was on. Okay. Now it's green. Sorry. I'm used to red. They turn mine off all the time. The -- the idea for this ACHD has known about it for some time, this technology, but one of your IT -- one of my IT buddies who lives in Bear Creek was the one that communicated to me that -- that he wanted me to speak at his funeral, because it was coming quick, because he was dodging cars going across Overland Road there at Stoddard in front of Wahooz and so he suggested why don't you just fix the timing, so that I get a little lead start so these people can see me and so I contacted the director and the rest is history. But it was kind of funny, because we had Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 8 of 27 just recently before then started looking seriously at it and so the sooner this can be completed throughout the -- the county the better I will feel about it. But I was driving in to this meeting today and I was stopped at the light heading east on Franklin and Ten Mile and when the oncoming traffic was going south on Ten Mile turning left from Overland and the lights were solid red, there were still four vehicles that continued -- about eight all total, but two on each lane -- that kept turning left after the solid red. So, I was thinking, all right, we are going to be talking about this today, one, two, three -- you know, four seconds into it there were still cars turning and so my hope is because the legislature won't allow us to put cameras on these intersections and -- and, you know, fix the wagons for these guys doing the five second too late left turns or anything else, that when -- when law enforcement has a spare moment that they will possibly start helping with some of this. I know they already do. But it just hit me kind of between the eyes when I was driving in today. McKinney: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Commissioner McKinney. McKinney: Thank you. Kelly, just a quick question on this. The -- the Leading Pedestrian Interval, of course, that -- those additional few seconds, that's going to occur just after the all red phase and prior to the green phase for the particular forward motion. So, what that's going to do -- correct me if I'm wrong -- is that's going to lengthen the total cycle length for -- for any given intersection where we implement this; is that -- is that correct? Baker: Commissioner, yes, that is correct. And each signal -- the plan is that each signal's timing will be reviewed. So, if there can be adjustments to -- if we have extra capacity in the green time we can maybe adjust that. But there is a potential that it will change the cycle length. McKinney: Okay. So, either the -- either the cycle length gets longer overall or the green interval for any given movement gets reduced, one way or the other; right? Baker: Yes. McKinney: Okay. So -- so, one way or another the total green time per movement at any given intersection, you know, is -- is diminishing overall. So, either you have fewer intervals per hour or you have fewer seconds per interval. Is that a fair statement? Baker: Commissioner, yes. That's correct. McKinney: Okay. So, I guess -- the only reason I mention this is it's -- it's the kind of thing we need to keep in mind, of course, when nearly everything we do is a trade off. But what we are doing here is this Pedestrian Interval -- Leading Pedestrian Interval -- overall the capacity of any given intersection will drop by some amount. So, that's the trade off that we are giving. Lesser vehicle capacity, potentially more congestion Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 9 of 27 because of that, to -- to provide this Leading Pedestrian Interval and I think that's -- it's worth recognizing that, you know, everything we do in -- in highways and transportation is a trade off. So, that's an important factor I think that we just all need to be aware of and how this will work. So, thank you. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Pickering: Mr. Mayor? Cavener: I will always yield to a commission president. Simison: President Pickering. Pickering: Thanks, Councilman Cavener. I just want to highlight that, yes, it will impact the timing, but, of course, this only happens when -- if and when a pedestrian is pushing the push button. This isn't something that's impacting the entire network at all times; right? It's only when people are trying to cross and use those crosswalks. So, I just want to highlight that. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Thanks, Commissioner -- Commission President Pickering, for answering the question I was going to -- one of the questions I was going to pose. Kelly, thanks for the update. I want to make sure that I was kind of tracking your presentation correctly. Twenty-one intersections now, but the plan is to roll them out to eventually all of them. Is that over a one year, three year, five year, ten year period? What's kind of the -- the plan to get them all implemented? Baker: Council Member, that -- right now our plan is to -- by the end of this year whatever we can implement we will and, then, at that point we have to look at if there is major improvements that have to be done to the signals, then, at that point we will plan from there. And as soon as we can, basically. Cavener: Mr. President -- or Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Follow up if I may. And, Kelly, please forgive my ignorance for asking this question, but we -- we -- you know, we have many state highways that run through Meridian. Do those intersections get included in this plan as well or is that separate, because it's a state highway? Baker: Yeah. Of course, Council Member. So, we have had discussions with ITD at this point about it and they are open to reviewing it with us with our plan. They do want Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 10 of 27 to see the impacts that it would have on the traveling public. But we do have it at a number of ITD signals throughout the county already. So, they are open to it at -- on their signals. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: I understood that this is only certain signals currently can just be changed to this, that some -- do some of the signals that we are going to be doing there is a cost associated with them to convert them to this program? Baker: Yeah, Council Member. There is some -- going to be some cost to them. Like mentioned, they have to have the APS or the push buttons that are audible. There are some signals that do not have those and have not had that upgrade at that point and that is for the blind pedestrian who, if there is no audible push button they rely on traveling cars to guide them on what direction they can cross. So, if they don't have any cars moving they need that audible tone to let them know when and where they can cross. So, there is going to be -- we are going to have to install that at some signals. Overton: Mr. Mayor, follow up? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: Kelly, just a quick comment on that. I don't care what the cost is, because we are talking about safety, but I know we are going to get asked about that at some point, what a program like this overall is going to cost, and just want to be able to have that conversation, so we can adequately state what that safety factor is going to cost. Thank you. Baker: And on that, Councilman, so we are at our work session next week with ACHD Commission, we are going to have a proposed budget for that, an estimated budget. So, we will have kind of more -- a little more details at our next meeting. Simison: Commissioner Goldthorpe. Goldthorpe: One last comment on that. And that -- that's so that you know we are serious about it. I appreciated your comment about cost -- not several, but most of us, if not all. ACHD has a really good reputation nationwide for all things related to ADA compliance and so we are -- we are working as fast as our budget -- which I would not mind at all if it was increased -- as our budget will allow to make sure all of those are audible. We get criticized a lot for all things ADA related, then, all of a sudden you have to slap somebody around a little bit, say, look, look at what these associations and these national groups or government entities or whatever think about our efforts and we are considered almost like cutting edge. But in this particular regard we -- we can do better and as far as I'm concerned finish it yesterday. Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 11 of 27 Simison: I won't ask. We will move on. Any -- any other questions or comments? All right. Thank you, Kelly. Baker: Thank you. 3. Linder Road Overpass Update Simison: So, with that we will move on to Item 3. It looks like we have Mr. Lucas coming up to -- to give a Linder Road Overpass Update. Lucas: Well, good afternoon, Mayor, Madam President, Members of the Council, Members of the Commission. Great to be here and to provide this update on the -- on the Linder Overpass and also the expansion and enhancement of Linder between Overland and Franklin Roads. I'm just going to walk through some slides -- mostly graphics kind of that you will see -- get a feel for what this is going to look like and feel like. We are in preparation for a public involvement session coming up here in the next few weeks and so you are getting a little bit of a preview of what we are going to talk to the public about as we move forward on the design of this -- of this project. And I do want to highlight and just state that, obviously, ACHD staff is coordinating very carefully with the City of Meridian on this project. There is a task force that we are actively participating in and we, obviously, recognize the city's financial contribution for this design. Oh, there it goes. So, just to provide a -- an overview of this area. Obviously, we are working between Overland and Franklin Roads. The overpass itself will be brand new over the interstate. ACHD actually has much of the right of way needed on the south side of the interstate through previous dedications and developments, but there is no road there, there is just -- just right of way. On the north side we are looking at a two lane road that currently is -- basically operates almost like a collector or a local road. It's not -- it doesn't receive that much traffic, because it doesn't go anywhere and primarily serves just those neighborhoods south of Franklin and you can imagine when there is an overpass the characteristics and the traffic along this corridor are going to increase substantially. That all being said, you have various attractors and generators, different irrigation facilities -- and I do want to highlight Peregrine Elementary School, which is at that location. And then -- and the -- and the, you know, different pedestrian facilities that we plan to add as part of the project. So, this is a typical roadway section that will be as part of this project. You can see the two travel lanes in each direction. We are contemplating for much of the project a raised center median, which is something that ACHD has began -- began implementing on all of our arterial projects. These vertical elements provide speed mitigation benefits. They also provide an opportunity to partner with the city potentially on landscaping or other features that -- that the city may choose to include on the project. I also want to highlight the multi-use pathways, which have become, essentially, the standard for ACHD projects on multi- lane arterials. These are ten foot multi-use facilities buffered from the adjacent roadway and we have implemented these various projects within Meridian primarily so far, but you will be seeing these across all of the -- of the county as we move forward with our -- with our roadway projects. So, this is, obviously, a coordination project with ITD. There is an overpass associated with this -- with this project and you can see the -- the typical Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 12 of 27 section that they are looking at. The extension of that multi-use pathway over the -- the interstate and, then, the associated travel lanes that are required for the traffic demands. The fencing and some of these other details are not finalized. This is just for graphical purposes. And I know the city has interest in the aesthetics, as does ACHD, at the overpass and some of the other areas along the project being contemplated throughout the design process. Just another view of that new overpass and the -- you know, the widening of the -- of the roadway, the multi-use facilities. This is a pretty significant transportation project for the Treasure Valley and this gives you a feeling for some of the differences and changes that will be there. I do want to highlight specifically on the north side of the interstate, because we have to build the road up to get it over the freeway, there is going to be some substantial impacts to existing properties in that area and there are several existing properties that will be -- I would say severely impacted by this project. Highlighting that multi-use pathway design, you can see the buffer space that we are providing, which varies along the project, but a minimum of -- of four to five feet there and this is the -- we have seen a lot of good feedback on this as we have implemented these projects. It consolidates the bicycle and pedestrian use up and out of the roadway and -- and the -- these types of separated and protected facilities we believe are kind of the way to move forward and from -- from -- from a bicyclist and pedestrian facility standpoint on these types of projects. I also want to highlight there will be several pedestrian crossings along this corridor and these are the types of facilities that were -- that have been discussed today. These are controlled facilities, stop control lighting at the -- at the roadway and pedestrian level to help ensure that everyone can see each other and that we have some predictability. These pedestrian hybrid beacons are implemented across our county and for the most part we have seen really good success as the drivers, primarily of Ada county, and the pedestrians and cyclists have become used to these facilities. There is generally pretty good compliance that we are seeing across the county and we would anticipate that on this project. So, I do want to highlight some of the ongoing conversations related to partnership. I know there is discussions right now at the project team level and amongst the stakeholders and the committee put together on this project -- discussions related to center median islands and possible landscaping -- potential landscaping in those buffer areas and additional, you know, elements, such as that. Aesthetics related to the bridge abutment walls. Some of the walls will be relatively visible from the -- the interstate, some of them won't, and so I know there is some -- on previous projects in the city there has been some desire to look at possible enhancements to those walls and that's the reference I'm making here. So, just to kind of provide that update on where we are at, design is underway. That's estimated at approximately 1.7 million dollars and that's the -- the funded portion of this project. Right of way -- looking at the impacts we do anticipate a significant right of way budget needed for this project at about 5.5 million and that's -- that's an estimate. The right of way acquisition process is very formal and we -- we have to go through that process with those owners and negotiate with them individually as we go through this. But we expect a significant portion to go towards right of way. I do want to highlight -- just recently the ACHD Commission allocated a portion of funding from -- from their budget adjustment process to the right-of-way acquisition for this -- for this project. It's not all of the 5.5 million, but it was a portion of some project savings and other things that just Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 13 of 27 happened. So, right of way is now partially funded and I anticipate through the integrated five year work plan discussions with the Commission related to the remaining funding for right of way and, then, the remaining funding for construction as we -- as we continue to discuss the project. I do want to highlight current estimates. The roadway portion about 11 million dollars. The bridge, which would be ITD's responsibility, at about 6.5 million. So, for a total project cost of about 17.5 million dollars to get this one -- to get this one done. So, next steps. This is kind of -- it's live right now really. We are meeting with property owners over the next couple of weeks. We like to go out to those property owners that we anticipate are going to be significantly impacted and have a face-to-face conversation with them prior to general public involvement. We have found that helps those property owners to feel like we understand their concerns, which we do, and that they -- they feel like we are listening to -- to some of those impacts and we are -- and we are in the process of doing that right now. Have various meetings set up over the next couple of weeks. We will be meeting with, once again, with the Meridian task force on March 13th and they are going to see a similar presentation to what we are showing today and, then, a public involvement process, which we have largely done online in recent years and have found that it has garnered a lot more input than those live public meetings. We post everything online. We do mailers. We do outreach. Reach out to the HOAs and neighborhoods and there has been a lot of good success in that approach. So, we are starting that, as I said, mid -- mid March, late March there will be a two week period of comments. We will gather -- after that's all closed we will gather all that information and, then, move forward as we as we take all that into consideration. And, then, we will also be doing some specific neighborhood and stakeholder meetings during that process. There is a couple of neighborhoods down in that area that have organized homeowners associations -- one large neighborhood really and we will be meeting specifically with that homeowners association and their leadership to talk about the project and how it works. Fortunately, looking at the design, we are really trying to limit the impacts to the landscaping in that neighborhood association. There will be some for sure. But much of the impacts on the west side of the road there is not much we can do to mitigate those due to the proximity of the homes and the businesses to the roadway as it stands today. So, that's where we are -- that's where we are at. Glad to answer any questions you may have related to the project. And just before I finish, I do want to highlight Rick Patricelli, who was our most recent project manager on this, actually has moved on to a different position at ACHD and we are really happy for him. Brian McCarthy, who is one of our project