Most people to the untrained eye are going to sit here and say that this owner starved for dogs.
They're going to head up to that dog hall right now. So we'll go out, we'll assess the situation.
I'm looking at these dogs, I'm like garbage. I mean, that's just like, did you see those bags through there?
She was very upset about losing all of her cats. She called me up a few times in tears.
I need my photos. I need to be able to paint this picture for the judge so that he sees what I see.
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Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to the April 8th meeting of the Hillsborough County TPO Board. If you would, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I say some.
Okay.
It's good to see everybody this morning. We have a number of excused absences. Mayor Kilton is one excused absence. Council Member Hertakf and Commissioner Bowles. Commissioner Myers is running a little late, and I think Board Member Gray has to leave a little early, so we need to keep an eye on the quorum if we get a little help with that, please. Would you please call the roll?
Good morning. Ross?
Here.
Wostel?
Here.
Miller? Here. Myers? Cohen? Bowles is excused. Clendenin?
Here.
Hertak is excused. Carlson?
Here.
Kilton is excused. Gray? Klug? Stevens? Here. Slater? King? Joseph?
Here.
You have a quorum, sir.
Thank you very much. Has everybody had an opportunity to review the minutes of our March 11th meeting, and if so, is there a motion?
So moved. Second.
Got a motion by Mr. Stevens, seconded by Commissioner Waspel. Any discussion of the motion? Correction to the minutes? If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? No nays. Minutes are adopted. Public comment. We have a 30-minute time period for this part of the meeting for public comment. If we need to, we end at 30 minutes, and then we resume public comment at the end of the meeting, if necessary. I don't know that that usually happens, but I like to read that once in a while. So if it does happen, people don't think I made it up on the fly. Speakers each have three minutes, and we ask that you come to the podium and state your name and city of residence. We do have at least one person signed up, and my apologies to Mr. Citro, because I believe he signed up last meeting, and it didn't reach me, and I didn't call on him, and I've been paying the price ever since then. So, Mr. Citro, you are recognized, sir.
Not true. Not true. Joseph Citro, 33611 for the record. Board members, you are going to be presented something handed down from Tallahassee, a tri-county MPO in the near future. Tampa is the transportation hub of west-central Florida, land, sea, and air, and I'm hoping that you guys will take into consideration that these other counties, Pinellas and Pasco, want to get into our city for importing, exporting, for our airport, for our sports, for our cruise lines. And the roads that they want to build to get into our city only, only irritate the people that live next to those roads. Those people are more affected than the people coming in from Pasco, coming in from Pinellas counties. So, please, when this comes up, we will be getting vast amounts of funds to better our transportation. Let's make sure that everyone has everything set in stone on what they want to do. I would hate to see smaller metropolises, such as Plant City, such as Temple Terrace, be lost in the shuffle. Now, we have a proposed stadium to be built over at HC. And from all of the community meetings that I'm going to, the number one concern is transportation. Now is the time to discuss these things. Now is the time to figure out how transportation is going to be used to get sports fans in and out without disturbing the neighborhoods. Maybe it's time to really start looking at rail from the airport to downtown, Joe Lopano's dream and Michael Stevens' vision. We could also use part of that to take it to the stadiums. Board members, it's time to be proactive instead of reactive. I thank you for your time. Chair, you and I are cool. Don't worry about it.
Thank you. We had one other person. Okay. We only had it. Okay. It's very good. So that concludes public comment. We have some committee reports. Mr. Fernandez, I see you're online. You're recognized, sir. Yes, sir. You hear me okay? Yes, sir.
All right. Thank you. Good morning, all. For the record, my name is Rick Fernandez. I have the privilege of chairing your TPO CAC. We met April 1st, met quorum easily, had four action item votes. All four of those action items, I believe, also appear on your agenda today. We received a presentation on the annual certification of the metropolitan planning process. The CAC voted unanimously to recommend the TPO board support the annual joint certification of the TPO. Second, the committee heard a tip amendment for lighting on East Atomo Drive. Members asked questions about the scope of the project and if it includes traffic signals or other components. The CAC voted unanimously to recommend that the TPO board vote to approve the amendment to the FY26-30 tip. Next, the TPO staff presented on the draft unified planning work program, the UPWP, for July 1, 26 through June 30 of 28. Last month, the CAC heard this as a status report. This month, it was an action item. Staff noted that the draft is currently with the federal and state review agencies and provided the timeline for the program's adoption. Members asked about the process for the development of planning projects. The CAC voted unanimously to recommend that the TPO board approved the draft UPW. Finally, the CAC received a presentation on the Beers Avenue multimodal safety study. Committee members asked questions about trees, community input, and about the mid-block crossings. Members also asked about the current signal timing and queuing. The CAC voted unanimously to recommend the TPO board approve the Beers Avenue multimodal safety study. I'd be happy to take any questions if there are any. If not, respectfully submit it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Fernandez.
Board members, are there any questions for Mr. Fernandez? Okay, thank you very much. Next, we have Harmony McGee from our TPO staff. Good morning.
