Good morning. Welcome to this first virtual meeting of the Mobility Committee. We have
a quorum present, so let's move right into our items for individual consideration. Item
A is considered the approval of the meeting minutes of February 11th. I'll entertain a
little bit. It's not that entertaining, but I can't see anyone, by the way. Move approval.
This is Councilmember Ryan. Hey, Councilmember Ryan. Second? I'll second. Keely Briggs. All
in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. Minutes are approved. Now we have an issue in that I can't
or maybe I can adjust this so I can see everyone. Okay. Well, I can see some people. I gotta
make sure I can see. Councilmember, do you have a gallery view that you can see? I just
moved it to that. I can see John and two staff members or you and two staff members. So I
guess I'll just flip between them periodically. Chair, are you full screen? I'm sorry, are
you asking me? Yes, sir. Sorry. I just switched to gallery. Sorry, trying to address you as
chair. You have it full screen on your screen right now, because sometimes that'll expand
the gallery that you can see. Yeah, it's full screen on my device. If you don't mind, members,
if you wouldn't just mind verbalizing request to speak, just so I don't miss you, I won't
be offended. Okay. So moving on to item B, receive a report and hold the discussion regarding
updates from the Denton County Transportation Authority. Nicole is having a connection problem.
She should be on momentarily. Okay. I just, I just messaged her. Okay. Well, we'll give
it a minute. Okay. So, I just want to make sure that I'm not missing anything. I'm just,
is Brian connected? It's him in the meeting, but currently on mute. I'm here. Are you suggesting
that we go to item E? If we could just move forward and Nicole, Nicole just connected.
I am. Hello, everyone. Morning. I apologize for my delay. I was having some email issues
last week and I think that that caused the email to go get lost in the stratosphere.
So, well, I am very glad to be back with this group and to be providing some updates. As
you all know, the impacts of COVID. Excuse me, Nicole. Yes. Can you turn your camera on
please? Oh, sure. Yeah, that's a rule, isn't it? Get to be visible. Hey, there she is.
I have a little one at home. We're homeschooling. So, bear with me here as I try to complete
both roles. So, as you all know, the impacts of COVID definitely hit us hard being a transit
agency. And so, we originally cut our service by about 50%, modifying our service to a 60
headway just due to the lack of ridership and obviously all of the stay at home orders.
But we also increased all of our cleaning and our check-in processes. And that really
enabled us to kind of look at how we were doing things differently and kind of modifying
those processes. And we found that those processes that we were putting in place were actually
extremely successful. So, not only were we kind of doing an extra set of cleaning and
using new products on our vehicles, but we also had our operators check in in a different
way to maintain social distancing and also to deliver PPE at the beginning of each of
their shift. In addition, we put signage on all of our vehicles and regular email messaging
to passengers. And then from an administrative perspective, we have been staying on top of
local, regional and national alerts and mandates. And I am proud to say that DCTA is the only
transit agency in Texas without a single operator case of COVID-19. So, those precautionary
measures are definitely working. And I think we are learning new things every single day
and putting those new things into place to ensure the safety of not only our passengers,
but also our staff. On August 24th, we had our most recent service change. We have had
several service changes since the onset of COVID. But most recently, on August 24th,
we brought back frequency on routes 47, 21 and 22, bringing those back to a 30-minute
headway. And then we also added a permanent addition of an evening on-demand zone at the
Denton Transit Center. And that really is to address some of those services in Denton
that have truncated service hours. And so that on-demand zone can take you from the
DDTC to anywhere that we would serve with a fixed route so that passengers can get where
they need to go. We did permanently remove routes 5 and 8 simply because they are duplicates
of route 6 and 7. And so after a Title VI analysis, we determined that any place someone
was using 5 and 8 to get to that they could utilize 6 and 7 without any issues. And so
those are the main changes that we made August 24th. Our board did just recently approve
some increased frequency on the A train. And those services will be going into place on
September 21st. Fixed route ridership, we were down at the beginning of COVID a little
bit more than 50%. I think that that was expected just simply due to the stay-at-home orders.
But we are slowly seeing increases as the spread of COVID-19 slows down. And so we are
monitoring that. Again, we are putting as many precautionary measures into place as
possible to make sure that passengers feel safe. So masks are required on our vehicles.
We have hand sanitizer dispensers on all of our vehicles. Those should all be installed
by the end of this week. We are maintaining social distancing. We have placed protective
barriers between our operator and the entryway to the vehicles, as well as the fare box,
so that our operators feel safe as well. And so we are seeing positive effects from all
of those precautionary measures that we put in place. And we're very hopeful. I think
from a national level and an industry-wide level, we expect the increase in ridership
to be very slow. And I think that people are still going to have some fear related to COVID
about being in an enclosed space like a vehicle with others, not knowing what their precautionary
measures are. And so we're just trying to take that into account and look at ridership
on a monthly basis to see how we are reporting ridership. And again, we have seen a pretty
slow increase, but an increase nonetheless on ridership. And so right now, we're just
really focusing on those precautionary measures. We're focusing on bringing back the A-train
service to see how that helps. And then from that point, we'll continue to just modify
service as needed based on demand. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.
Council Member Briggs. Thank you. I'm glad to be back here. I have a few questions. One
has DCTA or the DCTA Board considered during a time such as this as offering a free fare?
So free fares has been a topic of discussion, I think, amongst a lot of transit agencies.
We opted not to offer the free fare because with free fare comes potential increased ridership.
Increased ridership creates a capacity issue where social distancing cannot be maintained.
And based on our ridership needs and the vehicles that we had available, we felt that our normal
discount programs that were helping maybe those who needed some assistance with a lower
fare were working at that time. A lot of the transit agencies that did go to a free fare
for a period of time have actually pulled that back because they are seeing capacity
issues becoming a concern. So that is not something that we opted. The Board did have
a discussion about it. But we opted not to go that route just due to capacity issues.
