DEPARTMENT: Transportation and Capital Improvements
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Mike Frisbie
COUNCIL DISTRICT(S) IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Briefing regarding the Strategic Multi-Modal Transportation Plan
SUMMARY:
The Transportation and Capital Improvements (TCI) Department will provide a briefing on the Strategic Multi-Modal Transportation Plan.
BACKGROUND:
The City is about to embark on creation of a Strategic Multi-Modal Transportation Plan. This Plan will articulate the City's transportation strategy and project prioritization method. The Plan will be developed through an extensive public engagement process so that residents have a voice on the preferred transportation system to address the City's needs through the year 2040. The plan will:
· Be a critical component of San Antonio Comprehensive Plan
· Help implement SA 2020
· Complement the MPO 2040 Long Range Regional Transportation Plan
· Connect Land use, Development, Redevelopment, and Transportation
· Help accommodate projected growth of one million additional citizens
· Enable City to make data-driven proactive rather than reactive transportation decisions
· Maximizes infrastructure investments from local, state, and federal sources
· Reconcile existing plans, policies, and assumptions
The Strategic Multi-Modal Transportation Plan will cover all areas of the City in an integrated fashion. It will provide for the development, implementation, operation, and integrated management of a transportation system and facilities that will provide a complete intermodal transportation system for the City. The Plan also will be a major component of the region's intermodal transportation system and will be coordinated with our regional partners. Intermodal transportation takes into account all users of the transportation system including people driving cars, using transit, riding bikes, walking, using wheelchairs, special populations, and Americans with disabilities. It also includes additional modes of surface transportation such as passenger trains, freight trains, and freight trucks.
The Plan will be created in conjunction with the Comprehensive Plan for the City and will evaluate the impact of the transportation system on other community objectives including economic development and quality of life.
ISSUE:
The Strategic Multi-Modal Transportation Plan will be instrumental in helping San Antonio prepare for the future infrastructure needs of the community to accommodate projected growth of one million people and an associated 500,000 housing units and 500,000 jobs in Bexar County by 2040.
The Plan will be comprised of three primary components that will be guided by a strong public engagement process. The first component is an update to the City's transportation multi-modal plans and policies. The second component is an update to the City's 1978 Major Thoroughfare Plan. The third component is a project prioritization system. The Plan will be created by City staff with the assistance of an external consultant and strong citizen participation. In addition to public engagement, the technical aspects of the work will involve travel demand modeling throughout the City to assess the impact of future development and infrastructure investments on the transportation system and vice versa. Once created, the Plan will serve as a tool that can be utilized in subsequent years by City departments and policy makers to analyze annual transportation priorities to best meet overall community short-term and long-term goals.
The budget for the Plan is $3 million as identified in the FY 2014 Budget. City Council approved the plan to fund $1 million for this effort starting with $500,000.00 in FY 2015 as well as $500,000.00 in FY 2016 and funding was leveraged through the MPO with an award of $2 million in March of 2014. In addition, staff submitted an application for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant requesting an additional $3 million towards the plan. Staff anticipates the TIGER award announcements in August 2014. A Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for an external consultant team is scheduled to be released June 13, 2014. Approval of the consultant team by City Council is anticipated in August of 2014. The Plan kick-off will begin in the Fall of 2014 and is anticipated to be complete by Spring of 2016. The time frame for completion coincides with the Comprehensive Plan and both efforts will be coordinated in terms of analysis and public outreach.
ALTERNATIVES:
None at this time: This is only a briefing.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No fiscal impact associated with this briefing.
RECOMMENDATION:
None. TCI will schedule future progress updates throughout the planning process.