Policy Advisory Committee

All items on the consent agenda are considered to be routine and non-controversial by COG staff and will be approved by one motion if no member of the Committee or public wishes to comment or ask questions. If comment or discussion is desired by anyone, the item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered in the listed sequence with an opportunity for any member of the public to address the Committee concerning the item before action is taken.

City of Sanger TDA Claim 2023-24

City of Sanger FY 2023-24 TDA Claim Resolution

Action: Staff requests the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve Resolution 2024-30 adopting the City of Sanger’s 2023-24 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $1,789,304.

City of Sanger FY 24-25 waiting for final board approval Sept 26, 2024

City of Sanger FY 2024-25 TDA Claim Resolution

Action: Staff requests the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve approve Resolution 2024-31, adopting the City of Sanger’s 2024-25 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $1,836,771.

City of Mendota FY 24-25 TDA Claim

City of Mendota FY 2024-25 TDA Claim Resolution

Action: Staff requests the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve Resolution 2024-32 adopting the City of Mendota’s 2024-25 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $881,467.

City of Huron FY 2024-25 TDA Claim

City of Huron FY 2024-25 TDA Claim Resolution

Action: Staff requests the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve Resolution 2024-33 adopting the City of Huron’s 2024-25 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $441,823.

2024-29 Measure C Funding Claim Resolution

FY24-25.MeasC.Ext COG RPTPClaim.Admin-Planning

FY24-25.MeasC.Ext COG RPTPClaim.Car.Van-Pool

FY24-25.MeasC.Ext COG RPTPClaim.Farm-Van-Pool

FY24-25.MeasC.Ext COG RPTPClaim.ADA Seniors Para

Summary: A total of $2,689,011 is available in 2024-25 for Measure C programs administered through Fresno COG. In accordance with Fresno County Transportation Authority procedures, Resolution 2024-29 adopts claims for ADA/Senior Scrip/paratransit ($867,069), farmworker vanpools ($636,582), ride sharing/vanpools ($636,582) and administration & planning ($548,778).

Action: Staff requests the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board adopt Resolution 2024-29 approving Measure “C” claims for ADA/Senior Scrip/paratransit, farmworker vanpools, ride sharing/vanpools, and administration & planning.

Summary: The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) created the transportation network company (TNC) Access for All (AFA) Program under Senate Bill (SB) 1376 (Hill, 2018), which directed CPUC to address TNC accessibility services for people with disabilities, including riders who need a wheelchair-accessible vehicle (WAV). A $.10 fee collected from every TNC trip is redistributed to each MPO region to develop programs that incentivize on-demand transportation services for people with disabilities, including wheelchair accessible vehicles/rides.

In June 2021, Fresno COG became a local access fund administrator (LAFA) for the Fresno County AFA program. For this current funding cycle, Fresno COG has received $191,651 to allocate to projects supporting TNCs and access providers, or entities that directly provide, or contract with a separate organization to provide on-demand WAV transportation.

Fresno COG released a request for proposals earlier this summer and received two applications from the Fresno County Rural Transit Agency (FCRTA) and PCA Now. After reviewing both applications, the scoring committee recommends allocating all funds to FCRTA.

FCRTA would use funding to purchase three additional wheelchair-accessible vehicles. The additional vehicles will allow for FCRTA to expand rural transit dial-a-ride services to serve the general public disabled population and provide transportation beyond approved lifeline services in unincorporated communities.

Action: Staff and the Access for All scoring committee request the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board award $191,651 to FCRTA.

Summary:  Fresno COG is required under California’s Transportation Development Act to perform a triennial performance audit of itself and the four transit operators: City of Clovis; City of Fresno, Fresno Area Express (FAX), Fresno County Rural Transit Agency (FCRTA), and Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission/Consolidated Transportation Service Agency, for fiscal years 2021/22, 2022/23, and 2023/24. Fresno COG released a request for proposals on July 3, 2024, for consultant services and received one proposal from Moore & Associates. A selection committee comprising representatives from the four transit operators reviewed the proposal and approved Moore & Associates for the contract.

Action: The selection committee and staff requests that TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve Moore & Associates as the consultant for the triennial performance audit and authorize Fresno COG’s interim executive director to enter into a contract with Moore & Associates in an amount not to exceed $59,594.