May I have a few more questions? During my Dallas Regional Mobility Committee, there was
an update on a grant that was received to study expansion and development. Is that anything
that you can speak to today to us? Do you know which grants, what the name of it was?
Not off the top of my head, but it was to expand the A train and to do transit oriented
development around? Around the KCS line? Yes. Yes. So we did receive a grant and I have
not been on that project team, but we did receive a grant to do some preliminary planning.
I can certainly follow up with the project manager on that and get back to you with more
details. Okay. I think it would be helpful for this committee to get an update on that.
Absolutely. And the last thing I wonder is the Bonnie Bray route open yet or the stop?
I know that we had individuals come and speak to us for a while that it was difficult to
get to work over in that area. And so I didn't know if all of those had been reopened. Due
to the construction, everything has been reopened. Okay. All right. Thank you. Councilmember
Ryan, anything? No, I'm good. All right. Nicole, I was a little curious. This is a bit of a
nitty gritty detail of when service was canceled on routes five and eight. What was the notification
procedure for people who might have shown up to, you know, looking for those? Sure.
So because we were at first, we were temporarily removing the services. We actually did a full
public involvement process. And so we not only contacted the businesses and apartment
complexes along those corridors, but we also put ads in the paper as well as our normal
digital outreach for public involvement. We did collect quite a bit of public involvement,
but based on the Title VI analysis, we reached out to individuals who had some concerns about
it and we helped them trip plan around the removal of those two routes. And once they
recognized that they could get where they needed to go, they were satisfied. And so
we were able to kind of move forward and our board approved the removal of those routes.
Yeah. Portmanteau Grants, I don't know if they actually hit different stops than six
and seven. But if there are some stops that are unique, was there signage put at the stops?
The reason I'm asking this is just because, you know, we've had complaints brought in
the same individual. Absolutely. So typically anytime we remove a route or even if we just
move it, we will put signage at all the stops about two weeks prior to the actual removal
to let people know. And then we go back and we switch out that signage to let them know
that the route, that specific stop has been changed. And then we locate on that sign what
the closest stop it would be to them just in case they didn't, you know, see the information
or didn't see the postings at the bus stop. But if there's an individual that you're hearing
from who has some questions or concerns, they can absolutely reach out to us and we can
help them trip plan. Yeah, not currently. I'm going way back. Yeah, thanks for the update
and for our conscientious and thorough. Sounds like DCTA is being just with everybody with
everything, given all the challenges. Thanks for coming. Absolutely. I hope the drive is
okay. Yes. Yeah. Okay. And I'm good to turn I'm good to turn my camera off. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. And just in case you want to see a little one. All right. We're still a little early
for john. So do you want to discuss item D then receive a report hold the discussion
and receive direction regarding future mobility committee meeting schedule dates and times?
What do you all have on that? Anyone requests the request there, Paul is to receive input
from you all as committee members. We previously set the mobility committee meetings to be
on the same day as counsel. And now that we've gone to the virtual format, there can be no
other committee meetings on the same day as counsel. It's it's pretty overwhelming for
DTV to shuffle the setup. Council is a much more complex meeting. So the request is to
choose another date, because going forward in October, November and December, for sure,
we have a conflict with the council schedule date. I'll have to review the available time
slots but just looking for some input from you all on if there's a certain day of the
week or a certain time period that fits with your schedules that we can target. I'll rule
out Monday mornings, please. Anyone else that got some breaks? You have some good times
or bad times? Um, well, I was just going to throw out that maybe we wait until after November
to find a date and time, but we can work on or just suggest a time for next month, maybe
if we meet. And then and then we can set a time for regular meetings and days after that
that would be continuation in case somebody's schedule changes. Any guidance on the the
next one next meeting? That's what we're bringing some good days of the week or bad days of
the week or day parts or anything like that. Well, I know that you said Monday mornings
are out usually on one of the Mondays, I think it's the first Monday that it's a COE at one
is generally our meeting. So if probably not Mondays, no Tuesdays. So I get it just depends
on the day of the week. Any other time I can I can fit in I can fit in a meeting. That's
what Brian any problems on Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays? Thursdays tend to be a busy day
for me, but Wednesdays would be fun. Well, when we when we shoot for a Wednesday. Obviously,
we'll communicate on email to help. Yes, thank you. Okay, but still tap dancing got 12 minutes
till till on system. So why don't we open item E? Yeah, why don't we just go ahead and
go through item E then staff update regarding safe routes to schools, bike scooter share
programs, community input on mobility plan, future items for consideration and the street
construction report. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is Brian Young, the city traffic engineer.
Just a quick update on the three items. Safe routes to school, I'm going to give the good
the bad news first rather we were not successful with our two applications on the latest call
from cog city of Dallas took all of the safe route to school money this year. So nobody
else got any. The good news is we do have two safe route to school projects for Jennings
and Alexander and pecan Creek and Wilson that we will be our current schedule has us completing
design mid 2021 and moving to construction and construction being completed in 2023.
So we have those two, there is two projects that encompass four schools and those are
moving forward. Why don't we stop and take questions on each item. Councilmember Briggs.
So I have a question and a comment really on the safe schools. I wonder if one reason
we did not get it and I don't know if this has anything to do with it. But I know that
we have been trying to get that sidewalk, the one, the first one implemented for over
six years. When I was first elected to council, we were discussing that implementation. So
I don't know why it's taken so long. But I mean, if individuals are looking at who to
give grant money to and they see that we've had a project sitting on sidewalks for over
for six years, I mean, does that take, do they take that into account?
I would not be surprised if they did. So that's one of the reasons why we're trying to accelerate
the design portion so we can get into construction on all four campuses. It's you're correct.
