Thread by @shayshinecastle

OK, we're moving to the Transportation Master Plan update. Here's the staff presentation: www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/5A_CC_TMP…

First TMP was adopted in 1989
Updates: 1996, 2003, 2008 and 2014

I really struggle to communicate master plans, so I'll tweet the staff presentation as it happens, and add in context from my notes and reporting where appropriate, rather than just dumping stuff from my notes.

This was a major reorganization of the plan, in to 1.) history/context, 2.) Key initiatives and 3.) Investment Programs (funding)

10 key initiatives of TMP:
1. Making Travel Safe in Boulder
2. Making Travel Comfortable through a Low Stress Walk & Bike Network
3. Providing Mobility Options
4. Prioritizing the Pedestrian
5. Shaping Innovation and New Forms of Mobility
6. Delivering Transit in New Ways...

...
7. Connecting to the Region
8. Managing Demand on our System Together
9. Ensuring Equity
10. Funding Our Transportation System

There are 22 policies in the TMP
(Not gonna list them all.)

This has been an 18-month community engagement process:
40 presentations to various groups
2,800 people at events
Over 7,700 visits to Be Heard Boulder

Lots of input on safety and climate strategy. Also, the public wanted to loop in land use to the discussion. Environmental Advisory Board, in its feedback, said that, too.

Per their charters, both EAB and TAB are prohibited from discussing land use in its feedback to council.

Their* feedback

Here are some key action items for Initiative 1:
Installation of green pavement markings
Implement new signal timing practices
Safe and innovative intersection and corridor
improvements, e.g., 30th Street

Decrease travel speeds on arterial streets; explore reducing the speed limit on residential (local) streets from 25 mph to 20 mph. TAB has supported this and is recommending it. Big initiative of Community Cycles, too, I believe.

Councilwoman Lisa Morzel also in support of this; she sent an email earlier today.

RE: 30th Street, which recently underwent a plunger makeover. There are near-term improvements planned (next 2 yrs): Green paint and protected intersections. dailycamera.com/2019/09/05/cap…

The ped/bike underpass is planned, too. City got funding for this earlier this year. boulderbeat.news/2019/02/17/bou…

Sorry, I'm behind. Action items for Initiative No. 2: Making Travel Comfortable through a Low Stress Walk & Bike Network
Implement Neighborhood GreenStreets program
Incorporate multimodal design into corridor projects to provide physical separation between cars, bikes, feds

Enhance the bike lane network by including buffers or other
innovative techniques to provide more separation between
bikes and cars
Continue building out the off-street multi-use path system
Study and recommend improvements in Pedestrian
Improvement Areas

Initiative No. 3: Providing Mobility Options
Key actions:
Implement the Renewed Vision for Transit, with a new focus on barrier-free transit
Expand the high-frequency HOP service to areas within
north Boulder and east Boulder
Expand options for first, last mile of transit trips

Promote use of e-bikes and explore incentives for residents to purchase them
Identify locations, policies and regulations to support mixed land uses and … highly connected mobility hubs

Initiative No. 4: Prioritizing the Pedestrian
Key actions:
Implement the safety improvements identified in 2019 VZ Action Plan
Implement the Low-Stress Walk Network, Pedestrian Improvement Areas and Neighborhood GreenStreets
Evaluate and refine/enhance snow/ice removal
practices

Update Pedestrian Crossing Treatment Installation Guidelines
Complete and implement Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition Plan

City also updated its Pedestrian Plan for the first time in 20 years, and put together a Pedestrian Advisory Committee

OK, I realize I'm *way* behind staff presentation. Apologies.

Initiative No. 5(?; I lost track) Shaping Innovation and New
Forms of Mobility
Actions:
Implement pick-up and drop-off zones
Develop the concept of smart streets and implement
the infrastructure and advanced communications
Partner with companies to support shared and EV trips

Explore dynamic pricing for curbside uses such as on-street
Modify the city parking code to support … mixed-use
development ... Transition parking to other uses as needs change.
Develop mobility hubs with … Advanced Mobility modes

For a minute, we talked about ways to discourage cars from stopping at curbs mid-street. Could be "sticks" (tickets) or "carrots" (dynamic pricing, though that feels like a stick, too...?