2024-34 OWP FY 24-25 Amendment No 1 Resolution

Summary: 2024-25 Overall Work Program Amendment #1 is to recognize new grants awarded by Caltrans, reconcile grant balances from projects carried over from 2023-24 and recognize other sundry adjustments. The amendment increases the budget $496,307 to $46,002,145.

WE 111 – Regional Transportation Modeling – The work element increases $68,500. $48,000 is a subscription to the Replica Data Base and modeling platform which collects significant data on road miles, transit ridership, etc., providing input into FCOG’s traffic model. Another 20,500 is for working with Resources Systems Group (RSG) to calibrate the Activity Based Model which was built last year.

WE 122 Regional Mobility Hub – The work element decreases $49,662 to adjust a FTA 5304 grant and the contract with Walker Consulting to reflect activity in 2023-24.

WE 141 Pavement Management System – In July the board awarded a $1,245,335 contract to Nichols Consulting (NCE) authorizing a $55,000 increase in the work element.

WE 145 Climate Resiliency – The work element decreases $12,048 to adjust State High funding and the Arup contract for work completed in 2023-24.

WE 155 Rail Feasibility Plan – Caltrans awarded a $350,000 grant to study the feasibility of Light Rail.

WE 166 Transit On Board Study – The work element decreases $173,893 to reflect adjustments to RMRA funding and RSGs contract for 2023-24 activity.

WE 170 Regional Transportation Plan – Various net adjustments were made to reconcile carryover grant balances from the prior year, however the scope and total cost of this work element remains unchanged.

WE 179 Complete Streets – $214 of the 2023-24 apportionment is carried over for staff support.

WE 180 Air Quality – $8,196 is added for FCOG’s portion of a $35,000 increase in the valley wide contract San Joaquin COG has with Trinity Consulting for consultation and interagency coordination with EPA, CARB and the air district.

WE 182 Extreme Heat Analysis – Caltrans awarded a grant for $250,000 to examine the effects of extreme heat on transportation infrastructure.

Action: Staff recommends the Board adopt Resolution 2024-34 approving 2024-25 Overall Work Program Amendment #1.

Letter - Extra Work #008 - Roadway_2024-07-18

Summary: Subsequent to a cooperative agreement with the Fresno County Transportation Authority (FCTA), Fresno COG (FCOG) has a contract with Mark Thomas to design the Golden State Corridor. Mark Thomas has identified additional engineering costs associated with the project as explained in the attached extra work request.

In summary, Mark Thomas has completed 100% project design. The project has been split into three phases to accommodate negotiations with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.  Fresno County has bid and is working on Phase 1; however, this leaves some gaps in the project to be addressed in Phase 2.

Phase 3 involves work in the railroad right-of-way. Initial design incorporated Phase 2 and Phase 3 as one scope. To carry out the Phase 2 work, a separate bid package needs to be prepared. This amendment allows for surveying curb ramps at selected sites and preparing a separate bid package for Phase 2. This is necessary regardless of ongoing negotiations with the cities and railroad over how many intersections will be improved in Phase 3.

Separate actions are required to amend the cooperative agreement with FCTA and the contract with Mark Thomas.

Action: Staff requests that TTC/PAC authorize the Policy Board Chair and interim executive director to execute amendment No. 9 to the cooperative agreement with FCTA, increasing the contract by $392,568 to $6,858,805.

Action: Staff requests TTC/PAC authorize the interim executive director to execute amendment No. 7 to Mark Thomas contract, increasing the contract by $392,568 to $5,527,289.

2026 RTP Project Evaluation Criteria_Final_Aug_13_2024

Summary:

The Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) Programming Technical Working Group developed an RTP Project Evaluation Criteria Focus Group to discuss in-depth revisions and updates to the 2026 RTP Project Evaluation Criteria.

The 2026 project evaluation criteria will be used to score the priority of projects submitted during the call for projects process that will begin on Oct 1 for forecasted funding available through the RTP’s sunset year (2049).  The RTP Programming Technical Working group met on three separate occasions, July 23, Aug. 1 and Aug. 13.

The RTP Programming Technical Working Group comprised staff from the cities of Fresno, Clovis, Fresno County, a rural west side community, a rural east side community, a transit staff member, Caltrans, and representatives from various non-governmental organizations with interests in bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure, air quality, health, and transportation equity.  The group collaborated on the revisions and agree with the totality of the revised document.