And if you if you continue to let the money sit there, at some point, they're going to
say you don't need that money anymore. And so we're actively pursuing the completion
of all those projects. We also have another project with cog. It's not a safe route, although
it serves a school. It's the side path between the transit center and UNT on sycamore. And
that's moving forward moving that forward as well. So we'll have three active sidewalk
design projects, in addition to our 2018 and 2019 bundles, that will be moving through
design and into construction the next 12 months.
Just to follow up on that, is there a reason why it's still going to take a year or two
to implement those the sidewalks, so it'll be, you know, almost 10 years from the original.
So those are estimates right now, the design is going to will probably still take at least
a four month period. But there's about three or four miles worth of sidewalk. And it just
depends on how fast we can get a contractor and what their construction schedule is. And
hopefully we can trim some time off of that the the side path along sycamore is going
to be a little bit more difficult than I know that's not a safe route. But that's because
it's going to take some real estate involvement. And I think we have limited real estate involvement
in the first two those those four campuses, the two safe route to school projects. But
that is one of the things that can really slow you down is if you have to go out and
acquire property. And so again, it's limited on those safe route to school. But we just
we don't know. So it's a matter of if we can get the limited properties that we need and
the construction easements that we need and the timely manner, and the contractors got
enough crews to throw at it, we can we can significantly reduce the construction time.
Okay, yeah, it's that the path on the way to Jennings is the one that's concerning to
me that I was looking into maybe discussing more. But thank you. Thank you for that. And
Chair, we're going to hear other updates before we ask questions.
Well, yeah, I thought we took each item at a time. Councilmember Ryan, did you have any
questions on the safe routes to schools? No.
I wonder if you can give us any insight on what criteria we didn't meet? Why? Why? Why
didn't? Why did Dallas get everything? Why did we get nothing? And if we don't know,
can we ask? We can and I have not. They do typically send out with the results, some
of their scoring, I have not seen that yet. But we'll certainly we can get that and provide
that to the committee. Great. And, you know, more more importantly,
for you, sir. Great. All right, why don't we go ahead and talk about that bike share?
Okay, so they ride is our current bike share provider, they have notified that they will
be pulling out all of their bikes by the end of the calendar year. However, I got a I've
got an email from UNT, their director of transportation that all of the bikes are gone from campus
already. So as far as the bike and scooter share, I think we're now in the in the market
for a new provider. So we will be working with Chris Phelps at UNT to identify those
providers, the potential providers and, and go through a selection process. But I have
not. I have not driven around town to see if all the bikes are gone from town, or if
it was just from UNT campus. Perhaps you've seen if you still see bikes laying around,
and literally sometimes they are laying around. If you still see bikes on the right away or
near businesses or apartment complexes, then they're not gone completely. They said they
would stay through the end of December. However, UNT seems to think they pulled out early.
And UNT continues to be opposed to any scooters on campus. So we still have an issue with
potential scooter program in the city, if they're not allowed to utilize the UNT campus
area.
I heard that Dallas just undid their scooter program.
Yes, they did. The scooters were very popular. But they continue to have safety issues. I
personally saw a lady get mowed down when we were in Austin. And the girl said she just
lost control just she was cutting across Sixth Street. She was not inebriated. It was daytime.
So but she just hit the curb and knocked an elderly lady down to the ground. So they're,
they do have outlying issues as far as safety. But they still they remain popular in many
cities.
That's one of her pricks.
Yeah, I would like to explore to make sure that there are other companies. I know I've
seen individuals using the bikes, not extremely frequently, but I have seen them being used.
And I think it's a benefit to our community. The way that we had it, I thought. So is that
is that an RFQ process RFP? Or do or does UNT just kind of do the heavy lifting and
then because we have that, I think MOU or understanding, right? The other question is,
I thought TWU also had bikes. Is that through somebody different?
I'm not aware of TWU having their own program. My understanding was a very ride with citywide.
But you and to answer your first question, UNT does most of the heavy lifting, we work
with their transportation group in the selection process. So we can certainly bring that before
this group and identify once we've identified some potential candidates, or if you want
to be part of the process, we can also, whether it be an RFQ or an RFP, bring that before
you and have this committee play a part of the role in at least identifying criteria.
Maybe a good time if we want to revisit docked or dockless. There are a lot of difference.
I've seen the docked bike shares, they seem to work a little bit better, just because
you can't leave the bike in the sidewalk or in somebody's yard. However, they're limited
to where you can only go to where you can only leave the bike in a dock and it may not
be where you want to go. So there's pros and cons. And if with the excuse me, if the city
wants to revisit docked or dockless, we can certainly entertain that. Or we can just bring
back a list of providers who are eligible to are interested in providing bike shares
to the city. I imagine that conversation can be sort of simultaneous that once you have
your short list of providers, some may be docked and some may be dockless. Right. There's
a new animal out there that also that the e-cycles. So you've got the motor assist.
I don't know that we had any of that before, but those are certainly some criteria that
if we wanted to throw away that as a requirement or at least that they should be able to provide
again, so consideration. You got a comment, Councilmember Pritz? A question. Yeah, just
when because it is COVID and I know that there's a lot we just had a presentation about how
much cleaning needs to be done on buses. Is that something that these companies are taking
into account now? And I mean, if not, is that something we can ask about as we're going
through the process? I certainly can ask. I do not believe that Vail was cleaning the
bikes. Not that I mean, I have not seen that happening. That can certainly be part of the
criteria that they provide that service, which, again, might lend itself to a docked alternative
because it's a lot easier for them to maintain those bikes. If they're in a single location,
they just deploy one person instead of having to wrangle them up and then you'll clean them.
We can certainly fold that into the criteria. Councilmember Ryan, anything? Yeah, I would
just say that it's probably with the clinging issue that the current company has decided
to pull out, that was probably a large part of their decision in doing that, is the cost
effectiveness of that and not having students on campuses as much right now is probably
also added to the economy of scale was not there for them. Yeah, sounds right. Now, one
of our goals in doing the program was learning, right? It was to some degree a trial basis.