management supervisors, is overseeing the project right now and he is a seasoned project manager at ACHD. He is here today. But he -- we do not anticipate any issues with any type of handoff from a project management perspective and he has already met with your staff and will be at the upcoming stakeholder meetings and taskforce meetings. So, with that I will stand for any questions. Simison: Thank you, Justin. First I would just like to say thank you to you and the team at ACHD and Commission President for the conversations we had and for getting the right-of-way money moving forward at this point in time in this project. I think it says a lot about the commitment of everyone involved. I think it also speaks volumes to ITD as the other partner in this project and, hopefully, will allow us to coordinate a construction Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 14 of 27 funded year with them in the not too distant future. So, appreciate that. With that additional questions, comments? Commissioner Goldthorpe. Goldthorpe: One is that -- at least from how I observe the funding restrictions or strings or whatever you want to call them changing from the Idaho legislature, there is every reason to think that for whatever reason desire, necessity, no place else to spend money, projects like this are -- are going to the top of the priority as fast as you want them to, if not faster. So, I would look at that as a -- one of the only positives from those negative string deals that -- plus the people in Kuna and other areas are ecstatic about this. Thank you. McKinney: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Commissioner McKinney. McKinney: Justin, just a quick question back on the -- on the funding question. Last I was aware -- and I'm wondering if you can give an update on this -- the -- the portion of the funding that needs to come from the Idaho Transportation Department for -- for building the bridge structure itself, when last we talked about it that was still something that wasn't actually officially on their budget planning priority list. Has there been any change in that? If so, what and, if not, what do the prospects look like going forward? Lucas: Mr. Mayor, Madam President, Commissioner McKinney, so in our conversations with ITD they are, I believe, in the process of placing the Linder overpass on their list of projects in their update -- in their updated plans. They have a bridge replacement and a -- and a bridge program and this will be part of that. I believe their intention originally was to include it as an unfunded project, but on the list, which is one step above where it is today, which is not -- not on the list. I think in conversations with ITD they understand the -- you know, the desire to move forward on the project and I think as -- as ACHD and the city move forward with continually prioritizing and allocating funding towards the project, that -- that could possibly help them respond in kind with some type of funding allocation. McKinney: So, if I may follow up. What is the likelihood -- based on where things stand right now what is the likelihood that the funding issue relative to the state is going to affect our intention and our plan as far as a schedule for getting this done? Lucas: Mr. Mayor, Madam President, Commissioner McKinney, it's hard for me really to speak to the state's ability to fund the project. I -- I don't want to in any way overstate or understate their ability to do so. I think the conversations I have had with their staff at District Three had been positive, but, ultimately, you know, they allocate funding through a process. This type of project is likely going to have to go through some type of board action to receive funding, because it's a new structure and not a rebuild there is different processes and procedures that they have to go through to get funding for this type of project. I think there is a lot of good news coming out of the state legislature when it comes to funding opportunities for this type of project, especially with some of the Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 15 of 27 current discussions ongoing related to new funding sources that have been added over the last couple years and potential grant funding sources. These are kind of state grants that potentially agencies like ACHD and the City of Meridian could seek and so I think this project -- when you get design going, you get right of way going, I think it has good momentum. Simison: Commissioner Hansen. Hansen: Justin, what portion is impact fee eligible, since we are adding capacity to -- to an arterial. So, it's impact fee eligible. Lucas: Mr. Mayor, Madam President, a significant portion of this project is impact fee eligible. It falls within our -- within our capital improvements plan as a -- as one of the critical connections as a five lane facility. ACHD is unable to spend impact fees on state facilities. We have to spend them within our own jurisdiction. So, we are not able to use impact fees to pay for the state's portion and to my knowledge the state has no impact fee system or ability to collect impact fees for projects like this at this time. So, a roadway project like this -- it's not all impact fee eligible. The pedestrian facilities and some of the other facilities that we are building are not impact fee eligible, but the roadway expansion itself is and so from a cost perspective -- and Kristy could probably answer this, but it's in that probably 50 to 60 percent impact fee eligible from a cost perspective. Cavener: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Cavener. Cavener: Justin, every time you come and talk to us we get a little bit closer on the project and I appreciate that and I have got a constituent in that neighborhood, my mother-in-law, who gets more and more excited about being able to see her grandkids faster and faster. So, you are making me a little bit more of a hero tonight. I appreciate that. But your -- your comments about the impact on the neighborhood and the businesses -- and I applaud you guys for being proactive and reaching out to those that are going to be impacted. Have you heard any feedback from them leading up to this? You know, any concerns, questions? I just -- I'm, obviously, really excited about this project. I know many of us that up here are. But it's not lost on me that this could have some potential negative consequences for some people in the short run and I'm just curious what are you hearing and are there things that we as a Meridian City Council need to be hearing -- I guess from them on your behalf? Lucas: Mr. Mayor, Madam President, I don't think I would categorize what we have heard so far as, you know, an outcry or anything like that. We have had some interaction with some neighbors out there and longtime citizens, some who live within the City of Meridian -- I believe the subdivision on the west side is a county subdivision that has been there for a long time and this is going to significantly change the form and function of this roadway, there is no doubt about that, and so I think there is some Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 16 of 27 trepidation about that from some -- some neighbors, but I would say in general this project has been in the books for a long time and I think there has been an expectation for this expansion and for the overpass. I think the City of Meridian has clearly indicated its priority and I would say that what we have heard so far has not been anything that I'm overly concerned about. That said, we are starting in a couple of weeks the -- the big public involvement push where we will hear and categorize all of the comments from those neighbors. As I say also we will be doing a lot of on-the-ground, person-to-person discussions with those properties most impacted and, you know, that can go a lot of different ways. Sometimes people are ecstatic and they look at it as an opportunity, sometimes people aren't, and so we will -- we will work through those individual processes. Hansen: Mr. Mayor and -- I just want to reinforce what Justin said, because I think I'm very impressed with the way in which our planning department has actually gone out and worked with neighbors and I will -- I will raise Collister as an example. Some of you may remember about 12 years ago we came up with this idea -- let's put sidewalks on Collister. We need to make it safe. Well, I don't know how the outreach worked back then, but we have a planning staff that went out and they went door to door and actually some people on that street gave them some ideas of what to do to incorporate. So, the way our planning staff approaches it is that they actually see these folks as sources of ideas for improvements that could be incorporated into the concept, because they have to live with it and they will have to live with it all the time and there is a wide, wide range of design options to protect them from sound and other things that -- that -- that might or -- might be of concern. But they are going to go door to door and you are welcome to go with them when they do. Simison: Thank you. All right. Thank you, Justin. Appreciate it very much and we will see you in a few weeks. 