Damn, Twitter just spazzed out on me. Back to initiatives, then: Delivering Transit in New Ways
Key actions:
Expand the city’s role as a local transit provider: The City of
Boulder would provide local Community Transit Network routes...

... Electrify, expand HOP service to North and East Boulder
with local, high frequency connections to CU Boulder’s main campus and Flatirons Business Park
Explore forming new Boulder County consortium w/Boulder County and surrounding jurisdictions to create county transit agency

There are more (I'll tweet later) but we're moving onto funding, so I need to pay attention.

Some HUGE needs here. Current investment plan in TMP = $39M annually
Needed to fully fund everything = $200M+ annually

Includes: $22.7M in annual unmet service needs (includes RTD cuts restored, HOP expansion)
Vision Zero action items
Fully funding Pedestrian Improvement Areas, Neighborhood Green Streets
Fully implementing transit vision (well over $100M) and electrifying transit fleet

And, crucially...
Funding GHG reduction efforts in city’s climate action plan

The very basic unfunded needs are $22.7M in annual unfunded essential services, and $20.8M in capital needs.

That's not to meet any goals, just to provide services.

Chris Hagelin talking about how much the cost of EcoPasses are anticipated to increase. Boulder subsidizes many of those.

"We certainly understand the difficulty council is facing in funding," especially in light of all the city's other funding needs. Staff "understands" council might want to address these needs as part of a "holistic" approach taking into account other needs, Hagelin says.

Back to levels of funding (this is kinda like the library's "meet demand vs. master plan vision" levels of funding)

Current funding: $39M/yr
With essential services (currently unmet): $62M/yr
With strategic investment program: $125-$150M/yr
With vision investment program (including GHG goals, mode shift): $200M+/yr

Hagelin just said there are 1,200 capital improvement projects in the transportation dept. that need done. Whoa.

"We know RTD cannot provide the service we need," Hagelin says. "We're going to have to have local transit funded in other ways."

Staff is doing a study on any potential new (or increased) transportation fees. Legally, fees have to be directly tied to costs of what they are meant to address. That is determined via a study.

Interesting stat: The police estimate they are spending $3.2M on direct and indirect enforcement of Vision Zero (speeding tickets, etc.)

Carlisle asks for a breakdown of police costs.

Kerry Yamaguchi answers that: No specific breakdown, but includes 11 officers, 2 sergeants and 4 accident response officers? And maybe photo enforcement (1 supervisor, 4 operators, 2 PT process-servers/analysts)

Transportation's 2020-2025 CIP:
•$70m local investment
•$9m in leveraged federal funds
Breakdown of that:
• $31 Million Capital Reconstruction & Enhancement
• $48 Million Multimodal Capital Maintenance and
Enhancement Programs

Our pavement condition is (mostly) stable since 2011, but that will likely decrease without more $$, Hagelin says.

Young asks if the cost to maintain goes up when pavement condition scores dip below a certain point (75, which is the overall goal)

"The longer we wait to actually maintain the ranking higher, it will actually cost us more bc the degradation will be higher?"

That's correct, staff says.

OCI ranking is what they're talking; that's a condition rating that goes from 1-100. Boulder shoots for 70+, which is fair/good/excellent. Below 50 and things decline quickly.

Transportation works with utilities to make sure they don't replace/repair a decaying street if a water main needs replaced, etc. so as to not waste $$.

Young: Are you cost-sharing with utilities?
Yes, staff says.

Here's a map of the city's pavement ratings. I doubt it will reveal much to you, but good on ya if it does. It's available online as well.

Carlisle: If you're waiting to repair a street, are you letting ppl know?
No, but we could.
"It would probably create some good will."