I mean, there's checking points contractually. As I recall, are we owed any updates on how
it went pre-COVID, since our goal was learning? Okay, well, pre-COVID and post-COVID. Let
me circle back with UNT and see if they received any reports. Kind of a closure departure report
from the very outright people. I'm not aware of any responses that we were owed, but that's
just because I don't know. I mean, I'll circle back with UNT and see if they've got anything.
I appreciate that. Yes. Because I think we should have a clear takeaways to the extent
possible on what worked, what didn't work so that if we do it again, hopefully we build
on what worked. Yeah, I'd be interested in some community response as well. As far as
did the dockless, was that acceptable? Were they rather have a different kind of program?
Were there enough bikes? Were they easy to acquire? That would be more of a user response
than an operational response. Well, I think knowing why they pulled out, whether it was,
as Council Member Ryan suggested, kind of all COVID related, or was the adoption not
there? If it wasn't there, that'd be kind of important for us to know. Okay. Chair?
Yep, Council Member Briggs. Just a comment on your comment. I do believe that in the
updates or in the presentations, they did say that data would be shared with us and
that was one of the reasons we were interested in continuing on because of the data that
would be shared. And I'm trying to think back, last time Mark had a presentation, there was
some pretty good data. And if we could just get an update on that, that would be great.
And I thought that I read they pulled out because we weren't going to allow scooters,
which COVID may have had something to do with it, but I thought it was also scooter based.
I could be wrong in what I read. That was in the materials provided to us. But, you
know, let's see what else we have to say too. Is this tenable or not? Right. Bear Ride did
say that they were no longer going to support bike only programs. So I understand that.
That's the reason they're pulling out by the end of the year. My question is, did they
actually pull out in September or August and does that constitute a failure to fulfill
the contract or the agreement that we had in place? Right now, we don't have anything
at all. It appears on campus and possibly citywide. So, but we can certainly, back to
the point of the data, I know we were getting usage and ridership data. So also, even if
it's exactly as stated, that they pulled out because we wouldn't do scooter, that implies
that bike alone isn't tenable. So it'd be good for us to understand why bike alone is
tenable. Is it ridership or is it the way that they operate it required, you know, too
much cost? So, you know, we have a golden opportunity to become smarter. Exactly. Very
good. Okay. Wanna keep going to the next item? Yes. So the last item is the community input
on mobility plan. And we have outlined a series of five over the next several weeks. It starts
tomorrow at six p.m. We'll be using the same Zoom platform that we used for our Lakeview
traffic calming meeting. So it's just like this one. We'll have a virtual host and staff
support and then we'll go through our presentation. Again, lessons learned. We did in our Lakeview
traffic calming, we learned that you don't ask for a show of hands if they have a question
and the Q&A becomes very difficult to bounce back and forth. So if you ever run one of
those, we recommend using the written question and answer format only so that, one, it helps
document all of the requests and inquiries and you can capture that either using screenshots
or I forget how Stephanie saved those. I think she was using screenshots. And then we have
then you have a record of every question that was asked and answered. So those will be the
9th, 10th, 14th, 17th, and 24th of this month. Again, following the same format we did with
council focusing on a geographic area starting with downtown and then moving through north,
south, east, and west the other four. We're ending with I believe the last one on the
24th is the southern section. So we'll be starting with downtown tomorrow. Very similar
format explaining what we've done as far as the mobility plan, the process, and the draft
plan and council input from those previous meetings and then requesting community input
following that presentation. Great. Comments, questions? Okay. Now, are you going to tee
up future items for consideration or this is a placeholder to ask if we have some? Good
question. I don't have a copy of that, Becky. I know there was one circulated, but I'm not
sure if it was for this committee. Do you have a? I have the street closure report,
but I do not have the future items for consideration. Right. Exhibit two. I got it. Okay. So that's
the grid. I don't know if you have, I guess you would need to see it to make any comments.
Does everyone have a copy of that? We do. Okay, great. I just downloaded it off the
internet, so I do as well. Any questions? Share that to the screen. I can try. Brian,
if you share it and we just use it as an overview, that's fine, but then you'll have to take
your screen down when we talk through it. Correct. So if we want to just, and I've done
this, can you see it? Okay. So we've got, it looks like 14 items. You've seen it. This
is for the benefit of those who don't have a copy in front of them, but a lot of the
items are carryovers from pre-COVID. So if they're still pertinent, we'll allow the committee
to decide whether or not we want to move those forward. And if we want to add any additional
items, now is the time. So I'm going to stop sharing. Why don't we take them in order?
Council Member Briggs, the first three items are yours. Do you have any changes or anything
you want to withdraw or adjust? Well, the one way versus two way, I feel like that came
to council and I'm not sure it was difficult then to understand what was going on. And
I don't know if it wants to come back here, but I feel like during the mobility plan,
it didn't seem like that conversation was ready to end, but overall, so we can just
keep that on there as just a reminder, I guess, unless any other council members here have
an idea on that. The road diet on Carroll, that actually was mentioned during the one
way, two way conversation. I'd like to keep that on as long as the city is looking at
it with the mobility plan. And Alice sidewalk, an update on that. I know there were some
issues, a few issues there with the property owner. I don't know if those have been corrected
or not, but I know that has been an ongoing issue for accessibility for a long time. So
a quick update there, we actually have resolved the issues with the property owner and we
have text on approval. So we can move forward with a permit application and some minor sidewalk
construction to at least provide a viable connection into the parking lot.
That's fantastic. Thank you. So do you want us to hold our new request till the end after
the old requests are gone through? Yeah, let's do that. Okay. So I think you can take item
four off. I don't even know what action I would have been looking for on item six. That's
a comment that I made while discussing the issue of the roller coaster ride of West Hickory
west of Bradley to Bonnie break. And I understood that there were core samples that were going
to be taken or some kind of investigation. And I just never heard anything about it.