Good morning, Harmony McGee, TPO staff. Regarding today's action items, the Technical Advisory Committee recommended that the TPO board vote to approve the amendment to the fiscal year 2026 to 2030 transportation improvement program. During the discussion of this item, the City of Tampa representative noted that the City is installing a signal at 26th Street and Adamo Drive and that this location is anticipated to become an important pedestrian corridor and eventually connect to the green artery. The Technical Advisory Committee also recommended that the TPO board approve the Beers Avenue multimodal safety study. During the discussion, several questions and comments were raised. Members asked how many years of crash data were being used, and it was clarified that the analysis included five years of data from 2021 to 2025. There was also discussion regarding right turn lanes, noting that the study's recommendations were developed under the assumption that no right-of-way acquisition would be required. It was also noted that the Buchanan Street is part of the school's own speed camera project, and that observed speeds may provide additional insight. It was shared that a spot speed study found most vehicles were traveling within five miles per hour of the posted speed limit. Additionally, there was discussion regarding how many crashes involved impaired drivers. The Technical Advisory Committee also recommended that the TPO board support the annual joint certification of the TPO. During their discussion, members noted strong communication regarding the list of priority projects. The committee also asked whether there is coordination with the Florida Department of Transportation prior to the process. Staff confirmed there is a strong working relationship with the Florida Department of Transportation, District 7, and that communication remains open and ongoing. Public comments were received from a community member on X regarding street lighting, light rail, and transit. The commenter advocated for light rail, inquired about lighting along Atomo Drive, and recommended lighting repairs. They also expressed support for the Hillsborough Transit Authority, but did express some dissatisfaction with the TPO and partnering agencies' efforts to improve transit in Tampa Bay. This concludes my report.
Thank you, Ms. McGee. Board members, any questions for Ms. McGee? You're good. Thank you very much. Has everybody had an opportunity to review the consent agenda, and if so, is there a motion? A motion by Council Member Clendenin and seconded by Board Member Gray. All those in favor, say aye. Opposed? No nays. The consent agenda is adopted. Next, we move to action items, and the first one is a D-obligation and Unified Planning Work Program Amendment. Jonathan Nixon Elder from TPO staff is here to explain.
Good morning. Good morning. I'm Jonathan Nixon Elder, TPO staff, and I'll be presenting the FY2526 Unified Planning Work Program De-obligation Request and provide preliminary information on the FY2728 UPWP. This de-obligation was mentioned during Sarah Capers' presentation of the draft UPWP last month. This is a routine process that ensures expiring funding is retained within the Hillsborough TPO. At the end of the UPWP two-year cycle, TPOs are asked to estimate the amount of funding they would like to de-obligate from the current fiscal year to have it available again in the next cycle. The current FY2526 cycle ends June 30, 2026, and the unused funds must be de-obligated by May 1st and transmitted to FDOT through an amendment requiring board approval. The de-obligated funds will be dispersed in FY27. The FY2728 UPWP adoption with included de-obligated funds will be brought before the board for approval during the May 13th meeting. The requested funds are available for de-obligation due to project timing. The de-obligation request is for surface transportation funding, totaling $330,000. There is $187,000 requested to be de-obligated from Task 2, System and Corridor Planning, $121,000 from Task 3, Long-Range Transportation Plan and Data Monitoring, and $22,000 from Task 6, Regional Coordination. Our recommended action is to approve the de-obligation and associated Unified Planning Work Program amendment. I appreciate your attention. This concludes my presentation. I am available for any questions.
Thank you very much, board members. Are there questions? Approval. We have a motion for approval from Commissioner Cohen, seconded by Commissioner Wastel. Any discussion of the motion? If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? No, nays. Thank you, Mr. Nixon and Elvin. Thank you. Next, we have a tip amendment, lighting on Adamo Drive from North 22nd Street to US 41, and Harry Walsh from TPO staff will explain. Good morning.
Good morning, Chair. Good morning, TPO board. Harry Walsh, TPO staff. I'm here today to present to you a proposed tip amendment on behalf of FDOT that brought it to us. The project involves spending $342,000 to install lighting along a two-mile segment of East Adamo Drive, also known as State Road 60. This area currently does not have any lighting, and this is done in conjunction with a resurfacing project. It is part of the scope of that project, and it has a budget associated with it to do safety improvements before they do the resurfacing, and FDOT selected this as the most salient project to complete. And we've heard from the project manager that the project is ready to go upon approval, and so it could be completed by August of this year to be ahead of the school year. Here we have three relevant pictures to the project. The one on the left is the context of the project in Hillsborough County overall. For the middle picture, we zoom in to the specific project location, which is just north of the Selman Expressway from east of North 22nd Street to east of US 41. And then the image on the right is an example of one of the lighting structures that was provided to us by FDOT. Here we have the comparative report for this project. You can see all of the funding is scheduled for fiscal year 2026. The vast majority of $342,000, so $341,000, is ACSS, which is Advanced Construction for Highway Safety. And then there's $1,000 for state in-house product support, which is essentially FDOT staff time, so it's a minor part of this project. And this will be delivered via a RISA, R-I-S-A, or a Roadway Illumination Services Agreement, a common type of agreement for this sort of project where the local utility, in this case TECO, does the installation, FDOT pays for it, and then the city of Tampa adds it to the FDOT maintenance agreement. And all phases of that will be managed by FDOT. And then brief presentation, I'll leave you with a recommended action to approve by roll call vote the amendment to the FY2630 tip. And with that, are there any questions on this project?
Thank you, Mr. Walsh. Board members, are there questions? We have a motion by Council Member Clendenin, seconded by Commissioner Wastel. Ms. Ramos, would you please call the roll call vote?
Ross?
Yes.
Wastel?
Yes.
Miller?
Yes.
Cohen? Clendenin?
Yes.
Carlson?
Yes.
Gray? Klug? Stevens?
Yes.
Slater? King?
Yes.
Joseph?
Yes.
Motion carries 12 to 0.
Very good. Thank you, Mr. Ramos. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Walsh. Next, we have a presentation on Bears Avenue multimodal safety study. It should be presented by Lisa Silva of our TPO staff and Devin Bars from Gresham-Smith. Good morning, Commissioner.
