January 18, 2008
UTAH TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION
Salt Lake City, Utah
The regular meeting of the Utah Transportation Commission, held in the UDOT Rampton Complex, 4501 South 2700 West, Salt Lake City, Utah, was called to order at 9:08 a.m. by Chairman J. Stuart Adams. He welcomed those attending. Commissioners Millington and Holbrook were excused from the meeting.
Approval of Minutes
Commissioner Brown moved to approve the minutes of the December 7, 2007, Commission meeting held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Commissioner Lewis seconded the motion and the minutes were approved. Commissioner Bodily was absent for the vote.
Public Comments
Chris Conabee from Brighton Estates thanked Randy Park and UDOT for all their efforts in dealing with the access and other issues at Brighton Estates.
Governor's Budget Proposal
Director John Njord distributed a handout for FY 2009 budget recommendations for Transportation. His report included discussion about additional funding for maintenance of road surfaces, funding for the bridge replacement program, corridor preservation, and construction of large congestion relief projects.
Legislative Session Review
Linda Hull, Legislative and Government Affairs Director, reviewed the current list of priority bills the Department will be tracking during the upcoming Legislative session. She reviewed several bills in detail and answered questions from the Commission.
UDOT Scoreboard
Tracy Conti, Operations Engineer, distributed a handout and discussed safety information, including fatal crashes by month, cumulative pedestrian fatalities, cumulative fatalities, and cumulative fatalities per 100 million VMT. He noted that the fatality rate on the 100 million VMT was at the lowest level they have ever finished, and is one of the best rates in the country. Mr. Conti also presented the advertising and construction of projects and reviewed the information on that handout.
CCCI Inflation Rate Analysis
Tracy Conti gave a powerpoint presentation and report on the status of construction costs. He noted that long term cost growth continues to be higher than the historical average. Also, the cost growth upward trend is continuing but appears to be less severe. UDOT’s approach to these increases includes suggested rates for cost inflation that would be updated and published. For the engineers estimate process, additional training and refined tools would be provided. Additional tools for local government projects would be developed and implemented, and Commission Approved Amounts would be updated at the April workshop to reflect that past year’s growth. Guidance would also be given to the Regions on inflation factors for projects.
Planning and Programming
Carlos Braceras, Deputy Director, gave a funding and status update for the SR-68; Redwood Road from Bangerter Highway to 400 South in Saratoga Springs project. He noted that no action is needed on the $18 million in CD as previously thought in the December meeting. Proposals for the project are due in February, which will include a base proposal and two options. The base proposal would include three lanes from Bangerter Highway to SR-73, all bridges built to five lane full width, and the intersection of SR-68 and SR-73 being rebuilt. It would also include the construction of a full five-lane cross-section from Bangerter Highway extending as far south as the base project budget would allow. The two options to be bid on include the amount to complete a full five-lane road to SR-73, and the amount to complete a full five-lane road to 400 South in Saratoga Springs. Mr. Braceras said the Department would be back in February with a recommendation of which, if any, of the options should be executed.
Randy Park, Region Two Director, updated the Commission on the I-80; State Street to 1300 East project. He said the issue is that the State Street bridge deck was not included in the original project. Although the bridge is scheduled for replacement in 2012, there are big benefits to doing it right now. The current contractor could be utilized, impact to traffic would beminimized, etc. Surplus funds from the 4500 South; I-15 to State Street project would be transferred to the I-80 bridge project. Mr. Park said they would come back in February with exact costs of the bridge construction and ask for approval.
Mr. Park also discussed a project on I-80 in Parley’s Canyon, where the Region is experiencing some asphalt deterioration. There is a need to mitigate the problem this summer, and they are currently looking at transferring funds from a project on I-84 from the Morgan County line to Henefer. They are currently putting together estimates for the Parley’s project and will be back in February for action.