The road remains something that raises questions about our competence. That's why the constituent
comments to me like, are we just using bad standards? We need to understand why it is
the way it is as well as determining whether we can fix it. But the understanding of what
enabled us to build a road that so quickly turned into a roller coaster ride, I think
is an important question. So it's really about roller coaster ride, West Hickory suit. I'm
sorry. You said West Oak, Bonnie, Bradley to Bonnie brain. So with that clarification,
any comments, any next steps? Councilmember Meltzer, we can absolutely look into the ride
with quality and standards that were used in that roadway from Bradley to Bonnie Bray
along Oak and report back at the next meeting. I can tell you the result of that. It's a
roller coaster ride. The question is underlying cause. How do we allow it to happen? Sure.
We'll look into the standards that were used to construct that roadway in comparison to
our city standards and details and see if there's anything we can find out that might
be the cause of the roadway quality you're discussing. And if it turns out that it's
exactly the same standards we use everywhere, then I would call those into question. There's
some other factor then. So let's wait and see. But if we just go, nope, it was all good.
It's not all good. Sure. I completely understand. Let us look into that and we'll get back with
you. Thank you. Councilmember Briggs, anything on seven? I believe that can be taken off
because of the all walk that we just recently discussed. Councilmember Ryan, anything on
11? No, still looking forward to it. I know probably they started working on this pre-COVID
and I'm guessing that it just kind of stalled out for the time being, but I'm still looking
forward to this. Basically, what I was asking for was reports on our major projects like
we get on textile projects, where it gets a little more in depth as to what the completion
dates are and more of a map included. We have phased projects that are coming up, like Bonnie
Bray, where do we stand on the last part of May Hill, getting the bridge in, those types
of things that require a little more in depth reporting. And it's going to start this date,
it's going to end this date. I'll add my name to that item. 12 can be removed. That's been
addressed. Councilmember Briggs, anything on 13 and 14? Well, the cycling event, I guess,
can be taken off and I would like to leave the downtown retractable and removable bollards
on there until we can decide if that's feasible or not for when we have the festivals and
when we close off the square for events. I think that would be helpful to have. So just
to leave that on there. I guess as far as scheduling cycling events, that kind of goes
in line with my request or question about the update on our bike and pedestrian coordinator
as we're going through the sidewalk questions and things like that. So just a small update
on that. And also the light at the loop in Sherman, it was my understanding that that
would be coming in soon, like at the end of this year. So how close are we on target for
that as development comes in? So those are those are two things. Yeah, additional items.
And customer Ryan, do you have additional items, future items for consideration? No,
not at this time. You're kind of freezing a little. You're still there. Okay, you're
right. I have one that I would just like an update on at some point in the future. I had
an exchange with with the city manager and he looked in Ethan Cox, just I made a suggestion
that there be some kind of a lookup tool could be on the city website where you put in a
street name and you get the status either it's under construction. This is happening.
That's happening. It's on a future bond program. It's set for, you know, some point in the
future or no, no work plan. Because I don't know about y'all, but I get that's the most
constant type of question that I get from constituents. It's kind of difficult to answer
because you got to either go through a bunch of well-prepared reports, but you know this,
the item may or may not be on there. You don't know if it's kind of contemplated. It's in
a bond program, but not in this pre-construct report. There's a lot to go through to answer
that question, but if it's all in one place and Todd liked the idea and looked Ethan in
who said they're working on something that would have essentially result in exactly that.
So that's the extent of it like to know how real is that? When can we expect it? You know,
you have a way to put that in like five, four or five words, put a little line.
Sure. Thank you for the question. Absolutely. We're looking into that. There's a mapping
program that we're looking at to incorporate all of the current capital projects along
with all of the development projects, whether it be a bond program or something that's even
being done by internal construction crews. It's through an IT Nexus map program. And
so that is something that's supposed to be rolled out and we're working through throughout
the month. So we're hoping that we'll, we'll have that fairly soon. That was already kind
of in the works when you asked the question. And so lucky job. So definitely we're working
through that. And so we can bring you an update. Hopefully by the time we meet again, we'll
have some kind of platform that's moving forward. But it's definitely something that we hear
quite a lot as we would like to make sure that logistically we're coordinating all of
the projects amongst the city. So great idea. Well, of course, it's already working. You
know, different people learn differently, right? When you take like math classes, they
kind of show some people information in a table, some in a graph, some in text, you
know, if you know where all the streets are and you think that way, map's good. If it's
even just alphabetical list by street of the same data, for me, that would be quicker.
And I don't mean instead, I mean, it seems like if you have the same data, you might
be able to access a different ways. Okay. Anything else on future items? We're ready
for on system. I would like to follow up real quick if I could on the question number 15
that Councilmember Briggs mentioned. Please. I just wanted to let you know, we are currently
working on a transportation ADA planner position. And the city has worked on a new updated job
description that also coordinates with our parks department. And we'll be moving forward
with that through our human resources department and then possibly getting outside help to
advertise that position as it's very unique as to exactly what we're looking for. So we
can bring more information back, but please know it is on our radar. I love hearing that
ADA is part of the description, which I presume means some background or expertise in that.
I know that's been a kind of a sore point from the committee that they want someone
to actually, you know, has a background in that. So that's great. Absolutely. Okay. Please.
Okay. So yeah, no, that's really great to hear. But would they also have background in like
bike lanes and cycling and so just well rounded that that's still part of the description
to work on? Yes, ma'am. That's all kind of an inclusive trying to get all the different
areas of what we're looking for. ADA, bike lane, transportation type planner, where we're
looking at how people get around from a pedestrian aspect or a bicycle aspect. Okay. Thank you.
No problem. Okay. Call item C and see what happens. Receive a report and hold a discussion
regarding Texas Department of Transportation on system projects in the Denton area. So
is this where I start talking? It is. Okay. I'm going to try to share. I'm going to try
to share my screen and do the report. Okay, hopefully, I'll see that. Okay. Let me guys
size it up a little bit better. So our first report sheet shows the project summaries and
what we've we've revamped it a little bit to show basically what that's my apologies.