Good morning, Board. Lisa Silva, TPO staff. I'm your Vision Zero coordinator, so I'm glad to introduce this project. I was the project manager for yet another multimodal safety corridor to help implement and get our crashes down to zero. I also aged myself a little bit here, but I was the project manager for the Greater Carolwood Northdale Community Plan back in 2008 where I met Marty Bierce. And so I'm here to do a little tutorial on how the correct pronunciation of this corridor is, and it's Bierce. And so I believe our tutorial is working a little bit because I heard two staff members pronounce it correctly today already in your agenda. So I met Marty and his – and so it's a pioneering family, and so a great way to remember it is Bierce is fierce. So – and then I want to introduce our – why we attacked this particular corridor. We were approached this time by our partners, the Department of Transportation, and so we took a look at this. And then we have our consultant with Gresham Smith, Devon Bars, to do the overview for you.
Good morning. Good morning. Devon Bars with Gresham Smith. As Lisa said, this was brought to the TPO by FDOT, and half of the road is maintained by Hillsborough County. The other half of the corridor is maintained by FDOT. To give you some background on the study area, within the study area, there are certain averages that exceed the countywide averages, and those that are notable are housing units with one or no vehicles, low-income households, and runner-occupied households. We performed ped and bike counts along the corridor, and on the highest end of the counts is North Boulevard, which has, at the peak hour, 130 pedestrian crossings. That occurs during the Buchanan Middle School dismissal time of – it starts around 4.30. We also have a notable number of pedestrians and bicycles using all of the intersections throughout the study corridor. Our segment starts on the west end at North Boulevard, which is where Buchanan Middle School is located. As it heads east, we follow through a residential area to the north and the south, and then from Florida Avenue to Nebraska, it's predominantly commercial on the north and south of the corridor. The residential segment is curb and gutter section, four lanes divided, with a speed limit of 45 miles per hour, and the commercial segment from Florida to Nebraska maintains a speed of 45 miles per hour, still four lanes divided. Currently, there are no bicycle facilities except on street bike lane east of Nebraska Avenue, and there are sidewalks on the north and south side that are four to five feet in width. We performed a field review and noticed many people using different multimodal or micromobility devices. This gentleman here is crossing mid-block, and we've noticed that a couple other times during our field review. In addition to that, we have some abandoned utility poles on some of the signalized corners that haven't been removed. There are multiple ADA ramps and push buttons that are not in compliance with ADA, and the sidewalks under the I-275 overpass are pinched down to a width of about three feet, and there are no sidewalks currently crossing the railroad right away. We performed a pedestrian-bicycle level stress analysis, and this corridor received a stress level of four, which is the highest stress level that a corridor can receive. During our crash review, which is five years, starting in 2021 through 2025, there were multiple pedestrian crashes. They all occurred between Florida Avenue and Nebraska Avenue. One fatal, two incapacitating were mid-block crossings between Florida Avenue and I-275, and then there was another crosswalk crash that happened at Nebraska Avenue. All of our bicycle crashes happened within marked crosswalks. Some of those were e-bikes. Some were other types of micromobility. A couple of them had the right-of-way, and there were many times where a vehicle failed to yield to the bicycle that's in the marked crosswalk. Our vehicular crash trends showed that we had 42 percent of our high-severity crashes, so fatal and incapacitating, occurred during dark conditions, and we also had a trend of rear-end crashes, mainly at the I-275 signals and Nebraska Avenue. We performed an operational analysis. One of our safety recommendations is to incorporate near-perpendicular right turn lanes at Florida and Nebraska Avenue, and we performed operational analysis, and it showed that that will improve capacity at the intersection in addition to improving pedestrian safety. We also modeled FDOT's current concept for the signal changes at I-275, although that project is not funded currently by FDOT, it is the plan for in the future. They will combine the two signals down into one, and it will improve the capacity in addition to removing the through-queues that are currently blocking the signal since they are so closely spaced. We broke down our improvements into corridor-wide improvements and intersection-specific improvements. Our ped-bike improvement is recommended to be shared-use paths on the road. On the north and south side, this will be a combined facility for pedestrians and bicycles, and I'll show you in a minute the widths of those paths that we think we can achieve without acquiring right-of-way. We're also recommending corridor-wide lighting due to the high severity 42% crashes. For speed management, we're recommending narrowing the lane widths to 11 feet, replacing street trees that are within the Hillsborough County maintained segment, and installing speed feedback signs. To countermeasure the mid-block crossings for pedestrians, we're recommending two pedestrian hybrid beacon-controlled mid-block crossings. One of those will be at the location of where those mid-block crashes have occurred in the past, between Florida Avenue and I-275. The other one we're recommending in front of the crisis center, which is west of Florida Avenue. We've noticed a lot of people using that location to cross mid-block, and I think it has to do with the distance from the nearest signalized crossing. Our intersection-specific improvements include internally illuminated street signs, updating all the signals with current ITS technology. This will allow us to implement leading pedestrian interval on any of the segments that don't currently have it. We're recommending the near-perpendicular right turn lane additions at Florida Avenue in Nebraska, reflective back plates, and adding sidewalks through the CSX right-of-way. These are corridor maps that we prepared that are conceptual. This starts on North Boulevard, where we're recommending the strain poles to be replaced with masked arms, and a shared-use path on the north and the south side. That typical section continues as we head east. This is in front of the crisis center of Tampa Bay. It's our first mid-block pedestrian hybrid beacon crossing. This is a look at Florida Avenue, where we have near-perpendicular right turn lanes added on three of the approaches. And this is our mid-block crossing between Florida Avenue and I-275 to react to the mid-block crossings that are high severity at that location. The I-275 concept right now eliminates one of the signals and combines it into a single signal. And this is what we envision it to look like. And then as we head east towards Nebraska Avenue, we still maintain a shared-use path on both sides of the road. Nebraska Avenue receives the near-perpendicular right turn lanes. And then at the end of our segment at the railroad, we want to extend the sidewalks through the railroad right-of-way. They'll connect with existing sidewalks east of the railroad right-of-way. On the top of the next couple of graphics, we have existing typical section, and then on the bottom we have proposed typical sections. The main item to note is that the four- to five-foot sidewalks will be replaced by a seven-and-a-half to ten-foot shared-use path from North Boulevard to Florida. From Florida to I-275, we should be able to achieve a nine- to 12-foot shared-use path on both sides of the road. When DOT does the overpass changes, the bridge spans will be much larger. So a 12-foot shared-use path should be accommodated under the overpass. And then from I-275 to CXX Railroad, we should be able to achieve an eight- to 12-foot shared-use path with an existing right-of-way.