Max Ditlevsen, Program Finance Director, distributed a handout and said the US-6; Milepost 200 Bridge Replacement Project is funded at $27.5 million, but there is a need for an additional $1 million. He referred to the handout and said it showed two asterisked I-15 projects. The second asterisked project is an I-15; Bridge Deck Replacement in Payson that is underfunded and will not go out in 2008. They would like to take $1 million from that project for the US-6 project, and move the remaining $2 million to the first asterisked project, I-15; Bridge Deck Replacements in Spanish Fork. Dave Nazare, Region Three Director, explained the need for the additional $1 million and the benefits of doing the project now.
Commissioner Wilson moved to approve the request of an additional $1 million for the US-6; Milepost 200 Bridge Replacement project. Commissioner Bodily seconded the motion and it was passed unanimously.
Ahmad Jaber, Systems Planning and Programming Director, distributed a handout and discussed the Chokepoint list for Concept Development. He explained the project selection process and then reviewed the handout, which listed each project. Several projects and their details were also viewed with Google Earth and discussed in detail. Director Njord said it’s important to have this discussion now, because when the session ends, there will be pressure on the Department to deliver projects quickly. Mr. Braceras noted that the project list will be brought back to the Commission for consideration next month.
Administrative Rules
Linda Hull said that the code requires the Commission to adopt rules for the State Infrastructure Bank. Action is needed from the Commission today to allow them to put the rule out for public comment through the rulemaking process. Ms. Hull reviewed the rule and answered questions from the Commission.
Commissioner Brown moved to approve sending the rule out for public comment through the rulemaking process. Commissioner Lewis seconded the motion and it was unanimously approved.
John Thomas from Systems Planning and Programming presented the three Commission rules and one Department rule for Public Private Partnerships, and said they are looking to move them through the Admin Rulemaking process. He noted that there were some changes made to the Department rule since last month. Clint Ells from HNTB explained that the changes were minor and mostly grammatical changes. He also said that the Commission rules are modifications, but the Department rule is a new rule.
Commissioner Lewis moved to approve sending the three Commission rules out for public comment. Commissioner Brown seconded the motion and it was approved unanimously.
Informational Itesms
Butch Waidelich, Division Administrator for FHWA, updated the Commission on what has happened in Washington the last month. He discussed the Energy and Onmibus bills that were passed, the NTSB report that came out on the Minnesota Bridge collapse, and the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission report that looked at the future of transportation and how it could be funded.
Commissioner Bodily noted that the Passenger Ropeway Safety Committee met this week.
The next regular Transportation Commission meeting is scheduled for Friday, February 15, 2008, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The following dates and locations have been scheduled:
March 13-14, 2008 – St. George (note: these are new dates)April 24-25, 2008 – Salt Lake City
The meeting adjourned at 11:55 a.m.
The following Commissioners, staff members and others were in attendance:
J. Stuart Adams, Chairman
Stephen M. Bodily, Vice-Chairman
Glen E. Brown, Commissioner
Bevan K. Wilson, Commissioner
Jerry B. Lewis, Commissioner
LeAnn G. Abegglen, Commission Secretary
John R. Njord, Executive Director
Carlos M. Braceras, Deputy Director
Jim McMinimee, Project Development Director
Robert Miles, Project Development
Tracy Conti, Operations Engineer
Linda Hull, Director of Legislative and Government Affairs
Ken Connaughton, Director of Public Affairs
Ahmad Jaber, Director of Systems Planning and Programming
Max Ditlevsen, Program Finance Director
Robert Pelly, Systems Planning and Programming
John Thomas, Engineer for Planning
Charles Larsen, Comptroller
Cory Pope, Region One Director
Randy Park, Region Two Director
Jason Davis, Region Two
Dave Nazare, Region Three Director
Butch Waidelich, FHWA Division Director
Bryan Cawley, FHWA
Carson Howell, GOPB
Andrew Jackson, MAG
Doug Hattery, WFRC
Mayor Tim Parker, City of Saratoga Springs
Amalia Deslis, URS
David Eixenberger, URS
Clint Ells, HNTB
Laura Springsteen, Kennedy/Jenks
Terry Warner, HDR
Jason Brigham, PB
Laynee Jones, Lochner
Joseph Lund, Lochner
Chris Conabee