Highlights of the revisions include:

• • Revisions to the project topic score weight
  • Updated the bike/pedestrian connectivity question
  • Removed climate adaptation question 9 from the road capacity-increasing category
  • Rephrased several questions in several categories
  • Remaining revisions were mostly grammatical in nature; word choice, sentence structure, clarifications, etc.

This criteria will be used solely to determine a project’s ranking in the RTP in terms of projected funding; not actual funding available during a program call-for-projects.  The criteria will be used to create the RTP’s constrained and unconstrained list of projects. Once the project scoring criteria is approved by Fresno COG’s Policy Board, the call-for-projects will begin on Oct. 1 and end on Nov. 16. The final decision will be Dec. 1.

The Financial Element Technical Group recommended approval of the 2026 RTP project evaluation criteria from the RTP Roundtable.

Action: Staff, the RTP Programming Technical Working Group, and the RTP Roundtable request the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve the final draft of the 2026 RTP Project Evaluation Criteria.

Summary: Fresno COG released the Measure C 2024 application for New Technology funding on May 10. The program includes $7.2 million available for the fiscal year 24/25 award cycle. Fresno COG releases an application for New Technology projects/proposals on a biennial basis.

The New Technology Reserve Subprogram sets aside Measure “C” funding to finance new transit technologies that may be developed in the future. To further its Measure C New Technology Program goals, Fresno COG is focusing on technological advances in public systems, safety features, fuel efficiencies and alternatives, intelligent transportation system (ITS) applications, and information dissemination — ultimately, areas that help to promote passenger safety and satisfaction, attract customers, improve capital and operating efficiencies, reduce environmental pollution, and ease dependence on fossil fuels.

This cycle, staff received three applications requesting approximately $4.6 million against an available $7.2 million.  The scoring committee comprised representatives from each: the County of Fresno, City of Fresno, City of Clovis, east-side city, Measure C Citizen Oversight Committee, transit staff, Fresno COG, Fresno County Transportation Authority, as well as two members of the public.

On Aug. 20, the scoring committee met to interview the applicants and discuss the applications.  The scoring committee unanimously recommended all for funding:

Fresno County Rural Transit Agency (FCRTA) Kingsburg Resiliency Hub Phase 2: FCRTA plans to construct a resiliency hub in the City of Kingsburg consisting of a solar carport, 16 solar-powered/battery-backed level II charging stations, and energy storage. The resiliency hub will help FCRTA transition to a zero-emission vehicle fleet and provide EV charging to the public.

• New Tech Requested Funds: $986,936
• New Tech Recommended Funds: $986,936

City of Fresno Advanced Technology Pilot Project Friant Road: The pilot research & development project will system engineer next generation connected vehicles to traffic signals safety technologies (Vehicle To Everything “V2X” Detection Systems, speed detection and bicycle detection systems) along the Friant Road Corridor between Audubon and Copper River drives (seven signals). The R&D project will be deployed along the City of Fresno’s most congested multimodal corridor, which interconnects the traveling public to commercial, residential, entertainment, parks and trails. The ITS program will publish City ITS Standards that are used by all Central Valley agencies.

• New Tech Requested Funds: $3,000,000
• New Tech Recommended Funds: $3,000,000

City of Reedley Manning Avenue Adaptive Signal Control Technology: The proposed project will install an adaptive signal control technology (ASCT) system via wireless technology that will optimize traffic flow in the City of Reedley along Manning Avenue between I Street and Buttonwillow Avenue. The ASCT will use wireless vehicle detection technology that will allow for real-time monitoring and continuous synchronization. These improvements will produce a reduction in travel time and greenhouse gas emissions.

• New Tech Requested Funds: $685,000
• New Tech Recommended Funds: $685,000

Total Recommended for Funding: $4,671,936

Total New Tech Funding Available (2024): $7,200,000

Total New Tech Funding to roll over to next cycle (2026): $2,528,064

For more information please click here.

Action: Staff requests that TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve the New Technology scoring committee recommendations for funding and forward to the Fresno County Transportation Authority to enter into contracts with the applicants in the amounts recommended.

REVISED Guidelines FCOG 2025 Regional ATP Cycle 7 +CMAQ

Summary: Active Transportation Program (ATP) funds are separated into three main components: the statewide competitive program, the small urban- and rural-area competitive program (managed by the State), and the large, urbanized area competitive program [managed by metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs)] – also known as the Regional Competitive ATP.