Thank you, Ms. Bars. Board members, other questions? Board member Gray?
Thank you for your report. You know, in my world, the school Buchanan is very much endangered. That North Boulevard to Beerus intersection just asked for the e-bikes to be hit or students to be hit. So my question is, and it might be redundant, but what is the timeline? Did you prioritize in terms of the sidewalks for the school crossings on left and right on the, on Beerus Avenue and where North Boulevard juts right into the school? Did you prioritize the sidewalks first and second, the absolute safety crossing for kids to go across the street? Just, can you share with me just some type of timeline when those issues will be corrected?
As far as when the project will be constructed, is that your question? Yes, ma'am. That's going to be dependent on the funding for the design and then for the construction. So as part of this, we prepared the safety analysis and data analysis to recommend what facilities would be most, you know, better suited for this corridor, but I can't speak on the timing for when it will be going into design and then construction.
Okay. Well, thank you for those, uh, those comments, uh, those remarks. And, uh, so very important that you're leaning towards the safety. Thank you.
Thank you, board member. Other questions, board members?
Move approval.
Second.
Okay. We have a motion of approval by Commissioner Wassel, seconded by Commissioner Cohen. I do have a question though, however, if we can hold off on the vote for a second. And when we do these kinds of studies that involve lane constrictions down to 11 feet, do we, is, is Hart part of this conversation, um, because I know that buses in 11 foot lanes don't work well together. And I, I just want, I don't know if this is a heart route. Um, it must be, I would think that's a, I would think that a heart would have a route that goes down beers. Um, so is Hart part of the discussion of the 11 foot lanes? Do we know what impact that might have on their operations?
Um, this is actually not part of the heart route system currently and the 11 foot lanes are supported by FDOT statewide for a speed limit of 45 miles per hour. So the, you know, buses alike should be able to function within the 11 foot lanes. It's based on the road speed, but that is a statewide allowance for a 45 mile per hour road is 11 foot lanes.
And just so you know, we would coordinate with Hart and design. So that would be, when we go to design this, Hart is a stakeholder of ours. So we would talk to them about that. And if there's any modifications need to be made for them.
Okay. Because I, I, we've heard, and it's been a couple of years ago, I might be mistaken, but I think a regular Hart bus is like 102 inches wide without the mirrors. And if you do the math, that doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room in the 11 foot lane.
Yeah, I'll, I mean, I'll say we do have facilities that are 11 foot where, you know, Hart PSTA and others are operating really. It's when you get to 10 foot that, you know, you really get to where you're really constraining a bus, but 11 feet. Generally they're, they're okay, especially in a lower speed typical section. So, okay. But we would coordinate with them.
Okay. Thank you. Okay. We have a motion. If there's any discussion of the motion, if not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? No nays. The plan is adopted. Thank you, Ms. Bars. Next, we have the annual certification of metropolitan transportation planning process and our executive director, Dr. Wong will present.
Thank you. Good morning, board members. Johnny Wong, your CPO executive director. I'm here this morning to present you with the results of the annual certification process and describe that process a little bit for you because it has been a year since I've given you this update last. Obviously, it's an annual review process. By the title, you can tell that it's jointly conducted. And so, this is an opportunity for DOT to evaluate how well we're doing specifically related to whether or not we're complying with federal and state regs. But it's also an opportunity for TPO staff to ask questions and provide some feedback to how our relationship with FDOT staff is functioning. What DOT is really looking for to evaluate compliance is whether or not we're managing a great accountability and financial standards, whether our public engagement practices are in line with with the regs. Specifically, this takes the form of a questionnaire. At times, there are supplemental questions that the district might be interested in knowing how Hillsborough TPO specifically operates. And what they're looking for is, you know, again, financial and accounting practices, records retention, meeting deadlines for core products, following ensuring that our agreements are executed on time and appropriately. But for me, what I really value about this process is the opportunity to share the best practices. We want to be leaders in the state and establish practices that other MPOs can follow. And so, that is a part of the review. This year, in the summary, we were identified for seven notable achievements. I am going to spend a little bit of time talking about each one because they make me feel good to hear. First of all, we were noted for our quarterly meetings with Plant City and Temple Terrace. Now, we had previously had annual meetings with most of our local governments dating back to a few years ago. Two years ago, we began experimenting with quarterly or monthly meetings with Hillsborough County staff, City of Tampa, Heart. And those have become a routine practice. And we think that they have worked out very well. They allow the local governments to tell us what their current priorities are. If any of the projects have shifted or need to be reconfigured, that gives us an opportunity to pivot, flex, and respond. And so, last year, we rolled these quarterly meetings out to Temple Terrace and Plant City for the same purpose. And I think that they have been effective thus far. The second notable achievement was our work on the Brightline Station Area Study. This really ties into that gray box on the right-hand side in the top column. Our success engaging the public is evident. And none of our projects demonstrate this more effectively than Brightline. When we launched the survey, we had a modest budget. It went viral. And we attracted more than 12,000 survey respondents, right? That's really impressive, especially for a public agency. But especially for a project that did not make public engagement the sole focus of the study. And that blue box nestled in between those two, the PPPP grant. We need a better acronym. But last year, we won a federal grant to improve our transportation prioritization process. So we want to make the public, or we