4. Ustick Road Maintenance Complex Update. Simison: With that we will move on to Item 4, which is the Ustick Road Maintenance Complex update. Berrenger: Good evening, Mayor, Madam President, Council Members, Commission. For the record I'm Jennifer Berrenger. I'm the deputy director of maintenance for Ada County Highway District and I'm going to give you an update on where we are on the Ustick Maintenance Complex. First off, key goals. As we are building the facility and the complex we want to ensure appropriate facilities to meet our maintenance operation needs now and kind of moving into the future and our number one goal is to serve the public and, then, secondly, but I know very important to you, is ensuring the timing of the maintenance complex operations with the Ustick Road widening, the deceleration lane construction and that Naomi Lane signalization. So, I'm going to talk to all of those pieces today. So, key takeaways. Right up front we are right -- we are in design right now. We started it kind of a couple of months ago. So, we anticipate a hundred percent design completion in May of 2024. Five years phase build out. So, we will start Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 17 of 27 the building in '24, '25, '26 through into '28, might go into '29. Ustick Road widening is on track, so they are currently in design with right of way procurement and construction will begin in late 2024, with a completion in '25. So, the timing for the Ustick Maintenance Complex -- and Apple, which I will talk about in a few slides as well. But the Ustick Maintenance Complex is aligned in timing very well with the road widening. So, I think that's going to meet the intent very well. Here is where we are on the design timeline. We are with an architectural firm, who is designing both our Ustick property and the property that we have at Apple and Federal Way. So, they are being designed together. We are getting a lot of benefit from having that design together, since the buildings are going to be almost exactly the same on both facilities. There will be some differences in site layout, obviously, for the unique terrain considerations. Ustick being near the floodplain, those are all considerations that we have to take into account for the design layout. And, then, our timeline, as you see here below, we are -- we are aligned with the programming verification and planning all the way up to our 30 percent design and, then, when we go for a design review that's when we start to see potentially a split in our timelines. But for the most part we are marching together. It really just depends how long it takes for City of Meridian -- and Apple is in city of Boise, so different -- different councils and different review timelines. But we anticipate both complexes for our construction documents to be completed in -- in mid 2024 with construction to follow shortly thereafter. We are going to be working with CMGC to oversee the construction management and general contractor work. So, we are going to have eyes on both of these complexes and the build up to ensure they stay on time. So, this is the layout and as you may recall the location of the property is between Ten Mile and Black Cat. Since we last came to you there have been just some minor adjustments in how we think it's going to layout, but, again, we are still in the very early stages of design and these things will go through the design review process and there may be additional changes. But some of the things I did want to point out -- down here in the bottom left -- or the southwest corner is where the admin facility will be and the image that you see here is the concept that we are trying to -- to kind of go with some of the same architectural styles we have seen throughout Meridian. This is actually the administrative building that's being built at our Franklin yard, which is going to be starting construction very soon. So, we are -- as that new yard, the Franklin complex where our traffic maintenance complex is going to be, as that TMC is being built we are trying to align a lot of the same styles and buildings, so that there is a little bit of cohesion and brand identity for Ada County Highway District. But we do recognize that as we go through design review there -- there may be some changes along the way. But I think in general the concept kind of aligns with the image you like to see throughout the City of Meridian. A few other things that I would highlight. Down on the lower end you have got the Ustick Road with the deceleration lane and, then, that will be the Naomi Road moving up from that and we will have a turnaround at the end of that for future build out for road connectivity in the future. Two entrances into the yard -- or into the complex and it will all be fenced in. On the north end you can see the pathway that we have been working with the Parks Department on and, then, we have got connectivity from that pathway that will go along the edge of our complex and connect all the way to Ustick for that intersection that, again, will be signalized. Just a few buildings -- just the concepts again. The salt and sand shed you are familiar -- you might be familiar with what our Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 18 of 27 salt and sand shed looks like at -- at our facility on Adams Street. The intent of this is going to be a permanent structure, so not that temporary structure, and it will be much lower in height than the one we have on our current property. And, then, just as a -- as an example, on the left side you see -- this is just right now the concept for the broom shed. We are -- we are building based on the number of sweeper brooms that we are going to have, but we are trying to lay out the yard with the ability to expand in the future. That's one of the things that we found is a challenge in our current properties is there is no room to expand. So, putting the facilities in locations where we know, okay, in the future we will build out this way and preserving that space in the layout for future growth. This is the list of all the buildings pretty much that are going to be on the facility. So, the intent is full operation for maintenance operations. So, the administrative building. We are going to have a decant facility. This is where the sweeper and the vac trucks -- vactor trucks dump out and it's going to need to be covered that keeps the stormwater out of it, so we maintain our stormwater on the property and, then, we don't intermix into the decant. We will have the salt shed, broom shed and drainage shed. Two very important buildings for maintaining our NPDES permitting and so it's very critical that we -- that we get those up and running and increase our capabilities and operations for those functions. Wash bay on the facility. Fleet building and weld shop also on the facility. Fuel islands and, then, magnesium and chloride tanks and miscellaneous enclosed and covered storage for -- for tools and equipment. So, the benefits, again, we are building to the immediate need, but preserving footprint for future growth and the biggest benefit I think is the reduced response timelines for maintenance operations throughout Meridian and areas to the west where a lot of the growth in Ada county has happened. So, critical location for us and in our timeline I think is -- is good. Estimated cost -- right now it's about 25 million. We will see once -- once those other costs are coming in and once the design is complete and we know what the -- what building materials cost. Some of the things that we are learning are prefab buildings are over a year out when you are purchasing those. So, there is a lot of considerations with cost and timeline once we get closer to the full hundred percent we will -- we will have a better sight picture on that. I did want to talk a little bit about our integrated five year work plan specifically in regards to the widening, then, Justin can go into anymore details about -- about that. Our facility sits between Ten Mile and Black Cat and as you can see design year and right of way year -- 2022 the design started. Starting right of way this year. Construction is going to begin in 2024 and we anticipate it's probably going to be late 2024. So, you are going to see that construction happening between '24 and '25. But you have got the whole stretch of roadway -- these two miles will be aligned together on the same timeline. You have got various bridge projects along the way and the Naomi Avenue signal and the Black Cat signal at Ustick as well. So, lots of upgrades happening. And, again, that's -- that's in Justin's lane if you have any specific questions, but the intent is widen Ustick to five lanes, curb, gutter, sidewalk and a level three bike facility. The Ustick -- or -- yeah. The Ustick yard, as mentioned, is bigger -- part of a bigger site picture for our phasing. So, the complex that we are building -- we have got Franklin yard that is at Franklin and near Cloverdale, so our traffic maintenance center is going to be moving there. They are already through their design review and they are going to be starting their -- their groundbreaking and building construction this year already and so we anticipate that full operation to happen Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 19 of 27 in 2024. The Ustick widening -- widening is key to our Ustick facility building out. Based on where we are on design we imagine we will start that construction in 2024. So, Justin and I were even just talking about how much we can align some of that construction to really work together and maybe some leverage in -- in some of those pieces and parts. I mentioned our Apple -- Apple complex. That's another one that we are trying to align just to have the economy of scale with having the same design and getting that built along the same lines as well and that all kind of feeds into what's going to happen at the Adams yard. So, lots of pieces and parts moving. So, we are very excited that we are -- that we are underway and -- and growing to help meet the needs of -- of Ada county. So, summary again. We are in design. Anticipate a hundred percent completion in May of '24. A five year build out. 2028. 