The city manager *did* manage to find some extra cash for transportation in the 2020 budget (still pending approval): Snow and Ice Program- $150k
Median and ROW Maintenance-$350K
Street Maintenance-$100K

Transportation would also like some more, please:
• Routine/Capital Maintenance- $300K
• HOP Electric buses- $80K
• Vision Zero Action Plan- $150K
• Low Stress Network $100K
• Neighborhood Speed Management Program- $80K

"IF there is any opportunity for additional $$," Hagelin says.

Interesting graphic in the presentation on mode share targets.

We're talking about objectives: How transportation measures progress/service, etc.

Some feedback from the boards related to this:

TAB questioned the use of travel time as an objective and Level of Service as a measure but “recognized that we have been measuring this for a long time and that it is important to members of the community”

TAB supported the plan and asked for lower speed limits.
EAB didn't make a formal recommendation, but they liked the plan. (It should include land use discussion, tho, they said; Hagelin doesn't mention that.)
Planning Board also OK'd the plan BUT...

... questioned efficacy of congestion pricing, equity in cost of travel discussion; importance of electrifying transit fleet; increasing role of curb management.

Bill Rigler, TAB chair, is speaking. Apparently the father of the young girl who was struck by a car recently while on her bike will be here, too. dailycamera.com/community-ques…

Rigler praising the community engagement efforts on this. "Dozens and dozens" of meetings, NextDoor posts, Daily Camera ads, social media outreach, etc.

"The time is now for bold action on climate. The need has never been greater to look at transportation, smart land use and climate." The TMP does this, Rigler says.

Addressing Carlisle, who worked on the first TMP 30 years ago. "We hope you will agree this is the best and most comprehensive TMP you've seen."

"I chaired that," Carlisle says. "It's interesting" to see how far we've come. We're talking about the same things, but "it's hopeful" to see "all the energy" that's gone into this.

We might do public hearing before council qs.
Hardly anyone left, and it was packed earlier.

8 speakers signed up.

Spence Havlick up first. Thanking council, staff, etc.

Three additional points he hasn't seen anywhere:
Consider a 15 MPH speed limit in school zones, areas with seniors or heavy Ped activity. (Currently 20 mph in school zones, work zones) "Probably exceeded by 4-7mph"

Crested Butte and Buena Vista do 15mph.

Point 2: "Consider a few car-free zones."

"Think of the fave places in Boulder where all of us enjoy being safe and comfortable: Boulder Creek Path and Pearl Street Mall. They are car-free."

Recommends 13th and College, Alpine-Balsam, 29th Street. "That would put Boulder on the map as a pedestrian-friendly city beyond anything else we could do."

Point 3: Reinstate international pedestrian conference, which is apparently something we used to do.

Havlick was a member of the pedestrian advisory committee.

Kelly Simmons: South Broadway between Table Mesa, 27th Way is "extremely unsafe" bc of the four regional bus lines, 2 local bus lines, 6 lanes of traffic, semis... all traveling over 50 mph, "running red lights" mixed with lots of ped traffic, kids going to school...

church on the corner, 2. preschools, etc. "It's an incredibly busy intersection." No Ped-friendly crossing.

Red light at Dartmouth is being run, she says. Staff met with her there and agreed. But no followup yet.

Asks for photo enforcement or maybe a school zone implemented.

Invites council to come view the conditions there as staff did (Kathleen Bracke and Bill Cowern, I believe she said).

Sue Prant from Community Cycles is here, asking for lower residential speed limits. "We understand ... it's not a cure-all." But it's a "foundational piece" of Vision Zero.

Referencing Portland, Ore. which did this. Transportation director there said there were multiple benefits, not least of which aiding lower speed limits on bigger streets, Prant says.

We shouldn't set limits based on how fast ppl drive, she is arguing. That is based on research from the 1950s in rural areas. No research for that approach in urban areas with bikes and peds.

"Breaking the deadly cycle" of collisions "requires bold leaders."

Carlisle asks about 15 MPH idea from Havlick.
No research, she says, so I can't speak to that (Yay, evidence-based approach!) "but slower is always safer."