want to allow the public to better understand what factors we're taking into consideration when we say, this project is going to make a positive impact in your community. We want them to understand that. And we also want to better operationalize the public feedback we get earlier on in the process. I think I have heard enough comments from board members over the years that I understand. It doesn't help for you to hear public's reaction 20 minutes before you're set to adopt the priorities. You want us to be getting that feedback, you know, regularly and work it into how we prioritize. And so that's what this grant will be utilized for. Moving on to the bottom left, updating the list of priority projects to ensure consistency with local needs. This is a passion project for Elizabeth Watkins, who you'll hear from momentarily. She came to me more than a year ago and said, we need to dramatically overhaul this to clean up the bloat, make sure that it speaks to the actual needs of the community, and communicate the needs to the community. The green box to the right, distinguishing the lot from the tip. Last year was our first effort to not have the lop and tip be part of the same action item. At our tip hearing, we first presented the priority list and then the tip. As a result, we had the first unanimous tip approval in my recollection, and I think Cameron's as well. But there was still a little bit of confusion that we heard from board members about what actions they were taking. And so this year, we will be bringing the lot to you in May, and the tip will be adopted at hearing in June, further creating that distinction. And then last, we were extolled for our vision and dedication to the community. I'd love to chat more with Justin about what exactly that means, but I'll take the compliment. You all heard it last month at the tail end of the meeting. He said, and I quote, among the MPOs in District 7, Hillsborough TPO is the gold standard. And I'm going to get that engraved on a plaque. There are always some recommended actions. These are opportunities that we can take advantage of to further improve our process. What you'll see is that two of them are continuances, and so DOT has to offer something, right? Continue to keep FDOT updated on organizational roles and responsibilities of key staff. With Gina's retirement and some reclassifications, there have been changes. We want to provide this information to our partners so that they don't have to exhaust their Rolodex when they're looking for an answer to a question. We want them to pick up the phone and know exactly who to go to. Second, continue to communicate challenges, questions, and concerns to FDOT liaisons directly, rather than jumping over them and going to Federal Highway or FTA. That obviously makes sense, especially in light of the staff changes at the federal level. And so we will continue to work through our liaisons to get answers to federal questions. And last, proactively coordinate schedules and resource requirements to ensure studies are aligned with local agency priorities. We have interpreted this to mean that we need to get the support on our planning studies from folks that have power to implement. What we often see is we complete planning studies. They sit on the shelf for a long period of time before they have funding to construct. At that time, we don't want to have to go back to the elected officials or city staff and say, hey, are you still comfortable with this? We would like someone with authority to sign off in the first place so that we don't have to start back from square one when the money comes available. There are no corrective actions. I think we're doing a great job. The summary says so. The recommended action for the board today is to support the annual joint certification of the TPO and authorize me to sign the joint certification statement. Happy to take any questions.
Thank you, Dr. Wong. Board members, questions, comments? Mr. Slater.
Just one question. Just I just want to point out that I've been through a number of these and reports like this don't come easily. So just by design, I think that between the FDOT relationship and the community relationships, just want to just stress that these don't happen by accident. So just want to say thank you for all the work. Thank you. Secretary? Yeah, I just got to say that
under Johnny's leadership, the communication between the TPO and the DOT has never been better. Whether it be how they, you know, schedule presentations, whether it be how they bring action items to the board. I mean, you name it, like this has been probably the most productive period, you know, in communication and coordination between the DOT and the TPO that that I'm aware of, you know, and not just in my tenure at the DOT in all levels, but even before that. So I think that this report is a is proof of kind of the comment I made last month at the TPO board meeting. And we just look forward to continue to grow that relationship and continue on the same path that we're on. Thank you,
Mr. Secretary. So I'd just like to say to Dr. Wong and to your staff who's in attendance here that this is in my mind quite an accomplishment for the TPO staff. I've been on this board, maybe not as long as others, but long enough to have been here when it wasn't this way. And I think your staff is doing a terrific job. I think DOT is doing a terrific job, staying in touch with each other and being able to get things done. I think this board has done a good job. I mean, I've been on this board through some painful times. And I think this board is functioning a lot better than it used to as well. So keep up the good work. I think you mentioned to me that the rules had changed and that this wasn't required for the board. You were now permitted to sign off on this administratively without it coming to the board. And we had conversation about that and at least, and we agreed anyway, once I'm not chair, I guess that might change. But I think it's important that this continued to come to the board rather than just be signed off on administratively. I mean, we have to do evaluations on Dr. Wong as the executive director every year. And other than our own anecdotal experience at the meetings and our interactions, this is really one of the very few outside barometers we have of how things are really going at the MPO. So thank you for your work. And we appreciate that. And I guess we need a motion to accept the annual certification. So moved. We have a motion by Commissioner Wassell, seconded by Commissioner Myers. Any discussion of the motion? If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No nays. Thank you, Dr. Wong. We have a status report next. The FY 28 through 32 TPO priority list, workshop with agencies. And Elizabeth Watkins is here to explain. And others.