1 did want to mention on the site, if you have passed by there, we used to have a house on the -- on the corner. That has been demolished. So, that's -- the first steps already done. It's just a bare field now and we have got a blank canvas from which to work. So, we are really excited about the future and with that I will stand for any questions. Simison: Thank you. Council, Commission, questions, comments? Berrenger: Nice. Thank you. Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: I got a couple questions. Where does the traffic ops move when it leaves Adams? I just noticed it and was curious where it -- where it gets relocated to? Berrenger: At the Franklin -- Franklin complex. Yeah. So, that's on Franklin just west of Cloverdale. Borton: Okay. Thanks. Simison: Thank you very much. Berrenger: Thank you. 5. Integrated Five-Year Work Plan (IFYWP) Process Simison: And last item up is the Integrated Five-Year Work Plan process. This is something I know our -- our Council is very interested to learn more about, so they have a better understanding. So, we really appreciate the conversation and information. Inselman: Absolutely. Well, good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Madam President, Commissioners, Council -- Council Members. When my presentation comes up I would be happy to get started. It's not on my screen. Just me. I'm the only thing on there right now. I mean I can just talk, but it's -- I have pretty graphics, so -- there we go. No. No worries at all. So, just for the record, Kristy Inselman. I'm the planning and programming supervisor here at Ada County Highway District and myself and Margaret Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 20 of 27 Szeles, who is also here today, are the principal planners on the development of the integrated five year work plan. That's what we are here to talk about today. So, I'm going to -- basically I'm giving an overview, a very high level of what our process looks like for the integrated five year work plan. It is a year long process that we do start -- as soon as we adopt one and we take -- we immediately jump right into the next one, because it's a never ending process. So, first we start with what the integrated five year plan is. So, the plan itself integrates our construction and maintenance programs into one place. The implement -- it's an implementation tool of our long range plans. So, adopted plans, our neighborhood plans, our CIP, our asset management, our ADA plan -- there is a lot that goes into -- I guess I should stand in front of this one. It also is our outward facing component where we educate the public and our partner agencies as to what our plans are for the future. Capital projects. It also creates that level of transparency as to what we are doing over the next five years. It's our implementation tool for our capital budget. It also is the tool that we use to also coordinate closely with our partner agencies, the cities, the county, school districts, VRT and BSU were added as partners on this as well. So, we coordinate quite closely. So, I always like to say that the five year plan is actually not created in a vacuum. There is a ton of public outreach and there is a ton of coordination. So, this is -- this is a nice slide that I like to show just as far as how everything kind of works together. It's not separate. It -- everything flows into the integrated five year work plan. It kind of starts at the county and city levels with their comprehensive plan, future land use, how they anticipate their areas to be grown out and that feeds into the CIM, Communities In Motion, which also goes into our strategic plan. As you can see it all kind of flows down. The middle there are specific strategic documents that we also utilize in the development of the integrated five year work plan. That's our asset management, our ADA plan, bike master plan, neighborhood plan and our capital improvements plan. And for project selection -- I know that's always a question is how do we select projects for the Integrated five year work plan. So, it's a multi-layered process; right? On the right side you see -- we get -- there is never a shortage of projects. That is definitely something I like to say, because there is never -- there is never a shortage, ever, of projects. If you just looked at our neighborhood plans that we just finished the last iteration of, I think we are up to about 1,500 identified projects just within the neighborhood plans. That's not even the bike master plan. That's not the capital improvement plan. So, we get them from a lot of locations. So, existing plans, individual project requests from the public and from our partner agencies, as well as we have an application process that an individual can submit a community programs application on their street, if they want sidewalk, get their neighbors involved, there is multiple opportunities for somebody to do that. We just went through our public outreach and that ended in July -- or, sorry, not July. January. They all run together. In January. And this latest effort we expanded our outreach and we changed how we were asking for people to tell us what they wanted around the county. On average we were getting -- during that initial public outreach between 50 and 75 project requests. This time there were 1 ,350 individual comments that we received all across the county and it was amazing. A lot of information, but it's -- it was amazing. We were super excited about that. So, we continue to evolve and we continue to be as outward facing as we can, so we can make sure that we are proposing -- we are programming the best projects in the plan. So, once we -- we also Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 21 of 27 just finished -- you guys just submitted your prioritization requests that were -- all came in last week that are currently being reviewed and we will actually be going to the Commission in March to share with them what all of our partner agencies have asked for. So, all of that is compiled and, then, Margaret and myself we will shut ourselves in a very dark corner and prioritize projects for a good two months is the next phase and so that's kind of in the middle. So, we have our industry leading prioritization process. Your staff and your jurisdiction also participated in that process when we upgraded and did an evaluation of our prioritization process. So, again, we are talking thousands of projects that we put through that -- put through that process. I do like to say also prioritization is just one component of how we program the integrated five year work plan, because, obviously, there are things that come up and there are things that are -- that take priority. Something that may rank high isn't a priority for the city. That goes into it. So, there is -- it's definitely one component that helps guide us into which projects we decide to move into the plan and it will just flow into the development of the plan and so, then, putting that all together -- this is kind of a snapshot of our process. So, it's just to show that there are a lot of stages to the development of the integrated five year work plan. So, this is a flowchart. The ones that are kind of on the top that are a little bit grayed out, that's kind of where we finished in the process. So the next steps we are moving into -- we are in the middle of also project scoping. So, project scoping is before a project can actually make it into the plan we need to know is it feasible, how much does it cost, what components likely are going to go with that, so that we can budget appropriately for that project. So, we currently scope between 75 and 100 projects every year and, then, sometimes we have to reschedule. So, we are in that process and, then, we will also -- that will flow into our prioritization. Excuse me. So, there is that. There is our -- we look at -- when we are looking at projects we look at also geographic equity, what our partner agencies are asking for, what the available funding is, because if I had a magic wand and all the money in the world we can get a ton more projects done, but there are limitations and, then, there is specified capital allocation methodology that our Commission sets for the different programs and the funding allocation on what we are spending money on in general. I'm sure you guys have seen lately community programs continues to be a focus where we continue to allocate additional funding to get more of those projects done. And, again, that all flows into the integrated five year work plan. This is just kind of another snapshot of the process. This one more focuses more on our conversations and our work sessions with our Commission directly on this. The grayed out ones are ones that we have already held. So, we did a kickoff back in October, as well as some -- a little iterations in between of where we are meeting with our partners in how you guys are included in that process. So, we did a public outreach session in January. We did another one in February and we will go back to them in March, all the way around to an anticipated adoption date of the end of September. So, we follow about a month behind the adoption of our budget that happens at the end of August. And that is what I have for you, but I'm happy -- oh. That was a backup slide. It's just more about our process. There is more highlights. And I'm happy to stand for any questions that you might have on our process. Simison: Thank you, Kristy. Council, Commission, questions? Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 22 of 27 Pickering: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Commission President Pickering. Pickering: I just want to say thanks, Kristy. Yeah, we are eagerly looking forward to reviewing your -- your priorities and we are -- as Kristy talks about -- she highlighted it, but I do want to emphasize that last year we didn't do an integrated five year work plan, because we wanted to assess how is it working, how does it compare to other jurisdictions across the country and how do they weigh these various priorities across a very dynamic and diverse community set, right, within our county and so after taking that pause we -- it actually validated that our process is pretty top notch and we have refined it and I think all massive kudos to our team. You can see that that success rate in terms of the amount of folks that have weighed in and that increases happened over the course of two years. So, I just want to say thank you to the Council for prioritizing your projects and sending that in, as well as the Meridian residents, because we really value that feedback and we are weighing it accordingly. Inselman: Mr. Mayor, Madam President, I do want to add, because she did touch on that prioritization. I wish I had added a slide about that. But we did -- one of the -- some of the changes that we did make to that prioritization process is we did give more weight -- it's a scoring -- basically a point -- a hundred point scale. We did give more scoring weight to a city or county -- our partner agencies' requests. We also added the LTS component to it, the level of traffic stress component to it, so if it's going to lower it that adds it and we also increase the weight given if it's a near safe routes to school. So, those were some of the very positive changes that we made in our prioritization process that, again, is going to help inform us on what projects to put in. Overton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Overton. Overton: I'm not trying to set you up, because it's a tough situation, but we tried to get our heads around the priority list here a few weeks ago and the topic kept coming up that our list is extremely long and when we look at how many of those top priorities -- the concern became -- by members of Council is, well, if we take 20 -- or take 31 and we bump it to 29, that's -- that's the cutoff. Are we correct? Is there some sort of off of our 50, 60, 75 project list that we are trying to get stuff into that we are trying to set our priorities and could those, then, get bumped when you put them into your formula? Would it -- could it possibly move what we turn in or we say are our priorities? Inselman: Mr. Mayor, Madam President, Council Member Overton, we want our jurisdictions to tell their story. We don't set a limit. We don't say if -- you can only give us 20 projects and that's it. We -- if you -- a lot of our jurisdictions utilize that list for, hey, here is our most important, but here is things coming up that we know we want and they use it as a tracking. So, there is -- there is no cutoff. If it -- if it's on the list it gets at least some points during that prioritization process. What help -- what can help elevate Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 23 of 27 a project, too, if multiple jurisdictions are asking for a project. So, if the city is asking for it and the school district is asking for it, it may elevate that in the overall prioritization. So, bumping it out -- we once it makes it in the plan our goal is for that to continue into the plan, unless we hear something specific for it to be removed for some reason -- that, hey, this is -- we don't care about this one anymore. That very rarely, if ever, happens. Once it's in the plan it will continue to work up through the process, because, generally speaking, it made it into the plan for a reason. It was a good project. There was a need. There was a desire by the neighborhood or our partner agencies for it to be added in. So, no, that's not -- that's not the goal to kick stuff out. Stuff may be delayed for funding reasons or -- but yes. No. It will continue to go in. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: I have two questions. One is kind of specific, but it's just an example of I think a different iteration of the same question you were just asked. We have been having a tough time with McMillan. It's been a struggle. Traffic level stress -- think it was E, but the data seemed like it was outdated that informed that level of stress. This is from a project we looked at for development locally. McMillan is not programmed to be widened for quite a while, because there is a huge canal and that's a reality that all of us acknowledge. But McMillan is a huge priority for us and it seems like it's becoming more important. If we put McMillan somewhere in the top say 12, are we kind of like wasting a spot if you guys just feel at the end of the day, you know, the canal just makes this unfeasible. That's part of what we want to understand about that specific corridor was we think it's really important. What's your view on it? Is it programmed out to like 2034 because it's just not economically feasible? I know that's really -- yeah, maybe bring -- bringing it in for sure, but that's one we had a real question about. Like if we put this in our top 12 are we kind of like wasting a spot in your view? Lucas: Mr. Mayor, Madam President, Council Woman Strader, it's a really valid question. I will do my best to answer it with the information we have in front of us today. So, McMillan is -- is a unique corridor. For most of it, if not all of it, all the way out to Black Cat, the intersections have been improved, whether that was through a developer cooperative project or an ACHD project. McMillan to the -- to the west of -- of Locust Grove is also scheduled only to be a three lane roadway. ACHD has no plans to widen that roadway to five lanes and that's a -- from a planning document and the decision that's been made for many many years, which is kind of in our master street map and our capital improvements plan. We do get feedback from some members of the community out there that they would like to see it widened beyond that and here is just kind of how we -- we typically respond to those types of things. You know, as the network grows and changes we have to take the long view and I know we get accused all the time of not doing that, but our goal is to do that. Chinden is scheduled to be in the long term three lanes in each direction. I mean Chinden is scheduled to really move a lot of traffic and how we have looked at McMillan over the years is if Chinden is really intended to do that, we would like, if possible, to preserve McMillan as a three lane Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 24 of 27 roadway, so it doesn't have to move that much traffic and so that we are not driving traffic towards it and so that's kind of how -- how McMillan plays out from a regional perspective. In the short term I know it does get a lot of use and I happen to live very close to that corridor and drive McMillan a lot, but in the long term that's -- that's the vision that -- at least for now that the two agencies have -- have agreed to and there is other corridors like that in our -- in the City of Meridian. From a prioritization perspective, because McMillan is only intended to be a three lane roadway, one lane in each direction, to widen it all we would be really doing is to add a center turn lane. So, the capacity enhancement that some of the members of the public may be wanting on that corridor is not currently in our plan and so that's -- that's kind of how some of those corridors play out. Now, these are decisions, obviously, that have been made over many many years and I'm -- in no way am I trying to advocate for one thing or the other. I'm just telling you where we are today on a corridor -- or corridor like McMillan. Strader: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: Yeah. So, you know, that's the exact kind of just, you know, no BS kind of talk I was looking for. And here is the thing -- and I just have a little piece of feedback, though, back for you, which is I understand that and that's good for us all to acknowledge that fact pattern. The challenge I think we are running into is going forward on McMillan when developers are getting a letter from you about the level of service and capacity on a roadway, if -- if we are talking about McMillan specifically I would just urge you to be very direct about the level of service, the direction you think it's going to go, how old the data may be or -- I would encourage you to update the data for McMillan specifically, because I am concerned that we are sending a message to the development community, like, hey, you have a green light, from ACHD's perspective, to, you know, continue building out a significant number -- especially of multi-family units along that corridor, but