At Friday's Lee MPO Board meeting, the new members from Cape Coral City
Council were welcomed--Mayor Sawicki, Councilman Burch, and Councilman
Williams. Councilman Burch was elected
as the Lee MPO's representative to the statewide MPO Advisory Council Governing
Board, with Councilman Leonardo as the alternate. Chairman Ruane asked Mayor Sawicki to put
someone from the Cape on the MPO's Executive Committee.
Rail Feasibility Study
Following through on the Board's 2010 direction as part of the 2035
LRTP, a consulting team has been working for the past year on the MPO Rail
Feasibility Study of the CSX/Seminole Gulf Corridor.( Click here to review the report.)
The study assessed the long term feasibility of implementing public multi-modal
transportation options (including passenger rail, bus rapid transit, and/or a
multi-use path) within the corridor through Lee and northern Collier
County. The report recommendations,
endorsed by the TAC and CAC, direct staff to move forward with the preservation
of the corridor in the comprehensive and MPO plans and to further pursue with
FDOT the options for purchasing the corridor.
The consulting team made a presentation about the study and the Board
had an extensive discussion of the report and its recommendations. Bonita
Springs Mayor Nelson argued that it was a smart business move to preserve the
corridor, that it was a critical part of the county's long term multi-modal
vision, and that the public needs to invest in its own future. Others, including Fort Myers Councilman
Flanders, spoke in support of this visionary step, and Commissioner Manning
encouraged all jurisdictions to amend their Comp Plans to reflect preservation
of the rail corridor. Some members, including Cape Coral councilman Carioscia,
spoke against the proposal, arguing that the public shouldn't subsidize
railroads, or that it was yesterday's technology (Councilman Leonardo). A representative from Seminole Gulf railroad
also spoke against the proposal.
BikeWalkLee's Ann Pierce spoke in support of the report
recommendations. The rail study offers
opportunities for excellence in good fiscal management, integrating land use
and transportation planning, and stable, diverse economic development. The most important recommendation to draw
from this study is that "The intact
rail corridor is very important to the future of Lee Co and should be preserved
as a singularly unique asset.”
Pierce suggested that the Board not get bogged down in details now
about the types of transportation that may ultimately traverse this corridor. We know it can serve multiple purposes not
only within Lee Co, but as a part of an extended link in SWFL. There is sufficient ROW to serve all, with
the exception of a short portion in Fort Myers that should also be acquired. Pierce
emphasized that the maximum potential of this asset may not be realized for
decades, but support of FDOT’s purchase of this ROW is one important step in
changing direction from always looking beyond and outside of ourselves in
expensive attempts to lure the bonanza job creators, to focusing on our own “Economic
Gardening” - developing and growing our
own businesses.
The Board adopted Mayor Nelson's motion to approve the report
recommendations, with four members voting against the motion.
Land Use Scenario Project
Also following through on the Board's 2010 direction as part of the
2035 LRTP, over the past year a consultant team, along with MPO staff, has
undertaken an intensive effort to explore alternative ways the county could
grow that would reduce or shorten vehicle trips and increase other travel options. Identifying future land use patterns as
alternative scenarios will allow the MPO and citizens of Lee County to evaluate
the costs and benefits of different patterns.
At the end of this process, the MPO will select a preferred land use
scenario, which will become the basis of the future transportation vision in
the MPO's forthcoming 2040 LRTP. BikeWalkLee
has been a strong supporter of this effort since 2010.
The Board unanimously approved the goals and objectives of the
project. (Click here for goals and objectives of project.) The next step of the project is an
interactive "planners workshop" on December 6th, to identify
potential future concentrations of housing and jobs and help create the
alternative scenarios. Public engagement on the scenarios is planned to begin
in early 2014. Scenario selection by the
Committee's and MPO Board is anticipated for late spring or summer 2014. The selected scenario will be used as the
2040 socioeconomic data for the development of the 2040 LRTP, which must be
adopted by December 2015.
TIGER and Bike/Ped Safety Action
Plan Implementation
MPO staff is busy on multiple tasks related to initiating the TIGER
project, and the Board approved the grant agreement and other FHWA required
documents. Don Scott, MPO executive
director, outlined the extensive reporting requirements of the grant, including
tracking performance measures developed to measure the impact of the complete
streets grant project five years out.
BikeWalkLee's Darla Letourneau thanked Don Scott for all his work on preparing for
TIGER implementation and all the advance federal requirements work involved,
and then focused her remarks on implementation of the bike/ped safety action
plan (BPSAP), which is an integral part of accomplishing the safety goals of
our TIGER grant. Letourneau thanked the
Board for making TIGER/BPSAP implementation a standard agenda item for all
board meetings, since sustained leadership and attention will be required to
implement both components. We know that you can't reduce bike/ped fatality and
injury numbers simply by constructing new facilities--it must be combined with
education, enforcement, and culture change.
Letourneau stated that November has been
a particularly deadly month on Lee County roads. To date, there have been nine traffic deaths
in November, with four of them being pedestrians, or 44% of all roadway
fatalities. And this doesn't count the
pedestrians and bicyclists that were seriously injured in crashes this month. In 2013 to date, there have been a record 19
pedestrian fatalities (and 3 bicyclist fatalities)--a level not seen since
2007. (The below graph is already out of
date.) The targets established in the
BPSAP are for a 5% reduction a year...and we're moving in the wrong direction!
 |
| Pedestrian fatalities are now at 19 (vs. 18) as of 11/22/13 |
Letourneau reported that Lee County is
not the only place that's experiencing increased bike/ped deaths. This week, the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration issued its 2012 report showing an overall increase of
3.3% in traffic fatalities, with pedestrian and cyclist deaths rising at almost
double that rate--6.4 and 6.5 percent respectively.
Letourneau thanked Commissioner
Pendergrass for convening the upcoming (Dec. 10th) BPSAP implementation kick-off
meeting with all local law enforcement leaders.
FDOT District 1 Secretary Billy Hattaway, as well as a law enforcement
official from Hillsborough County, will also be part of this important
meeting. Letourneau urged all the local jurisdictions
to make sure their law enforcement officials as well as their staff make
implementation of the BPSAP a high priority, and work in concert with the MPO
and other partners.
As part of the Board discussion on this
issue, Cape Councilman Burch thanked BikeWalkLee for its efforts on TIGER and
bike/ped safety, noting that it was impressive to see the accomplishments since
he was last on the MPO Board four years ago.
Councilman Flanders spoke about the
bike/ped fatality data and asked that staff include in its presentation to the
Board information about the cases of each crash and fatality.
Transit
LeeTran's Director, Steve Myers,
provided an update on the County's Transit Task Force. He also reported on the November 14th service
changes, stating they were watching it closely to make sure the impacts weren't
too adverse and had made some corrections based on problems identified.
Mayor Ben Nelson asked what was being
done to ensure continued funding of the highly successful Lee-Collier link bus,
called LinC. He said that this was the most successful
joint venture before the counties and an excellent example of regionalism and
we need to find ways to keep it going. He
offered to assist in any way he could to make sure this route continues.
December
MPO Board Meeting
The next meeting of the MPO Board will be
a joint meeting between the Lee and Charlotte County MPO Boards on December 13th
at 1:30 p.m. (location to be determined). There will be an important presentation of the
FDOT commissioned report by the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR),
which is a review of MPO 2035 LRTP's done by MPOs throughout Florida in 2010. It also addresses the funding shortfall facing
Florida and provides informative and timely information as the Lee MPO embarks on
its 2040 process. Click here for a copy of the CUTR report.
Report by Darla Letourneau
Report by Darla Letourneau
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