I'm driving while I'm doing all this to show the the projects the let dates and then the
construction dollars and then if there's any additional information related to the funding
and it'll be in individual reports on the individual report sheets. But this just covers
the construction of the projects. So our 2181 North South project is the the first project
I like to go over. You've got a a monthly status report from Stacey Clack at TXDOT.
And again, they are working through the final stages of the utilities with the city and
are starting to move into the general work on the on pavement preparation and the asphalt
detours and stuff like that. So we're we're getting close to the end of the beginning
and we're fixing to start the roadway improvements on that project. And I'll continue unless
I hear somebody asked me to ask me a question. But we're on track to still meet the November
2021 second completion date that we've have on this project. Then on Fort Worth Drive,
I'll move on to the construction report from Barry Smithy. And I'd like to say that this
is a project that the city worked with TXDOT to get back on track by allowing them a period
of time that they worked at night. And that that was able to get the project back to being
completed on February 2021. So just after the first of the year, this project should
be completely open to traffic and we should probably sometime a little after Christmas
being able to drive on it is what we call substantially complete. So yeah, that that
work that the city allowed the contractor to do at night for that couple of weeks really
helped us get back on track on our schedule. So I just wanted to give a shout out to the
city on that. Next project that we're going to cover is the 35 Mayhill. We changed the
exhibit to show that the project also includes the frontage road from Mayhill North to Luke
288. And we're we're in the utility coordination process with all of these utility providers
you see listed there. And we're still on track for a April 22 ready to let and then the let
currently is scheduled for June. But if we get the utilities completed in time, then
we can move up the let date because it is fully funded. So if you'll note that funding
on those reports shows 46 million in category two, but a $62 million estimated construction
cost because of the addition of that frontage road. And in the current 10 year UTP that
is being approved, the category two will cover that cost overrun or that difference in price.
So by September into September, first part of October, we'll be able to adjust that number
to be equal to what the estimated construction cost is. This is the Dallas drive inner improvement
that the purple at the bottom where it kind of shoots off towards the corner. That's Dallas
Drive. The intention on this project is to make the frontage road in this area 35 continuous.
Right now you exit Dallas Drive and you have to make a left turn across traffic and then
come back onto the frontage road. We're pulling out a portion of the ultimate and we're going
to be working with tech slot to have a design done that allows the frontage road to be continuous
and access the Dallas drive to be more intuitive. And it's got $50 million worth of category
two funds on it. And we're not sure that that's going to actually be the actual cost, but
that's what we have anticipated. And so that's what we're allocating. And by the end of the
year, we should have a consultant on board to begin the design work on this project.
And remember, this was already environmental declared back in 2012. So all we're going
to be doing is the design and checking out what right of way is needed to be acquired
there. Okay. Then your big project, the 35E, 35, 35W merge. We are looking at having the
right of way completed at the end of this year. And they are still saying that they
believe that with the number of parcels and eminent domain, which is a set schedule, that
they will meet that December timeframe. Again, the dollar amount is 319 is what we have currently
funded, but it's 335 million now. And again, during that 10 year UTP modification that
should happen by the end of September, first part of October, it'll be adjusted to cover
the difference in that. We'll report that change in the funding once we have it approved.
And this is a project that's critical for Bonnie Bray, because from 380 all the way
up to 77, and then we've got the Bonnie Bray South. But once 35 goes under construction
in this segment, Bonnie Bray is going to be an alternate route. And so you'll see that
we're working on getting Bonnie Bray funded, designed, and constructed hopefully before
this January 23 let date. Okay. The northern segments, again, they're fully funded at 546
million. We'll cover the difference in the 10 year plan. And this takes it basically
from 77 all the way out to the Grayson Ditton County line. And it's got a little bit sooner
date because the utilities are a little less complicated in this area. So it's got a December
22 let date, which is about a year or so ahead of the other project.
All right, your 35W main lanes. The only thing really to point out here is that we continue
to move on the schematic for this project in its ultimate. And the reason we're doing
that is because of the next project, which is the frontage roads. HNTB has been picked
up to be the designer of the frontage roads in this corridor. So they're going to be designing
the frontage roads from 114 all the way to the merge. And we are working with staff to
identify areas that are critical to the city where they want to start with frontage roads
first. So in other words, they don't have to go from north to south or south to north
or build it all at one time. They can do segments that promote development as we know where
that development goes. So we'll be working with your city staff to identify those areas
and to focus on those areas. And again, just recently in June, the project was environmentally
cleared. So we are now able to begin the right away parcel acquisition. They're doing the
mapping now and we currently have 113 parcels identified to acquire. Then your US 380 project
from 288 out to 377, that project let just recently and y'all are taking action. I think
y'all approved the the AFA and the and the agreement with text that on on September 1st,
it looks like yeah, you did. And so the county's paying it's a $95,000 commitment that the
city has towards this 10 foot trail. But the county has agreed to pick up 55,000 of the
95. So net net, you certainly only be out to $40,000 for that, for that improvement.
And I think that's on Commissioner's Court agenda next week, is my understanding. And
again, this project is was awarded to regal construction. And they've got we're waiting
up the work authorization contingent upon when the city turns in their $95,000. That's
why we wanted to go ahead and do it quickly so that we could get the project led and be
awarded. Then your US 380 East project. This is the one east of 377 out to the county line.
We're in utility relocation, we expect the right of acquisition was completed in August.
And so we are dealing with utilities and this is a significant corridor for utility. So
we're really pressing all these providers to make sure you get ready. Our let date is
May 21, which is next year right around the corner. So we're, we're pushing hard with
these utility providers to make sure that we could meet that date.