Elizabeth Watkins- Good morning, TPO board. Elizabeth Watkins. The purpose of this presentation today is to give you an overview of the projects that will come before you next month. You challenged us last year to have it done earlier and happy to report that it's available nearly a month in advance for both your review, it's in your packet, as well as our partners and the public. However, I'll caution that it is a draft, so projects may change. One thing we're keeping an eye on is awaiting the regional infrastructure accelerator project list. So there may be some tweaks, and I'll be sure to call those out clearly next month. So what does the priority list do for us? Well, one, it's in its name. It helps prioritize projects. Second, it's one of many ways that we can communicate needs to our partners at District 7. Three, it shows community support for any projects going after discretionary grants to USDOT. And finally, it is required by state statute that the TPO board act on a prioritized list of projects annually. So why does this matter? It matters because every year there's about 20 to 25 million dollars of federal funds that are able to prioritize to local needs. These funds are typically available five years out, so there's a lot of strategy behind the scenes between our partners at the local agency, District 7, and TPO staff to see which projects really makes sense to federalize. And then finally, it is that statement of community priorities. So for timeline, we are currently working on the draft document, doing public outreach. Today, you'll hear from each of our local government project sponsors. Next meeting, you'll review that priority list, and then later in the fall, we'll have a better sense of which programming decisions were made. So without further ado, we'll hand it over to each local agency. And Chair, if it's okay with you, if we could hold questions till the end, just for the purposes of time. So I'll introduce Heather Sobush
from HART to talk about HART's priorities. Good morning. So I have here the list of priority projects that HART has submitted. You'll see many projects on here that have been priorities for a number of years. So at the top, we have our bus replacements and midlife overhauls, our heavy maintenance facility, and then bus stop capital improvements. We also have on the list the Tico Streetcar extension and the express, some kind of express service, premium transit service between downtown and the airport. Those are currently City of Tampa projects, but HART has them on our list to show support and that we're obviously a major stakeholder in those projects. And then at the bottom there are an upgrade to our paratransit software that would allow us to provide paratransit much more efficiently and also to achieve a greater customer experience and then the advancement of the Tampa arterial bus rapid transit. And then today for the current funding cycle, we have requested funding for bus replacements and midlife overhauls and for the bus stop capital improvements, which again are ongoing needs and high priorities. Although we did recently receive a large grant to replace 33 buses, there's still a need, an ongoing need to replace about 16 buses per year to get through our backlog. And that's it for HART's projects, and I'll pass it back to...
Good morning, commissioners and other esteemed board members. My name is Christopher Fellerhoff with Hillsborough County Community and Infrastructure Planning. The list you see before you right now for on behalf of the county for projects mostly within the unincorporated county is substantially reduced from what you would have seen last year. And I thank the TPO staff for helping us kind of make a rather unwieldy list a lot more strategic and streamlined. It includes improvements to our start smart traffic network that's improving quality and technology associated along key corridors with traffic signals. The Tampa bypass canal trail segment six, which is the north one between Fletcher and Bruce B. Downs. State Road 674 urban corridor improvements down by Wemama. A couple of projects at Gibsonson Drive, the interchange itself, and then widening east of the interchange between Fern Hill Drive and US 301. The McIntosh Road improvements on along between US 92 and I-4. The Van Dyke Road widening between Suncoast Parkway and Whirly. The Mariela John Smith South Coast Greenway phase three in Adamsville, which is between Big Bend and Sims. And finally, South Coast Greenway Trail phase seven, which is in Palm River. So these are things that we think would do strategically well within the various buckets of what the funds the TPO prioritizes. And specifically for this year, we've submitted for funding assistance for three of those nine. And others we want to keep strategically positioned for future opportunities. That includes the smart traffic network along seven key corridors, which is scores of actual intersections. The bypass canal trail segment six, which again is the northernmost one north of Fletcher Morris Bridge Road. And the Gibsonson Drive widening project between Fern Hill and 301. We believe these are all well positioned for support this year and we're happy to include them.
Chair, Board, good afternoon, or good morning. Adam Purcell, Transportation Services Director, City of Tampa. Thanks for the opportunity to come today and talk a little bit about our priority projects. The first two on here are that the maintenance of existing facilities. So Browreen and Cass Street Bridges. Browreen and Cass are older bridges. Browreen was built in I think 1957 and Cass in 1929. DOT's latest bridge study noted them as in good condition, but one of the issues we're running into with their maintenance is the fact that being nearly 100 years old, the parts, the replacement parts are no longer available. So we hope through these projects to update the mechanical and electrical systems so that they're easier and less costly to maintain going forward. Unite Ashley, that's a partially federally funded project at the north end of Ashley Drive where it interacts with I-275. Unique part of this project is that it allows us to remove a ramp that connects Ashley with Tampa and with the removal of that ramp that allows us to turn some originally dedicated right-of-way for roads back to the private sector to allow for the redevelopment of workforce and market rate housing. The city has issued an RFP for that. This Unite Ashley Drive helps facilitate the redevelopment of that area of the north end of downtown. Azeal and 14th Street, these are both bike-ped focused improvements. Azeal is funded for preliminary design in 2030 through the TPO. It's part of our high injury network and would be a complete streets concept on that corridor through a dense part of the city. And then 14th Street would continue a bike-ped improvement along 14th and East Tampa, extending it down to the 275 corridor. Airport to downtown premium transit, as noted, that's part of our regional infrastructure accelerator project. That scored well as an opportunity for a public-private partnership. I know that a lot of our partner agencies are looking at that as a priority on their work programs as well. The city would like to maintain it as a priority on our program. CSX South Tampa multimodal corridor. CSX traffic on that segment of rail continues to fall. We hope that in the future there may be an opportunity for that to be repurposed and serve as a transit or multimodal corridor with the mode yet to be defined. But that's a longer-range opportunity. We just want to encase federal funding and political will comes to redevelop it, that it's on the list of projects. The city's worked hard to develop our multimodal infrastructure. We've completed the green spine. We're working on the green artery. So the green spine runs from Howard up into East Tampa. It's a cycle track that allows for multimodal connectivity downtown. We're working on our green artery that's going to connect Lowry Park, East Tampa, and the Heights. And now the city's starting to focus on how can we push through West Shore to connect to the great system that's on State Road 60 across the Courtney Campbell Causeway. They just built an overpass to better connect that to the Pinellas side of the house. So we're looking at ways to get it through West Shore, our multimodal system through West Shore, with Dale Mabry seen as a barrier for bike-ped movement east-west. And an overpass may better facilitate safe, efficient travel through West Shore. And though it's last on the list, by no means is it the lowest priority. The city of Tampa Tico streetcar, that project is back underway. We're redefining that project a little bit. It's not going to be a modernization of the streetcar. It's going to be a retention of the historic streetcar and an extension up into the Heights. We're more confident that we're going to be able to define the local match for that project through a special assessment and through, you know, creative use of other parking revenues. We think we might be able to meet that initial capital cost and that operation and maintenance cost from the city side. And we want to keep this on the list so that as FDOT begins to redefine its priorities for multi-modal and transit, that that is on the list and ready for funding. The next page just kind of recaps the top three. You can see Bro Reed and Cass. Those are in the heart of downtown across the Hillsborough River, provide an important connection. And then Ashley Drive on the right shows that that southernmost parcel is where that ramp currently exists. And that gives us the opportunity for additional space for the private sector to come in and do residential redevelopment that's needed in downtown. With that, I'll pass it back to the next guest.
