Covering a range of topics that exemplify the diversity of transportation issues facing our region, on November 17 the TPB approved grants for services for seniors and people with disabilities, discussed policy principles on autonomous vehicles, and learned about a regional focus group with underserved communities. 

Excitement about federal infrastructure bill

Heralding the action on the federal infrastructure bill, TPB Chairman Charles Allen began the November meeting with enthusiastic comments about new funding opportunities for our region.

President Biden signed the infrastructure legislation, known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, on November 15. The sweeping $1.2 trillion dollar bill reauthorizes the nation’s surface transportation, drinking water, and wastewater legislation. About $650 billion is for the normal allocation (baseline spending levels) for federal agencies, including surface transportation programs. However, $550 billion is for new investments above baseline spending levels covering a wide array of infrastructure needs, including all modes of transportation.  

“The bill provides funding for a number of topics that the TPB had been working on for many years,” said Allen. “The coming years will be a great opportunity for each of us to pursue this record amount of new funding to implement projects and programs to advance our reginal priorities – individually within our jurisdictions but also collectively as a region.” 

More detailed information about the landmark federal bill will be made available at future TPB meetings.

Approval of federal Enhanced Mobility grants

The TPB approved 21 grants for a total of approximately $6.6 million to provide mobility services for people with disabilities and seniors. These grants are provided by the Federal Transit Administration’s Section 5310 Enhanced Mobility for Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities Program. The TPB, with COG as its administrative agent, is the designated recipient of the Section 5310 funds for the Washington DC-VA-MD Urbanized Area.

Approval of transit safety targets

The board approved regional targets for transit safety, as required under federal requirements for Performance-Based Planning and Programming (PBPP). Targets are set annually for fatalities, serious injuries, safety events, and reliability. The targets are first approved by providers of public transportation in the region and then by the TPB, which is the region’s federally designated metropolitan planning organization (MPO).

At its October 20 meeting, the TPB was briefed on the federal requirement for MPOs to adopt regional targets for transit safety.

Review of draft regional principles on connected and automated vehicles (CAVs)

Staff briefed the board on a draft list of 18 regional principles regarding the future deployment, use, or operation of CAVs in our region. CAVs often are commonly known as driverless cars.

Developed in coordination and consultation with a variety of committees and informed by a TPB-commissioned white paper, the CAV principles address potential travel impacts, societal impacts, and organizational impacts. The TPB will be asked to approve the principles early in 2022, in time for inclusion in the 2022 update to Visualize 2045, the regions’ long-range transportation plan.

Report on Voices of the Region focus groups

Eleven focus groups were conducted earlier this year as part of a series of public engagement activities for the update of Visualize 2045, the region’s long-range transportation plan. The input from these sessions offers a nuanced understanding of how our regional transportation policies affect the lives of people in our region, and highlights voices that historically have been underrepresented in the past. At the November TPB meeting, staff presented findings from the focus groups, which are detailed in a report. 

The focus groups were part of a suite of public engagement activities conducted in 2020 and 2021, which also included a public opinion survey and a virtual campaign to solicit comments about the impacts of the TPB’s seven aspirational initiatives.

Discussion about regional reciprocity among automated traffic enforcement devices

While the three states in our region belong to a national compact regarding traffic safety enforcement, this compact does not provide for reciprocity in enforcing citations issued by automatic traffic enforcement (ATE) devices. Earlier in November, TPB Chair Allen called for the TPB to write a letter to the governors of Maryland and Virginia and mayor of the District of Columbia asking for the state to establish such enforcement. Staff prepared such a draft letter, which was discussed at the November 17 meeting.

In that discussion, members expressed broad support for a TPB letter on this issue, but several members requested more time to engage with their local jurisdictions on the issue. Chair Allen agreed to defer the item and requested that the TPB revisit the draft letter at its December meeting.
 

MORE: Visit the TPB meeting page for presentations and other materials.