Lutrede West project. We are awaiting environmental clearance. We've done all of the leg work
we needed to do for the public involvement. And we should know by the end of this month,
the the environmental clearance on this project. And this project is being included in what
the North Central Texas area is calling the integrated corridor. And we'll go over that
a little bit. But essentially, Luke 288 West, adding frontage roads to Luke 288 on the north
side out to 428. And then 428 out to the outer loop is being included in the integrated corridor.
And we'll, we'll be getting that information to your staff fairly quickly on what that
looks like. So there's a good chance that we'll get the money for the frontage roads
at least. Because now it's not just city and the county interested in this loop. It's now
the region and the and text that district. So then your FM 1515 project, this project
was environmentally cleared in August. And now we're doing the right away mapping. And
we'll be beginning the right away acquisition soon thereafter in our 30. There are currently
20 parcels on this project to be acquired. And that's pretty much the only difference
since we last met is it's been environmentally cleared. And now we're moving into design
and right away acquisition, hilly relocations. And then FM 1173 to the north, we continue
to work on the environmental efforts, we had a meeting with crumb. And they had some concerns
about how it ties into their old town area. And so we're looking at the term and I the
westerly terminal on this project to see what we can do to tweak some of those things, but
we continue to move forward on an environmental clearance and we expect to get that first
quarter of next year. And then 428, that's that let me see what's on the next one. So
on 428, this is that part of that integrated corridor that I think by our by our next meeting,
I'll be able to have an exhibit for you to look at. But essentially loop 288 on the West
will tie in to 35 here, where you see the loop 28 across the northern part of the city
come across loop by the infringe roads and go out for 28 as a freeway. And then somewhere
between the outer loop, which is that northern purple line, and loop 28, they're proposing
a another east west corridor that would cross over the green belt area and hit the toll
road in Collin County. So as soon as we can get that map, we'll get that to you before
28 will be absorbed into that concept. So we'll be showing that integrated corridor
to you as opposed to this is a standalone project. And then body break phase seven,
your staff has been working with the cog and the MPO to get funding for all these phases
of body break. And this is a phase that Michael Morris and the RTC continue with our last
meeting to communicate their support for funding this project through funding. So we're reporting
that to you. Because it's the last tie in on this is the phase six project. So this
is what we're working with Michael on to get the funding to get it fully funded. So we
get all Bonnie Bray done in time for the 35 projects. I jumped one. I don't know my Roman
numerals that well, I guess. So this is the phase seven that I was talking about, where
Michael has said that he continues to state the cog and textile fund that segment from
that last segment up to 2877 to 288. And that I think is it today. And here's our glossary
of terms. And I'm open for any questions if you have any. Okay, if you can pull the screen
share down. See if I can spot our council members. Councilmember Briggs. Thank you chair.
I have a few questions. The first one, I just want to make a comment and see if you have
any updates or answers. Since we met last we've had several people email us about the
380 exit off of 35. And I know that that was included in one of these updates, but it wasn't
mentioned how that affects the process. And I think you mentioned before there were some
temporary things that were going to be done. And we also have received suggestions from
individuals on things that may could be done there. Could you address that intersection
a little bit? Yes, ma'am. So that's that's going to be improved on the it's where it
shows up on the report is the 3535 35 W merge. And that will be ultimately fixed. But on
that project, but in the interim, what the district has we've gotten a lot of the district's
got a lot of complaints, cities got a lot of complaints, the county's got a lot of complaints.
And so what we're trying to do is take what we're proposing in the ultimate, and then
do an interim breakout job to try to fix that in the short term. And so I would say probably
in the next 60 days, we should have a better idea on what we think we're going to do there.
And it's our intent to try to do that as a breakout job. Some of these other ones you've
seen us do. Okay, thank you. And if you need us to send you the suggestions that we received,
we'll be happy, happy to do that as well. On Sherman on 428, I don't know you may have
been aware, with the expansion of the development, there were some painting issues and the shoulder
went away. Or is that something that you're familiar with? And do we have a timing on
on how that will be fixed where it's not safe anymore for individuals riding bicycles through
that section? Are you saying that some of the striping is gone? In that second? Yes,
the striping was allowed to be expanded to add a middle lane, which reduced the shoulder.
There's no, hey, there's our city engineer who may want to weigh in on that. I'm just
wondering if there is information on that because it wasn't on the update. Yeah, I'm
not familiar with that. But hopefully some of the city can answer that. And then if not,
we can track it down and get it looked at fairly quickly. I can. This is Brian on traffic
engineer I can answer a little bit. We are currently working with the developer to amend
their permit. We've talked with Tina and she said if they will just amend the permit, they'll
prove it to add a couple of feet of pavement to those existing shoulders. I think they're
probably three feet or less is what was left after that widening was done. So we are currently
working with I believe it is Stark Farms is that development. And so we are working towards
a solution with developer and textile at this time. Okay, um, I didn't know if Mr. Pulsar
wanted to come and I have another question not about that. Um, on the loop loop west,
the date is still 2026. Is that still the date you think or is that going to be moved
up a little bit? So the 2026 date is there because it's not funded and that puts it outside
the four year window. So that's just there for a placeholder. But the when we get the
integrated corridor study back, part of what we'll do then is it'll be the city, the county,
the cities in the corridor between 428 and the toll road and the district. And we're
going to be talking about timing and funding. And once we get that conversation had, we'll
have a better idea on on what type of money will loop to it yet. So that 2026 is just
because they put it outside the four year, uh, step window, but they want to keep it
on the books. And so they just put it in an out year. But yes, we'll update that as, as
we can. But remember, this also is the corridor where if you pull up your GIS mapping, you'll
see that there are a ton of gas wells, transmission lines, distribution lines. And so the part
of the timeframe that they're allowing is, is that they've had a couple of projects in
other places in the district that took a lot longer to do the utilities on that were similar
in nature to what Luke 288 is. So they're just hedging their bet on how long it's going
to take to do the utilities. But now that we've got, um, like I say, an emphasis on
this project, it's not just the city and the county. I think that there'll be more resources
brought to bear on this project and we'll be able to expedite the schedule.
