At the December board meeting, the TPB nominated its 2024 officers and recognized departing members. reviewed draft highway and transit targets, and received updates on the Enhanced Mobility Grant Program solicitation as well as the Visualize 2050 National Capital Region Transportation Plan.

Meeting agenda, materials, and recording

Chair’s Remarks

Reuben Collins concluded his 2023 term as TPB chair, and in his remarks highlighted the board’s accomplishments over the past year. Areas of achievement include undertaking the Visualize 2050 long-range planning process, holding a regional forum on the Metro Better Bus initiative, creating a new Transportation Resilience Program, and coordinating with regional freight operators to identify multimodal freight needs in the region. 

Collins recognized departing TPB members, Ann Wheeler, Prince William County Board of Supervisors, and Bridget Newton, former City of Rockville Mayor, for their contributions to the TPB. Wheeler and Newton thanked the board and encouraged the importance of regionalism.  

TPB Committee Member Nominations

District of Columbia Councilmember Charles Allen reported the results of the TPB nominating committee. The TPB approved the nominees, and the following members will serve as TPB board and committee chairs for 2024:

TPB Board Chair: Christina Henderson, District of Columbia Council
TPB Vice Chair: James Walkinshaw, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
TPB Vice Chair: Neil Harris, City of Gaithersburg Council

TPB Access for All Advisory Committee Chair: James Walkinshaw
TPB Community Advisory Committee Chair: Ra Amin, District of Columbia
 

ACTION ITEMS

Annual Transit and Highway Safety Targets

The TPB passed two resolutions, R4-2024 and R5-2024 to approve annual region transit safety targets and annual highway safety targets. In the resolutions, the TPB “acknowledges that the number of fatalities and serious injuries on the region’s roadways are unacceptably high, which is contrary to its own vision and the region’s aspirations.”

Janie Nham, TPB Planning Manager, noted that the TPB will continue established safety program activities in 2024 along with updated initiatives, including conducting a safety ‘deep dive’ similar to the MPO’s 2021 study that would include a crash analysis inside and outside Equity Emphasis Areas. Other initiatives include a proposed study to ask TPB member jurisdictions to collect qualitative data about barriers to implementing safety strategies. Links to the earlier safety analysis study and presentation are available on the Roadway Safety page. Additional potential 2024 activities include a safety work session or forum about roadway safety. The TPB has routinely submitted formal comments on safety-related federal proposed rulemakings and will continue to do so as appropriate.

In response to a question from Arlington County Board Member Takis Karantonis about why fatalities targets have remained the same, TPB Staff Director Kanti Srikanth stated that federal guidelines for target setting are prescriptive and stipulate that the targets not reflect aspirations but actual trendlines. The TPB, accordingly, uses empirical data to determine the target numbers, and the as a result, the fatalities target reflects the average over the past few years since the pandemic. Srikanth noted that this post COVID trend of increased fatalities is a national phenomenon. Srikanth said that in order to reflect the region’s safety aspirations for zero death, the TPB made a policy decision when first adopting roadway safety targets, that if in any year an increase in fatalities is recorded over the previous year, the TPB will not adopt a higher number of fatalities in its targets.

2023 Enhanced Mobility Grant Program Update  

The TPB approved $10.2 million in funding for 23 transportation projects that will support the mobility of persons with disabilities and older adults in the region. The Enhanced Mobility program is funded through Federal Transit Administration Section 5310 funds.

The following organizations are recipients of the 2023 grants:

• The Arc of Greater Prince William
• The Arc of Northern Virginia
• The Arc of Prince George’s County
• Wheels to Wellness in partnership with Prince George’s County Health
• Boat People SOS
• Capitol Hill Village
• Chinese Culture and Community Service Center
• City of Hyattsville
• Community Support Services (Gaithersburg)
• Dulles Area Transportation Association
• Easterseals
• ECHO (Leesburg)
• Fairfax County
• Jewish Council for the Aging
• Leisureworld of Maryland
• Loudoun Volunteer Caregivers
• New Horizons Support Services (Prince George’s County)
• Opportunities, Inc. (Prince George’s County)
• Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia
• Seabury Resources for Aging (Prince William County)
• University of Maryland
• WMATA

COG receives 10 percent of the federal funds, or a little over $1 million, for administrative costs to administer the program regionwide for a two-year cycle.

Takis Karantonis commended the grant program for filling a critical transportation need and asked if the TPB has a way to report how the programs are working, the level of service provided, and how many people are served.

Nicholas Ramfos, COG Director of Transportation Operations Programs, provided an overview of the activities linked to the Enhanced Mobility program to make sure the region is effectively investing in community transportation needs. COG monitors the program per federal guidelines, and every two years hosts a best practices forum for all grantees. Other activities include preparation of case studies, ongoing feedback, and site visits.

In response to a question from Loudoun County Supervisor Kristen Umstattd, Ramfos reported that the TPB reached out to over 3,000 individuals across the region, a record number of applications were received, and there were approximately half a dozen new subrecipients applying this solicitation.
 

INFORMATIONAL ITEM

Visualize 2050 Plan Update                             

TPB Transportation Planning Manager Cristina Finch presented a final summary of comments received during the Visualize 2050 comment period that ran from February 2023 - November 2023. The purpose of the extended 2023 comment period was to gather feedback on existing projects in the Visualize 2045 plan. The comments were shared with the state departments of transportation to support their determination of which projects they would move forward for inclusion in Visualize 2050.

In 2023, the TPB staff received 997 comments on projects. The Long Bridge project over the Potomac River received the greatest number of positive comments. Negative comments on projects focused on skepticism about the ability of road widenings to improve congestion over time, concerns about increasing demand for private vehicle travel, and disappointment that transit and active mode infrastructure was not the project's focus. General comments received reflected interest in expanding the region’s protected bike lane and trail networks, expanding public transportation options—especially bus rapid transit, light rail, VRE, and MARC service—improving frequency and service hours of transit, extending access to rail and bus stops, and repurposing highway space for transit.   

Next steps for the plan: TPB staff will coordinate with the District, Maryland, and Virginia departments of transportation to prepare project lists for the March 2024 comment period. That list of projects will be used to prepare a regional air quality analysis scope of work and land use inputs. More information will be shared by the TPB as the planning process continues in 2024.
 

(TPB)
 

Committee and Director’s Report Highlights

TPB Technical Committee, TPB Community Advisory Committee, TPB Access for All Advisory Committee, Steering Committee, and Director’s reports are available on the December TPB meeting page.

Steering Committee and Director’s Report Highlights

Kanti Srikanth reported the following: 

• In December, the TPB approved a TIP amendment to add $4.75 million in funding for the 16^th Street Bridge over Piney Branch Parkway NW rehabilitation project.
   
• The TPB is accepting applications for the Transportation Land-Use Connections and Regional Roadway Safety Programs through March 8, 2024.
   
• The TPB will receive a briefing on a new Federal Highway Administration rulemaking that requires state DOTs and MPOs to set declining targets for carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions on the Interstate and non-Interstate National Highway System (NHS) to support national goals of reducing economy-wide GHG emissions by 50%-52% below 2005 levels by 2030 and to net zero by 2050. TPB staff will brief the board in early 2024 and anticipate preparing a methodology and draft targets for late spring 2024 board approval.
   
• Other memos in the Director’s Report provide an update on COG’s WMATA working group and recent USDOT Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants awarded in the region. See Item 5 on the December TPB meeting page for details.
   

NEXT MEETING

The next TPB meeting is scheduled for January 17 at 12:00 P.M. A YouTube livestream option is available for all TPB board meetings.

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