Good morning, TPO board members. Ron Patel, city engineer for city of Tampa Terrace. The projects currently being advanced for funding and implementation are critical to improve safety, mobility, and overall quality of life within the Tampa Terrace community. These efforts focus on addressing known traffic concerns, enhanced pedestrian accessibility, and supporting future growth in high demand areas. A key priority for our agency is improve safety along the North 56th Street corridor, which serve as a major north-south route with significant traffic volumes. The projects such as traffic signal and intersection improvement in addition of pedestrian signals are all designed to reduce congestion, minimize crash risk, and provide safer crossing opportunities for residents. Infrastructure improvements such as 122nd Avenue Bridge over the Tampa bypass canal are vital for maintaining connectivity and supporting long-term transportation needs. This project will strengthen regional access and improve resilience of transportation network. Safety enhancement projects like Davis Road Safety Enhancement and Fowler Avenue Golf Car Crossing directly address community concern by implementing targeted improvement that reduces hazards and accommodate diverse mode of travel. The Tampa bypass canal trail, which expand multimodal option, promote healthier lifestyle, and create a connected network for pedestrians and bicyclists. Collectively, these projects reflect our agency's commitment to proactively planning, safety improvements, and sustainable infrastructure investments that benefit both current residents and the future growth. The city appreciates your consideration of our city's projects for funding. Your ongoing support means a great deal to us. The city looks forward to the opportunity to secure funding for our proposed initiative. Thank you. Frank Kochenauer, Senior Engineer, Thank you.
Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Chair and board members. My name is Frank Kochenauer. I'm Senior Engineer with the Plant City Engineering Department. We do appreciate this opportunity to express our appreciation for prior support on prior year's projects and for the one in particular that we have new on the list this year. I'm primarily going to talk about the Collins Street context-sensitive improvements. Collins Street, this portion we're looking at is approximately a mile and a quarter that combines single-family, multi-family, and a variety of commercial interests. And it's an important corridor from the growing south end of town to midtown and downtown. And primarily what we're looking at is pedestrian and bicycle enhancements to improve the connectivity and the safety through the area and revitalize some of the economic opportunities there. In the last year, the city has completed a right-of-way survey for this entire section associated with a resurfacing project that we're doing soon. It'll be in the next 12 months. And we've discovered that some of the right-of-way is inadequate for the original concept that we had for the full sidewalk width. So we'll be taking the next couple years to flesh that out and decide if we need to and to obtain additional right-of-way where necessary and adjust the cross sections as needed. But we fully expect to be ready for a full design certainly by the time these funds are expected to come available. One reason we only have one new project really this year is our planning department in conjunction with the engineering department is doing a transportation network evaluation, a study funded largely by an FDOT grant. And we anticipate there will be a number of well-thought-out projects to spin off of that study that'll look at the long-range needs of the city. So we didn't want to put anything in there this year that we might just be turning around next year. So thank you. Thank you for your time. Okay, board members. A lot to take in.
There are other questions for any of the presenters. And this will come before us for approval in May. So you'll get a chance then too. So, okay, Mr. Slater. Just no questions. Just want to make a few points.
One, the city of Tampa projects. I want to advocate for those drawbridges. They can be really challenging when they get older. The CSX South multimodal corridor. So when we did our underpasses, we made sure that we limited kind of expansion in there. So there should be a lot of flexibility if that projects and that moving forward, please happy to work with you on that as a partner. And then just one point for our partners in Hillsborough County. I'm going to go back to my team and make sure they're coordinating with you. But for the State Route 674 project and the Gibsington Road project, they both connect to 301. So I want to make sure that it's factoring in the 301 study that we're doing because the needs and wants could change as they access those points coming into 301.
Thank you. Board members, any other? I'd just like to say, Ms. Watkins, that I think this is somewhat reflected in these priorities. But the area around USF campus and Temple Terrace, there's a lot going on there. And I can tell you, because I drive this multiple times a day, Fowler Avenue is already feeling the pinch. And that Mosey development that's going to happen is going to put hundreds of more cars a day on Fowler Avenue. The football stadium, of course, that won't be a daily thing. But when there are events at that stadium, 35,000 people. And I can tell you what a high school or a college graduation looks like when they have those. And imagine having that every Saturday. And then the CLAW, the USF CLAW project is going to put thousands or thousands, hundreds at least, more cars on Fletcher Avenue that has a right of way about the size of this room. So I don't know that that and of course, moving out from that, I mean, it's not just the roads that are right adjacent to that, it's moving out from that. So I think we need to keep that in mind when we start making these plans. And I mean, some of these priorities kind of focus on that. But I don't know, well, maybe South County, but I was going to say, I don't know of another area in the county that is having all of this explosion at the same time, other than maybe South County, they've got some areas down there. But, and I don't see that really reflected in a lot of these projects. So if we could keep an eye on that, because I pulling out on the Fowler Avenue now, I mean, you can eat a pizza, all right, waiting to get out on the Fowler Avenue sometime. So thank you very much. I'll get off my soapbox now. Councilmember Carlson.