Brockett: Are we on the right track, do you think, based on your work with Community Cycles?
Prant: I think so. It's the most engaged TMP I've worked with. "I feel like we're moving ahead. This is a little bold jump we need to take quickly."

Don't want to "fight the battle over every single street" RE: changes. "It's better to do this holistically."

Plus, "this is more equitable." Not every neighborhood capable of organizing to get Safe Street program. "But every neighborhood deserves safe streets."

Lisa White talking about the equity importance of facilitating non-car travel. Ppl who can't afford them are disadvantaged and less safe. Plus lower-income ppl bear environmental impacts disproportionately.

Has concerns about "political and financial barriers we've faced in the past."

White was on the pedestrian advisory committee, too.

"Let's be bold," David Adams says. "Just like at Alpine-Balsam, where we're introducing a new – new!" (he emphasizes "new! — model for sustainable and equitable living."

"Be bold about funding. All these luxury cars... parking.. let's tax the things we don't want."

VERY excited about this.

He also apparently said (Brockett repeated): Cars are hard and ppl are squishy.

Brockett says that should be the new motto for Vision Zero. Concur!

Brockett asks: Certain streets were closed and turned into pocket parks "back in the day." How was that done?

Bill Cowern doesn't know bc it was before his time.

Carlisle was there. There were community development block grants to fund them. Spruce and 5th specifically, she mentions. "The process with the city wasn't as onerous as it can be today with many things."

Council is giving Adamson more time. NOT A FAN!

It's late; he's loud.

"The point is, do something that ppl perceive as in their interest." (RE: turning streets into pocket parks or the concept of woonerf.)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woonerf

Evan Ravitz apparently helped get e-bikes on bike paths via a petition and effort that made its way to council. It's only mentioned in the TMP twice, he said: "It's not worth just two words in the master plan."

Railing against buses, which apparently Steve Pomerance hates, too, bc they destroy streets. Also references a transit tax that "we defeated" in 1994.

15-passenger vehicles "are the right size" for many of the Boulder routes, Ravitz says, but we could never get RTD to agree to use them.

Michael Tompkins is the father of the girl who was hit by a car recently. It was a low-speed collision, she says, 15 mph. "She bounced off the windshield."

20 MPH speed limit "is a great idea." His daughter didn't have head, neck or back injuries bc of the low speed. 5mph faster in a car is 50% more energy. "20-25 mph could mean life or death for these kids."

"Share data about what it means to drive a little slower for 6 blocks, what it means for children. Build that story, build that advocacy."

"Strongly" advocates for lower speed limits. Don't just explore it, he says: Do it.

"I watch my daughter flip through the air and land really hard."

Ugh. What a nightmare.

Rap dude is back outside with his loud music. And I've never felt more like yelling, "Get off my lawn!"

That's it for public hearing. Council qs/discussion now.

Brockett: What's the update on RTD's support for BoCo commuinty-wide EcoPass? They didn't support that last time.

Hagelin taking this. Last looked at it in 2014.

"We really did not receive much back from RTD on that plan."

"RTD is still in a similar position on the EcoPass," RE: a pass program working group.

"We have very little traction with RTD" on this.

Young was on that working group. Two good things came out: Lower rates for youth and low-income ppl. That's great on an equity front.

Holy cow that still costs $4 a day. Man I can't wait until my car dies so I can sell its bones and afford a bus pass, cause dang that's too much. I recognize the privilege I had in affording the car but at this point, it's a cheaper option.

Poop, I just missed some good numbers. I'll pay attention.

Boulder did an analysis awhile ago on what it would cost to leave RTD, by itself, with BoCo and with CU. They decided not to move forward, but to grow the HOP model. (City operates/contracts that and it's co-funded with RTD and CU.)

That report was almost a year ago. dailycamera.com/ci_32233597/se…

I wrote that, too.

CU took over the Stampede route. Uni is running it; RTD used to.