I'm concerned that based on your feedback the capacity will not increase at any point and so to your point, sure, at some point maybe Chinden and there is a whole corridor on Ustick could help -- I mean there is a whole bunch of things that could help, but there is really no relief coming in the next decade that I can see that's going to immediately help the situation if we build that out too much. So, that's just a piece of feedback is -- as your -- because we read these letters and we care a lot about feedback from our partners, so when we read your letters about, you know, a development along that corridor, we really take that seriously. So, I would just -- just on that corridor specifically that was one piece of feedback was to really take a look at what message you are sending. I did have one quick question, Mr. Mayor, if I can. Simison: Council Woman Strader. Strader: If I can sneak it in. Geographic equity. That's a big topic. How -- can you just give me like a quick overview of how you try to tackle that between these different jurisdictions. Of course we have -- we have the opinion everyone's going through Meridian to get somewhere. We are building up our job base. That's helping a lot. But Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 25 of 27 like Kuna, for example, we just recently looked at how much traffic is coming from Kuna to go into work right in the heart of Meridian. Do you guys take trips into consideration? Is it based on population? How do you try to tackle that geographic equity component? Inselman: Mr. Mayor, Madam President, Council Woman Strader, we actually follow that quite closely on funding and how -- how much is being spent in each jurisdiction. And, obviously, there is going to be dips, you know, there will be valleys and there will be peaks. There will be some years that we are spending -- because, as you guys know, we have a lot of Ustick and a lot of large CIP projects that are currently programmed in Meridian. So, there is going to be years where Meridian is going to see a huge peak on funding allocation for your jurisdiction and others may not. We have to look at the county wide needs and there is areas where we are going to see a huge spike in one area or another, but we do track that. We actually have that information where we track annually and we track over a long period of time as well as how we are allocating those funds and over a period of time we are actually really close to being geographically equitable to funding that we receive those jurisdictions to what we are spending in those areas and, then, every jurisdiction is a little bit different as to what their needs are at any given year. Some areas their arterial roadway network is built out, so their needs -- and they are an older area that sidewalk and pedestrian infrastructure was never built, so their needs and their focus are going to be bike and pedestrian infrastructure, where other areas, they are a newer subdivision, all of that is built out and the needs are the roadway network. So, we do track it. We actually -- we actually do track the amount of money that's spent in every jurisdiction. Simison: And if I could just highlight that -- I think it's -- you mentioned that, but just to elevate it, it's what's collected versus what's spent in those areas. So, it's not like Meridian gets a hundred million and Kuna gets a hundred million, it's what we collect through impact fees and other adverse compared to what they collect to a certain extent. Inselman: Mr. Mayor, that's correct. Hansen: Mr. Mayor and -- Simison: Commissioner Hansen. Hansen: -- President Pickering, if you will let me brag on the work that Kristy and Margaret have done. I mean it is -- having been on the commission now ten years, we are light years ahead of where we were before and one of the tools -- there is seldom a day goes by where I don't use it, so I really encourage you to just bookmark it and use it -- is the interactive map on the website for the five year work plan, because you are going to get a call from constituents -- you do and it makes you sound really smart, because you are sitting there on a computer, you open the map and, then, you click on it and you say, oh, I see that ACHD has that to be going into design in 2025 and -- and right of way acquisition and 2026 and, then, construction sometime in the future. But we are doing the plan right now, so get your input in and -- and so that's exactly what Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 26 of 27 you will see is the map will tell you where we are right now and so that map will change, obviously, through this updating process. The other is there is another map that was done -- it was -- it's cool. First time this year Margaret said it was -- the public, then, got in and clicked on this map and said I want this done at this location and so they were able to click on it and said, hey, there is no sidewalk here, we want this or there is a massive amount of speeding in this part of the neighborhood, we need to get some traffic calming here, and so they would click on that and so that's where all these -- and we were all given the list of the public comments from our district that are being sorted through. That's what Kristy and Margaret are talking about. But you can actually still look at that map and see what your constituents responded to in response to that. The other thing is we made a commission direction a couple of years ago that to the extent we can do it let's just go into a street once. So, if -- if the initial is, okay, there is some ADA problems, we don't have ADA ramps. Let's find out if the -- the surface of the road needs to be fixed. You know, it's -- the PCI is really bad or there is a crossing or there is some speeding. What are some of these other things? So, that when we go in there we get it done and we don't have to go in for another, I don't know, 50 years maybe. So, that's another thing and sometimes that then -- you will see these things get connected and that will appear on it. So, use that online tool. It's -- it's fantastic. And use it as you -- as you identify your own priorities. Borton: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Borton. Borton: One quick question, Kristy. You mentioned the point scale and some things got greater weight recently. What characteristics had their point value reduced and carry a lower weight in exchange? Inselman: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, Madam President, Council, Councilman Borton, so what we did was -- I don't know if I can answer specifically what, but we did -- previously we had -- our bikeways were under a separate prioritization from our crossings, which were separate from our sidewalk, and as Council -- councilman -- Commissioner Hansen just said, we are -- we have a go in once approach. So, it really didn't make sense for us to rank just a crossing when typically when we are going in we are also adding sidewalk, we are also looking at bikeways, we are also looking at all those components. So, what we did is we actually combined and we just have one prioritization for our community programs. So, if we were on a bike way we would have had high points if it was in the bikeway master plan or if it was, you know, in a -- that's been condensed, so it's -- the point values between the different plans -- some things went out of the -- out of that -- that ranking, but there really wasn't a reduction in the -- in the key items on that plan. And we have -- I'm happy to share with you guys what our prior prioritization was and what the point values were and what they are now, so you can see that comparison. Borton: Do you still factor in the Meridian bonus points? Legacy points. Inselman: Legacy points. Meridian City Council-ACHD Joint Meeting February 23,2023 Page 27 of 27 Simison: Touche. Commissioner Goldthorpe. Goldthorpe: Interesting that Joe should say that, but the comment was made about everybody goes through Meridian where ever they are going and that is an absolute fact. In fact, I remember when the previous mayor was trying to put some really huge emphasis on that with regards to Meridian Road and that part of the county and I think she used the comparison to a toilet flushing twice a day and it was -- it was very graphic, it made the point and we got the message. One of the things that -- that you suffer from -- and I use that term sincerely -- is the huge -- huge influx of vehicles that come through your city twice a day that come from outside of Ada county and that's something that we are trying desperately to receive some acknowledgement and compensation for, so that we can accommodate that faster and more. It will never come fast enough and this year is probably not when it's going to come, trust me. But we hear you. We know it. Thank you. Simison: Thank you, Commissioner. Any additional questions or comments? All right. Pickering: Mr. Mayor? Mr. Mayor? Simison: Commission President Pickering. Pickering: I just want to say thank you to you, Mr. Mayor, thank you to staff, thank you to Council Members. I really appreciated your questions and your feedback. I just -- yeah, we will definitely incorporate all of those thoughts and continue to improve and hopefully deepen our partnership with you all, so we can better serve each other and just thank you for the opportunity. Appreciate it. Simison: I think we agree as well. So, appreciate you having the dialogue and the presentations from staff and updates on -- on all that stuff. It's all very good and look forward to continued partnership on stuff. So, with that do I have a motion? Hoaglun: Mr. Mayor? Simison: Councilman Hoaglun. Hoaglun: I move we -- that we adjourn our joint meeting. Simison: Have a motion to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed nay? The ayes have it. We are adjourned. MOTION CARRIED: FIVE AYES. ONE ABSENT. MEETING ADJOURNED AT 5:33 P.M. (AUDIO RECORDING ON FILE OF THESE PROCEEDINGS) MAYOR ROBERT E. SIMISON 3-7-2023 ATTEST: CHRIS JOHNSON - CITY CLERK 3-7-2023 i I Intersection and Pedestrian Safety Task Force i Purpose The Intersection and Pedestrian Safety Task Force was created in response to tragic pedestrian v vehicle crashes that have occurred in the Meridian. These incidents served as a catalyst for elected officials at both ACHD and the City of Meridian to call for a taskforce to look specifically at pedestrian safety in major intersections and pedestrian crossings, particularly around schools in Meridian. Task force members recognize the importance of keeping our community safe and walkable through responsible transportation planning and enforcement practices. Pedestrians and other non-vehicle travelers have a right to use our roads without worrying about being struck by a vehicle. Goals • Improve mobility network safety for all users • Use data for continuous safety improvements • Centralize leading agencies' resources for the community to bring forward concerns Members Ada County Highway District:Alexis Pickering and Ryan Head City of Meridian: Liz Strader,John Overton, Miranda Carson, and Caleb Hood Meridian Police Department:Adnan Rudan, Tracy Basterrechea, Berle Stokes Meridian Transportation Commission: Zach Shoemaker West Ada School District: David Reinhart COMPASS: Hunter Mulhal) i Safe Routes to School: Lisa Brady Scope I. Review past and current efforts- Review efforts of partner agencies:ACHD, City,West Ada School District, COMPASS,Safe Routes to School, and Idaho Transportation Department II. Discuss data and recommendations-Solicit feedback from this stakeholder group to broaden the discussion and encourage new ideas a. Timeline i. February 9th, 2023—Kick off meeting ii. February 23rd, 2023—AND Commission and City Council Joint Meeting iii. February/March 2023—Data collection &schematic sheets iv. April/May—Site Visits to example cross sections and review of bad/best practices v. May/June/July—Discussion of sites and recommendations b. Sites in Meridian: arterial/arterial intersections, arterial/collector signalized intersections, and enhanced (RRFBs and Hawk signals) crosswalks c. Gather data on each site as it pertains to traffic, road characteristics, pedestrian facilities, and hazards III. Identify solutions- Identify short term and long term solutions for pedestrian safety through review of public comments, data analysis, site visits, review of policy and code a. Improve streets for all users through retrofits and new infrastructure b. Centralize resources for the community to bring forward concerns c. Create a regular group to carry forward this effort IV. Present to ACHD Commission and City Council - Provide recommendations for priority pedestrian infrastructure improvements Our Mission: We drive quality transportation for all Ada County…Anytime, , 2023 rd February 23 Traffic EngineerKelli Baker, PE Leading Pedestrian Interval Implementation Anywhere! flashing beacons Installing 100 pedestrian hybrid beacons, and 70 rectangular rapid Commitment to ADA enhancements in all projectsExpansion of multiuse, separated pathways on roadway projectsACHD’s established Livable Streets Performance MeasuresThe Accessibility and Mobility team stand up Incorporating bulb outs ACHD’s Bike and Ped major investments ACHD’s Bike and Ped Coordinator roleEnhanced “smart” signalization pilots on EagleBarn Dance Pedestrian crossing initiativeRed B4 Ped signalization Enhanced school crossing signalization and raised crosswalksCompleted and Ongoing Efforts driving.direction are given the green signal to begin head start before vehicles in the parallel 7 second -It gives pedestrians a typical 3increase pedestrian safety.timing adjustment at intersections to A Leading Pedestrian Interval is a signal time for all usersWill adjust signal length or available green Requires Accessible Pedestrian Signalsway-of-visibility and reinforced pedestrian rightIncreases driver yielding due to pedestrian at intersections (FHWA)13% reduction in pedestrian vehicle crashes 457 attractorsand other pedestrian near schools, parks, Prioritizing locations all usersto improve safety for signalized intersections implementing LPI at all Plan and begin Goal2023 LPI Installations 21 IntersectionsTotal Signalized Our Mission: We drive quality transportation for all Ada County…Anytime, Planning and ProjectsDeputy DirectorJustin Lucas2/23/2023 Anywhere! Wall on Bridge for MUPBridge Abutment WallsAestheticsBuffer AreasCenter Median IslandsLandscaping $17.5 MillionTotal $6.5 Million Bridge $11 MillionRoadway Unfunded-Construction $5.5 MillionPartially Funded–2024/25 –Way -of-RightUnder Contract–$1.7 Million Funded –2023 -Design During Online PIMVirtual–Neighborhood/Stakeholder Meetings Two Week Comment Period Mid/Late March Online Public InvolvementMarch 13Meridian Task Force PresentationEarly March Meet With Highly Impacted Property Owners Our Mission: We drive quality transportation for all Ada County…Anytime, Jennifer Berenger, Deputy Director, MaintenanceFebruary 23, 2023 Information Briefing 1 Anywhere! 1 2 signalizationlane construction, and Naomi lane Ustick Road Widening, deceleration complex operations aligns with Ensure timing of maintenance -2futureneeds to serve the public into the meet the maintenance operations Ensure appropriate facilities to - 3 Construction begins late 2024, completion 2025Currently in design/ROW procurementUstick Road Widening is on trackFive years phased build, completion 2028May 2024–100% design completion are currently in designUstick and Apple Maintenance Complexes  4 May 2024Apr 2024100% Construction DocumentsMay 2024Apr 2024Construction Documents 95%Dec 2023Nov 2023Design Development 60%Nov 2023Oct 2023P&Z ReviewAug 2023Schematic Design 30%Apr 2023Programming Verification/PlanningUstickApple Timeline for each complex dependent on P&Z approvalSite specific design layout for unique terrain/land considerationsleverage similarity of functionUstick/Apple Maintenance Complexes designed together to 5 6 Enclosed & Covered StorageMagnesium Chloride tanksFuel IslandsWeld ShopFleet BuildingWash BayDrainage ShedBroom ShedSalt ShedCovered Decant FacilityAdmin Building$25 million-Estimated Cost Reduced response timelines for maintenance operationsPreserve footprint for future growthBuild to immediate needBenefitsNew Buildings for All Maintenance Roles PROJECT:2024Construction Year:2023Way Year:-of-Right2022Design Year:Ustick Rd, Bridge #1444PROJECT:2024Construction Year:2023Way Year:-of-Right2022Design Year:Ustick Rd/Naomi Ave SignalPROJECT:sidewa lk and Level 3 bike facilityWiden Ustick Rd to 5 lanes with curb, gutter, 2024Construction Year:2023Way Year:-of-Right2022Design Year:Ten Mile RdUstick Rd, Black Cat / PROJECT:FutureConstruction Year:FutureWay Year:-of-Right2026Design Year:Rd/Black Cat RdUstick Rd, Star/McDermott PROJECT:2024Construction Year:2023Way Year:-of-Right2022Design Year:Ustick Rd/Black Cat Rd SignalPROJECT:2024Con struction Year:2023Way Year:-of-Right2022Design Year:Linder RdUstick Rd, Ten Mile Rd / 8 9 Construction begins late 2024, completion 2025Currently in design/ROW procurementUstick Road Widening is on trackFive years phased build, completion 2028May 2024–100% design completion are currently in designUstick and Apple Maintenance Complexes Our Mission: We drive quality transportation for all Ada County…Anytime, 1 Planning & Programming Supervisor Kristy InselmanFebruary 23, 2023 Anywhere! 2 3 4 PROGRAMMINGPRIORITIZATION & PROGRAMMINGPRIORITIZATION & 5 6)th(April 12SessionIn Work -IFYWP Check)th Requests (February 15Partner Agency ) th August 16–th(July 19Public Comment Period th(July 27Public Open House ) th(January 8Public Requests Due ) th(November 16Off Meeting -Partner Agency Kick)th(January 11CompleteWork Session Public Outreach Update )th(March 15Work Session Partner Agency Review (September 27th)Hearing Public 2028 IFYWP Adoption-2024)th(September 6Work Session Comment ReviewPublic & Agency )rd(August 23Public Hearing FY24 Budget Adoption ) th(July 19Work Session28 Initial Draft -24)th(May 10Work SessionBudget/IFYWP Revenue (June 14th)SessionProject Prioritization Work )th(Feb 15Complete Work Session Public Outreach Review , 2022)th(October 12Complete Session Work -off -IFYWP Kick 7 DUE 2/15Groups requests and Neighborhood Planning ACHD Advisory Committees Formal Requests DUE 3/30Priorities ACHD Commission Project Commission Priorities the prioritization processIn March, Staff will begin processupon the outreach agencies to improve coordinate with partner analyze the data and Staff continues to and Maintenance DepartmentsShared projects with ACHD Traffic PrioritizationProcess AnalysisInternal Coordination 2/15DUEformal project priorities ACHD Partner Agencies submit Partner Agency Requests Programadd to the FY23 Scoping Staff identified 5 projects to Scoping XX Our Mission: We drive quality transportation for all Ada County…Anytime, March 1–ACHD Commission Work Session Finalize planning and data collectionComments or questions ?Comments or questions ?Anywhere!