The program encourages active transportation modes, such as biking and walking. Large MPOs such as Fresno COG have the option of developing their own policies, procedures and project selection criteria that differ from those the California Transportation Commission (CTC) adopted, provided the CTC approves them. The Fresno COG Policy Board approved the regional ATP guidelines on April 25, which were then approved by the California Transportation Commission at its June 2024 meeting.

Unfortunately, due to the State budget deficit, ATP funding has been substantially reduced. Fresno COG was originally proposed to receive $6.3 million, which has been amended to $1.87 million.

The State initiated its seventh-cycle ATP call for projects from March 22 through June 17, 2024. Meanwhile, Fresno COG is now accepting applications for the regional program from June 27 to Nov. 20. ATP cycle 7 will cover four years of funding – FY 2024-25 through FY 2028-29.

Because Fresno COG’s share provides only $1.8 million, and to raise the available balance to the original amount anticipated, staff has identified the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality program as a viable resource to contribute $4,449,000 to augment the budget deficit.

Both CMAQ and ATP have coinciding principles for projects. The agency will still have roughly $24 million available for the CMAQ call for projects in January. Projects will be funded solely to one funding source to ease reporting. The guidelines, which were previously approved in April of this year, are attached with revisions to accommodate this augmentation.

*($ in thousands)

Action: Staff requests that TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve augmenting the Regional Active Transportation with Congestion Mitigation Air Quality program funds for an amount not to exceed $4,449,000 over the next four years.

Fresno COG Survey Report 2024

Summary:  Fresno Council of Governments (Fresno COG) contracted with Rea & Parker, a qualified consultant with substantial experience in designing and conducting opinion surveys, to conduct research within the Fresno County region.

They were directed to enlist survey participants reflective of the county’s demographics, including non-English speaking populations, from urban and rural areas of the region. They asked participants to rank defined values and transportation funding priorities and develop the findings report.

The survey data collected informs Fresno COG’s Regional Transportation Plan by identifying and ranking Fresno County residents’ transportation spending priorities and their community values. Rea & Parker associates will present the survey findings at the meeting.

Action: Information and discussion. The Committee may provide additional direction  at its discretion.

Summary: This outreach effort is designed to gather transportation project suggestions from our region’s residents via hard copy or online survey. It will be conducted from Sept. 16 through Oct. 31 to assist member agencies with community outreach prior to responding to the RTP call-for-projects Dec. 1 deadline, and to provide an opportunity for community members to participate early in the RTP planning process.

For this community engagement effort, four mini-grants, under the guidance of Fresno COG’s public outreach consultant Southwest Strategies will assist Fresno COG using several strategies:

• Online community survey available in English, Spanish, Punjabi and Hmong
• E-newsletters
• Social media posts and ad purchases in English and Spanish, Punjabi and Hmong as needed
• Flyers and fact sheets that include QR code links to the surveys in all languages
• Requests to members agencies, transit agencies, the RTP Roundtable membership and other government and community agencies to share social posts, emails, flyers with their contacts
• Booths at community events across the county
• Virtual and in-person meetings and workshop to present the RTP Update and the survey opportunity

COG will forward all project suggestions to corresponding local agencies for review and consideration prior to their RTP project submittal’s due date. The list of projects and location mapping will be available to the public on Fresno COG’s PlanFresno.com website on or before Nov. 15.

Action: Information and discussion. The Committee may provide additional direction at its discretion.

Summary: Your agenda package includes this month’s Clearinghouse Calendar containing “Project Notification and Review Reports” for grant proposal.

1. USDA Rural Development

Project Subject to Review:

The Regional Clearinghouse is a process of informing local agencies of Federal grant requests, providing an opportunity to comment, and potentially avoid duplication of effort. Clearinghouse items are brought before the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) and, if appropriate, the Transportation Technical Committee (TTC) for review and comment. Any resulting TTC/PAC comments, and any comments received from other agencies as a result of the Clearinghouse notification process, are noted on a monthly report brought forward to the Fresno COG Policy Board.

COG Policy Board action authorizes staff to forward any comments received to the State Clearinghouse and other appropriate agencies. The applicants have been notified of this meeting. While participation by the agency is optional, they have been personally requested to attend the Policy Board meeting in case there should be any questions. Project notification and review reports describing these projects are attached.

Action: Per Board procedure, unless an item is pulled from the Consent Calendar, tacit authorization is given for staff to forward any comment(s) received, or any Committee/Board comment(s) generated as a result of this informational item, to the appropriate agency.