RTD is doing its strategic planning right now, apparently.

Jones: "We're giving a little gift package to the next council of things we hope they will work on. This is near the top."

Shifting back to TMP: Brockett asks if pavement condition and early investments are in the plan.

Not explicitly stated, but it's recognized. Asset management is the top priority.

Young has a q about the factors TMP uses when determining priority. There are 9:

1. Population density
2. Employment density
3. Density of transit riders based on individual transit stop boardings
4. Distance from mobility hubs
5. Affordable housing
6. Equity

(% of families below the poverty level, car free households, population under 17 or over 65, non-white households, and households with a disability)
7. Floodplains*
8. 15-min neighborhoods*
9. Wetlands*
*Indicates increased complexity

Those 6 non-complex factors are weighted equally right now.

Weaver going *deep* in on this plan on numbers for accidents and such. $100M a year in societal costs from serious injury/death crashes. How did you get that?

(OK maybe just all crashes.) Numbers provided by CDOT based on property damage, fatalities, etc.

Weaver: That's a useful number for us to keep in our heads as we're talking budgets.

Weaver: Why are e-bikes mentioned so rarely in the TMP?

Mentions subsidies for low-income on those, which is something Mark McIntyre suggested in his candidate profile interview (rather than subsidizing rich ppl buying Teslas).

That's part of the electrification plan, staff says.

Weaver: I'd like that to be called out a bit more.

Kathleen Bracke: That's something we'd like to do with additional funding.

Jones: What would it take to lower speed limits?
Hagelin: We'd do a public process, bc it would be felt by the entire community. We'd want to provide good data: What would be the effects? What did it do in other communities?

City is apparently looking to hire a Vision Zero engineer.

*If* it's passed in the budget.

Carlisle: Across the board, what we've gotten is that this (lower speed limits) is a great idea. In terms of emails.
Jones: It makes sense that we have a deliberate public process.
Carlisle: But that it's quick.

Someday I will write an essay on why it's wrong to extrapolate broader community feel from ppl who have the time (and access, and language skills, and knowledge) to email city council.

Carlisle asked about fees. Bracke says the city is looking at construction/development impact fees and how they relate to transportation.

Carlisle: Taking down air quality has been a big one (impact) for residents.

City also receiving excise tax from new development for transportation, Hagelin says.

Carlisle: I'm thinking specifically construction and de-construction, not bc of development.

That's been a problem in "certain neighborhoods," she says. Referencing 311.

Weaver says he's reviewed the traffic plan for that and trucks are not going down Mapleton, past the school there.

Carlisle asking why the TMP vision statement references connecting People but not Goods. It has always said goods.

Bracke: It was just a reflection of what we were hearing about the importance of how we travel as a community, person to person.

Carlisle: It's a big piece of what happens on the ground and an important piece.

(This is what will go in the BVCP, for the vision statement of the TMP.)

Issues with the page numbers. Because this is the first meeting packet I've seen split into two parts.

Ppl seem to generally agree that "goods" should be added back into that statement.

Not Brockett: The vision statement should be more about people, not freight.

Carlisle: We do have commerce in the city. That's what freight is all about. This is the *transportation* master plan, not the People's master plan.

Weaver: I often move goods when I move around.

Idk why but that made me LOL a bit.

Move those goods, Sassy Sam.

OK, two more council members have qs: Young and then Weaver. Not much tonight from Yates; nothing from Nagle yet other than her vote on the consent agenda.

Young: Where in the plan do we consider folks who won't commute via scooter, bike, etc.? Ppl who can't use transit bc of the work they do?

Young: Some of these folks are just going to be driving alone, bc of the distance, the hours they work, they might not have somebody to carpool with. Where in the plan do we consider those ppl?

Hagelin: One of our objectives is travel time. It's not to say we're moving cars around at the expense of ppl; it's to say we're managing transportation from a demand standpoint, not supply.

"As we're more successful at getting ppl to use other modes (of travel) congestion will go down. That speaks to your point."

