On behalf of Bike Durham, John Tallmadge—who's recently joined the Advocacy Committee (and soon will be doing more)—attended a Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC-MPO) board meeting on Wednesday, December 11. The MPO makes transportation policy and directs federal funds, so they have a lot of influence on the state of our streets and transit system.
Last week, the MPO took public comments on their draft Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Plan and their draft Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Below are Bike Durham’s letters commenting on the plans. This time, the comments and presentation were for the purpose of thanking the Board members for their past leadership, and letting them know that Bike Durham supports their commitments to infrastructure and programming to make biking, walking, and transit safer and more attractive. While this message, and other behind-the-scenes work, doesn’t require a strong push from members, its effectiveness does rely on a strong Bike Durham membership base. We thank you for becoming a member, and ask that you consider becoming a Sustainer by contributing monthly rather than annually. The Board and Advocacy Committee are working to bring other opportunities forward in the near future for members to get directly involved with our advocacy efforts.
To: Dale McKeel, Transportation Planner
From: Bike Durham
Date: December 10, 2019
Re: Public Comment on Draft Transportation Demand Management Plan
Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Draft Transportation Demand Management Plan and thank you for the MPO’s long-term dedication to funding transportation demand management activities on a regional basis. As you know, TDM strategies have demonstrated themselves to be the most cost-effective strategies for addressing congestion and for getting the most out of the transportation infrastructure and services that we already have. Bike Durham has the following comments on this draft plan:
We support Goal 1 to refine and enhance evaluation methods. We believe that one of the important outcomes of achieving this goal is that it will give program implementers the tools to continue pursuing and expanding what is working to reduce vehicle miles traveled, and we think that should be stated. We also believe that the metrics selected must enable the implementers and the public to understand whether the programs and their impacts are equitably distributed. Performance indicators that measure total or average impacts are valuable, but insufficient. Performance indicators must also measure for whom the program is working or negatively affecting and the ultimate targets that are established should be seeking to demonstrate benefits in the region’s most transportation-disadvantaged neighborhoods.
We support Goal 2 to align funding cycles with performance. However, we would like to see a budget developed to achieve the broad activities that are included in this plan. It appears that the plan is calling for an expansion of TDM activities, and Bike Durham supports an increase in the funding for TDM strategies across the Triangle region.
We support Goal 3 to expand program marketing and outreach. Since “widespread” is not defined, this outcome should include reference to commuters who have low-income levels and who are people of color. Low-income commuters are the most likely to be currently using transit, biking, or walking to work. Programming to serve low-income commuters and people of color will align TDM strategies with other community goals to make our region equitable. Implementing agencies should recognize that different social media channels, and different messages will be needed to effectively “reach” low-income communities and people of color. This should also include inclusion of recent immigrants who have limited English proficiency.
We support the activity to organize educational events, and recommend that some of these events should be specific to how changes to infrastructure spending and land use planning in other communities have led to very different mode splits than those we see in the Triangle. We also recommend educational events on the social and racial inequities that exist in our current transportation system and the policymaking that has led to them.
We support Goal 4 to get innovative and encourage you to consider non-profit organizations as potential partners for implementing innovations. We encourage you to consider funding commitments longer than a single year for innovative projects. We also encourage you to consider lower matching requirements from partner organizations for innovative projects.
We also support Goal 5 to integrate TDM efforts with local and regional planning efforts. We encourage you to consider the fact that the policy analysis required to effectively implement these activities will demand a complementary skill set to that required for outreach and marketing activities. This plan should be identifying needed staff positions, the organizations where they can most effectively work, and the required budget to fund them.
We believe that this would have been a stronger document if the outreach had also included advocacy groups, like Bike Durham, and representative commuters. Bike Durham has appreciated the partnership we have had with several of the TDM implementing agencies around Bike-to-Work programming. We support this work beyond those bicycling-specific promotions and would like to be included more broadly.
Sincerely,
Bike Durham Advocacy Committee
To: Aaron Cain, Transportation Planner
From: Bike Durham
Date: December 10, 2019
Re: Public Comment on Draft FY2020-29 Transportation Improvement Program
Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the Draft Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and thank you for the MPO’s long-term dedication to prioritize projects that improve bicycling, walking, and riding transit in the region. We understand that there are significant obstacles to achieving the MPO’s long-range plans due to policies at NCDOT and laws established by the General Assembly. Bike Durham seeks to be a partner in working to align those state policies and laws with a transportation vision that achieves safe streets for all users, reductions in vehicle miles traveled, and equitable access for our most transportation-disadvantaged residents who are predominantly low-income and people of color. In that spirit, Bike Durham has the following comments on this draft TIP:
We support and appreciate all the bicycle, pedestrian and transit projects that were submitted for scoring and funding. We also support and appreciate the inclusion of bicycle and pedestrian elements in street and highway project definitions. We request that these project definitions be updated to specify that the projects are to include protected bike facilities, and not just paint. 2. We are concerned about the delays to improving unsafe conditions for people walking and biking on many Durham streets. Since few projects are funded with improvements that will improve the safety of people walking and biking, we request that the MPO communicate to NCDOT and the local municipal transportation departments that funds available for safety projects (W-5205, W-5705DIV, W-5705REG, W-5705SW, and the corresponding funds in Divisions 7 and 8) be prioritized to protect the safety of our most vulnerable users of our streets and highways. Improvements to NC 98 are not programmed to begin until FY2029. This segment of roadway has been the scene of multiple deaths from people hit by vehicles, the most recent on September 7th of this year. These improvements cannot wait 10 years. 3. We are concerned that the programmed projects include much greater spending on projects that will add highway-capacity, and thus increase vehicle miles traveled than spending on projects that will support shifts to biking, walking, and transit. We are aware that the untimely demise of the light rail project is a major contributor to this imbalance.
We also understand that NCDOT policy and state law are obstacles. We are also concerned about the inclusion of expensive projects to expand highway capacity on I-85 and the Durham Freeway. Due to the climate crisis, we want to communicate the urgency of investing in a safe network of bicycling and walking facilities throughout Durham and the region, and in a new vision for transit. There are limited funds available for transportation infrastructure, and Bike Durham intends to be active in advocating in the upcoming months and years for building out safe, high-quality networks for biking, walking, and transit in our region. 4. We are also concerned that there is no analysis included that indicates whether the implementation of this program of projects will lead to greater equity of access for transportation-disadvantaged individuals or communities, especially communities of color. We think that this is critical for achieving community goals, and request that the MPO Board direct the staff to work with the NCDOT to develop these analytical tools. 5. Finally, we appreciate the effort that the staff has undertaken to make this very dense material more accessible to the public. We have a few suggestions for improving the legibility of the next version of this document for the FY2022-31 draft TIP.
It would be helpful to see a table that summarizes the programmed spending by project type, for example highway capacity expansion, highway maintenance, complete street, independent bicycle or pedestrian facility, operational/ITS, transit infrastructure, transit vehicles, etc. This should be compared to a second table of the value of the submitted projects in the same categories so that it’s clear what percentage of various project types are funded, and what the unfunded levels are for each project type.
The appendix C table is a good way of bringing transparency to the point allocation process. We recommend that future versions provide an explanation for projects that have not received funding even though they have scored higher than other funded projects. There were 8 regional projects and 4 divisional projects that fit this condition.
Again, we appreciate the opportunity to comment on the draft TIP. You can count on Bike Durham to stay engaged.
Sincerely,
Bike Durham Advocacy Committee