No, I think you bring up a good point. And maybe we ought to ask for a presentation on that at some point, because it's the integration of multiple government agencies there as it crosses borderlines. But with all that growth that you're talking about, it's going to really make that area worse. Commissioner Cohen.
If you do that, you may want to add to it the $24 million that the BOCC just approved for Fletcher and as part of the presentation, because we are making major improvements up there.
Commissioner Wollstone.
One thing that we've been doing at the board is when we're having high impact densities get approved, we've started making motions that the new impact fees obtained from that area are used directly in that area to facilitate immediate transportation relief. So you might want to start advocating that, because I think it's like UMU 60 or something that's been going after for the Mosey development. It's going to be significant injection of cash. Thank you.
Good. Councilmember Carlson, I'll talk to Dr. Wong about that. That might not be quite as easy as it seems, because there's so many people involved. And I know that DOT themselves don't completely understand what USF's plan is with the stadium. And so there's a lot of question marks. But it would be good to try to get our arms around some of that. So we'll have some discussions on that. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Ms. Watkins. Executive Director's report.
Board members have got several updates for you. The next TMA leadership group meeting will be held next Friday, April 17th at PSTA. We have an agenda item for the Regional Transportation Authorities. I believe that Michael and Charles will be attending to help address some concerns and questions that our partners on the Tri-County group may have about their role on a merged board. Following that, the next important meeting will be the MPOAC quarterly meeting, April 30th, out in Orlando. This is mostly for Charles, because he and I always attend these. The special, the TPO special meeting will be held on Cinco de Mayo. That will be a very important meeting for you all to attend. I'd really encourage you to not make festival plans or anything on that, on that morning. I will be presenting a staff recommendation for a draft apportionment plan of the Regional MPO, and I'll be asking this board for a statement or a resolution of support before it then goes to Tampa City Council and the BOCC for action. Just a quick caveat, this is a non-binding action. We're bringing it forward as a resolution to test the temperature and ensure that we're moving in the right direction. Ultimately, the decision as to whether or not to merge will be made later, but this is a good check-in for us. The TPO regular board meeting will be May 13th. As you've already heard, we'll be seeking to adopt the list of priority projects. Got some legislative updates for you. Last Friday, the USDOT, USDOT that is, submitted its proposed FY27 budget for consideration. The entirety of the budget request is $114 billion, with $27 billion in discretionary grants in 87 in formula funding. Some of the highlights noted in the executive summary include $88 billion for surface transportation projects, sidewalks, bridges, highways, things like that, as well as transit, and a Federal Aviation Administration request for an additional $4 billion to modernize the air traffic control system and hire and train new traffic controllers, a new maritime security trust fund to provide mariner education, workforce development, and port infrastructure discretionary grants. Electric vehicle supporting infrastructure has been canceled or deleted from the budget. There have been significant cuts to transit spending amounting to a 23% reduction in public transit programs and 82% reduction for passenger rail funds in the IIJA. This was very high level. Next week, our team will be taking a deep dive into all of the funding changes and reallocations, and we'll provide notes to you about how those changes might impact projects in our TPO and regional priority lists, as well as for our government partners. Lastly, I'd like to ask HTV to queue up the block the box video that we provided. As a result of a conversation several months ago, we've been working with DOT, asking them to help us push the message about traffic and safety impacts from vehicles blocking the box. And with that, I'd like to present this video, which was provided courtesy of FDOT.
Think squeezing into a traffic jam will get you there faster? Think again. Blocking the box is what happens when drivers pull into an intersection, even when there isn't enough space to get all the way through. Then the light changes, and boom, you're stuck in the middle, blocking cross traffic and making the whole mess even worse. Why is this a big deal? Because when you block the box, you're not just holding yourself up. You're creating a traffic jam for everyone, drivers, buses, and even emergency vehicles. And it makes it harder and less safe for people to walk or bike across the street. So what should you do instead? It's simple. Only enter the intersection if you know you can clear it completely. If not, hang back and wait for the next green light. A little patience keeps everyone moving. Don't block the box, don't block crosswalks, and help keep traffic flowing for everyone. Let's get everyone home safely.
If you enjoyed the presentation, that's it for my executive director reports. If you have any
questions, I'm happy to answer them. Board members, any questions? Would you, before I forget, would you make, have somebody on your staff, if you haven't already, make sure that that gets sent to council member Hertak, because I know this was something that she brought up. So she's not here. I just want to make sure she's, she gets aware of it. So any questions for Dr. Wong?
Just something real fast. I, I wish we could get, I think USDOT would have to approve it, but I wish we could use the European or international standard for putting the X there and then find people for it. Because downtown Tampa gets blocked constantly because of this. And there are other reasons that we need to fix to relieve the congestion in downtown, but the, but the, the boxes always get
packed up. Yes. Questions, comments for Dr. Wong? Okay. Any old business or new business to come
before the board? Old business or new business? I'll tell you, I'll be able to come back with more information in the next board meeting, but this is kind of spin off of what we just watched on Block the Box. The DOT has been spending a lot of time looking at behavioral changes, you know, to safety and how to make impacts beyond just physical changes to infrastructure. And so some of my other districts have had a safe driving challenges that incentivize high school students to drive safer with a app based solution. So we're going to introduce that in our district. So we're talking to several principals right now about which schools would want to compete with an incentive based structure, not only for the school where the school gets rewarded if they're the best school, but the students also get gift cards and rewarded if they hit certain thresholds and milestones. I'll tell you that in the Jacksonville area, they did it and they saw like 40 to 50% decreases in certain driver behaviors and areas that were high emphasis. So we're really excited about rolling this out and piloting it in district seven. So we're going to try and get one in the ground real quickly before the summer for two schools to compete. And then hopefully then we can expand it to more counties,
but it'll be here in Hillsborough County. Thank you, secretary. Anything else board members? If not, we will be adjourned.