Thank you. And chair, last, last comment, or I guess question, um, Mr. Polster, you
mentioned something about a road going through the greenbelt. Um, what I, that's makes me
really uncomfortable. I'm not sure what, um, what road is that you're, you're talking about.
So when I get to the outer loop, I mean, the integrated corridor concept and, and text
that's still working with cog on some traffic modeling. And that's the reason why we don't
have it to distribute, but essentially it's a East West corridor South of the outer loop,
which is four 28, the Northern four 28 and North of three 80. And the core of engineers
has communicated that they won't allow anything to cross the cream greenbelt other than a
regionally significant facility. And so this integrated corridor is a road that goes from
35 in Denton, ultimately in the inner first phase to 30 in Rockwall and then from 30 in
Rockwall all the way back to Ennis in Ellis County at 45 and 287. So it is a regionally
significant arterial. And before we, before cog ventures into those waters, um, they want
to make sure that, um, they know what the traffic is going to do.
Um, Brian, I'll pause that. I'll just, just going to ask, is that something that we've
been looking at in our mobility plan? Is that on there?
We actually do have a placeholder. I think a lot of the residents have been calling it
the Ganser freeway. So we're showing an intermediate facility tying into four 28, approximately
where our Ganser road extension was. So we're, yes, we are in fact, including that at, and
we got this information from John as a, just was a pop up a couple of months ago. So we've,
we've had it on the mobility plan as a placeholder, a controlled access facility for about two
months, three months. I'm, I'm pretty concerned about it. Okay.
That's all my questions. Thank you. Do you want us, when we get it to have it as a, maybe
an item that we discuss at the mobility committee, once we get the graphics?
John, I think there's, there are three items that would probably resonate with, you know,
our constituents, the kinds of things we'd get questions on. I mean, that would be one,
the widening of the bike lane that we discussed before would be the other end. The thing we
probably hear about the most is that, you know, the 35 merge onto 380, you know, whatever
intermediate helps are coming there. So I would encourage you to just build those into
your discussion. Yes, sir.
Anything else? Council member Briggs? No, thank you. Thank you for letting me take
the time to ask my questions. Hey, that's what we're here. Council member
Ryan, anything at this time? Well, I'll just say that Michael Moore with,
with cog has talked about a green bridge. It's something not ever used before for crossing
that green belt area. That's going to be significantly unique in the way that it's built and protection
of the, the area. That's, that's intriguing. Certainly sounds
better than just clowning our way through it. Yeah. So just for your, for reference, there's
currently $50 million earmarked in Denton County and category two funds for that green
belt crossing. So just the crossing of the green belt, they're, they allocated 50 million
bucks because they know it's not going to be a normal, you know, pier and beam type
structure. It's, it's going to have to be environmentally sensitive and you know, the
Corps of Engineers, they're going to, they're going to get their pound of flesh either way.
So we know that it's a, it's not just a standalone type of thing. It's going to be a context
sensitive approach. Very interested in hearing more. I have just
a general question. You know, we see with all these projects, one of the big, you know,
kind of gating items is the environmental clearance. And I wonder if you could just
say at a very high level, what are the criteria that are evaluated and does any project ever
fail environmental clearance? Okay. So the environmental clearance process
includes not only the environmental impact of a project, but the mitigation required
in order for it to be approved. So what typically the way it's supposed to work is you look
at a project and if it has, if it meets a certain criteria, number of displacements,
environmentally sensitive issues, historically sensitive issues, then it, they do a checklist
and then they start with what's called a, with a categorical exclusion, which means
that it's in an area that's been disturbed multiple times before. And so they're fairly
competent of what's in that area and that there's very limited sensitive receptors,
for lack of a better word, so they can, they can move into what's that categorical exclusion,
which is a lower level of environmental clearance based on what's been done in the past. Then
it moves up to an environmental assessment and the environmental assessment goes into
in-depth detail on flora and fauna. So it's going to find out if there's endangered species,
it's going to do waters of the US, it's going to do air quality, noise, all of the things
that you would in your mind understand environmental issues to address. And then it identifies
those impacts. And if that impact has a certain level to it, then there has to be a mitigation
program. So if there's noise above a certain level and it's, and it's medicable, if that's
a word, then the sound will have to be put in. If there are wetlands of the US that are
impacted, they have to be replaced somewhere, whether it's on the corridor itself or in
some other location that can be found. And then if there are a certain number of trees
or whatever they're impacted, they're replaced typically seven to one. So the mitigation,
so if you can't, if you can achieve the mitigation, then you're environmentally cleared. So there
are, there are times that projects are not cleared. And what happens when a project that's
going for an environmental assessment that doesn't get cleared, it doesn't have a finding
of no significant impact. It has a finding of significant impact. And so the next step
is what's called an environmental impact study or statement, which is a tenfold greater process
you have to follow to move forward on a project if you so choose. Typically, if you get a
finding of significant impact, nobody goes to the EIS after that because it's terminal.
And so the project typically stops. So I've been doing this for 30 years and no, sir,
I haven't found any project that hasn't been able to be mitigated once those impacts were
identified. I really appreciate that overview. Thank you very much. I think that's all we
have of the concluding items. Anybody, anybody caught anything I missed? Hearing no objection,
I'm going to move on to concluding items. Councilmember Briggs, do you have anything?
I mentioned them before in the matrix, the concluding items, but there was one thing
that I would like this committee to review and it's the update on the small transportation
projects. I know there were a few still going on and so if we can have kind of updates on
this committee regularly about how those are going, that would be helpful. Anything Councilmember
Ryan for concluding items? No. I will entertain a move to adjourn. Do we do that or we just
adjourn? I'm going to just adjourn. I'm going to adjourn Executive Authority and adjourn
this meeting at 10.19 a.m. Thank you very much, everyone.