Bracke: A lot of our priorities help travel for everyone: Snow removal, safe streets, etc. "Taking care of the system is a place where we create investment for ppl using all modes of transportation."

Weaver: There are multi-use paths or bike lanes on Arapahoe, 30th etc. but they're hard to use bc of all the entrance/exits (known as curb cuts). "Drivers don't look."

What's the plan to make those curb cuts better on major arterials?

There is an access control plan for Arapahoe, as the city looks to redo that corridor. dailycamera.com/2018/08/29/wit…

I wrote that, too.

It's so odd for myself to be THE record on many of these things. I much prefer having someone else at the Camera to supplement my work. (Though I wish I could supplement my income.)

OK, Yates speaks. Happy with all the pedestrian focus in the plan. Puts on a really ugly Boulder Walks hat. (Sorry to whoever did the hat.)

"I'm hearing two things come out of this: Funding and safety. Funding can equal safety, of course."

"If you're in a car and you hit a pothole, it's annoying. If you're on a bike or scooter, it's deadly."

Yates on the 20 mph limit. "I've been fighting with staff for for years on this. We can have all sorts of analysis on this, whether it makes a difference. It does. make. a. difference."

Hit by a car at 20mph = 90% chance of survival
At 30mph = 10%
NYC had lowest level of fatalities since 1910 due to lower speed limits.

"What better year to do 20 is plenty than 2020?"

Weaver: "You can feel ppl driving differently. They're more distracted and they're driving faster.

We do have to honor public process."

Correx to above tweet: It appears that 20% is the survival rate for being hit at 30 mph as a pedestrian. Apology for fat fingers. I realized it was wrong when I went to find a source, cuz Yates didn't cite one. usa.streetsblog.org/2016/05/31/3-g…

Weaver: "Arapahoe is a problem. 30th is a problem. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out."

Young on board for lower speed limits. Citing Community Cycles research/data. "Even though compliance goes down when you lower the speed limit, it still nets a slower speed."

Best in conjunction with other street treatments.

Young likes the equity considerations in the plan, but thinks the tool could be better. (Reminder, that was % of families below the poverty level, car free households, population under 17 or over 65, non-white households, and households with a disability)

"A car-free household may be a choice. Idk that ppl living in those circumstances would benefit if it was somebody at poverty level intersecting with over 65, with a disability, far away from a mobility hub."

"We need to expand the 'we' to include shift workers, service workers, nurses aides," etc. Young says.

Brockett does a "quick gush" about the plan. Yay for equity (echoes Young's concerns) wants 20 mph speed limit "but we do need public process" and we need more funding for safety issues, including pavement management.

Also wants Boulder to advocate for local stops on buses that go to RMNP.

Carlisle cool with 20 mph and maybe even 15 mph zones. "It's time."

"It's a safety issue. It's not just a convenience issue."

In regards of funding, "we can look to some of the persons, corporations, entities that bring all these additional persons in. I'd hope we'd look at those and not always look at our budget first."

Forgot to say this, but Morzel suggested doing a head tax, which Carlisle briefly advocated for earlier this year. boulderbeat.news/2019/01/10/eye…

Jones asks if Nagle wants to say anything. "It's pretty much been said by my colleagues," but she like's Carlisle's idea on funding and says extra ppl is causing the erratic driving bc ppl are frustrated by congestion.

Jones asks to target trouble intersections sooner rather than later.

The most time she spends is with the U.S. 36 mayors on transportation. "Getting bus rapid transit corridors complete has everything to do with congestion as this region grows." A lot of effort going into that, which should continue.

Also referencing electrification of the city fleet and finding out ways to expand the HOP model to provide better service. Plus climate aspects of transportation, which haven't been talked about much.

"We learned some important lessons from Folsom, and now we need to free ourselves to be bold and innovative again. We need to do our homework, we need good process, but we need to be bold again."

Council vote to adopt the TMP: Unanimous.

That's all for this, folks. @threadreaderapp, please unroll. Thank you!