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Transportation Technical Committee

March 14, 2025 8:30 am

COG Sequoia Conference Room | 2035 Tulare St., Suite 201, Fresno, CA

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The Fresno COG offices and restrooms are ADA accessible. Representatives or individuals with disabilities should contact Fresno COG at (559) 233-4148, at least 3 days in advance, to request auxiliary aids and/or translation services necessary to participate in the public meeting / public hearing. If Fresno COG is unable to accommodate an auxiliary aid or translation request for a publichearing, after receiving proper notice, the hearing will be continued on a specified date when accommodations are available..

THE FRESNO COG TRANSPORTATION TECHNICAL COMMITTEE WILL TAKE PLACE IN PERSON AT THE FRESNO COG SEQUOIA CONFERENCE ROOM

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The Transportation Technical Committee will consider all items on the agenda. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m.

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.

Action: Staff and TTC/PAC recommend  the Policy Board approve Resolution 2025-07 adopting the City of Selma’s 2024-25 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $1,698,476.

Action: Staff and TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve Resolution 2025-06 adopting City of Selma’s 2023-24 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $1,657,432

Action: Staff and TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board approve Resolution 2025-05 adopting the City of Selma’s 2022-23 Transportation Development Act claims totaling $1,489,797.

Summary: The 2026 Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (RTP/SCS) legal services contract was originally solicited in November 2024 through a request for proposals (RFP). The RFP did not receive any bids, so staff subsequently combined the legal services work with the 2026 RTP/SCS environmental impact report (EIR) work, considering that legal services would primarily be needed to respond to comments received for the EIR. Fresno COG’s legal counsel recommended that the best path forward would be to contact law firms that have worked on EIR matters in the past for COG and to enter into a contract with such a firm on the basis of their particular expertise on such matters. Best Best & Krieger (BBK) has worked with Fresno COG previously on RTP/SCS legal services, including the most recent 2022 RTP/SCS, and has agreed to once again contract with Fresno COG for the 2026 RTP/SCS EIR.

Action: Staff requests that the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board authorize the executive directed to enter  a contract with Best Best & Krieger for the 2026 RTP/SCS EIR legal services contract for an amount not to exceed $50,000.

Summary: Managed lanes help reduce traffic congestion, lower Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), and improve safety on urban freeways. These lanes are common across the State and include express lanes, carpool lanes (HOV), toll lanes (HOT), lanes for clean air vehicles, and park and ride lanes.

In the Fresno-Clovis Metropolitan Area (FCMA), there are four main freeways: SR 99, SR 41, SR 168, and SR 180, serving over 700,000 residents. Traffic congestion on these routes is increasing, leading to more air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and less reliable transportation. When highways are full, VMT and greenhouse gas emissions rise. Managed lanes are a useful, and sometimes the only, option that meets federal air quality standards for expanding road capacity in non-attainment areas like Fresno.

In January 2025, Fresno Council of Governments (Fresno COG) issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking consultants to study managed lanes as a solution to reduce highway congestion in the FCMA. The selected consultant will assess current data and upcoming projects, establish goals and objectives, identify managed lanes strategies, create an implementation plan, engage with the public, and produce a final report.

Two proposals were received in response to the RFP. Kimley-Horn, scoring highest among the proposals received, was selected. Kimley-Horn has extensive experience in development, delivery, and knowledge regarding managed lanes strategies, including prior collaboration with Fresno COG on various projects including the Regional VMT Mitigation Program Study.

This study is expected to be completed within a year.

Action: Staff requests that the TTC/PAC recommend the Policy Board authorize the executive director to enter a contract with Kimley-Horn for the Fresno-Clovis Metropolitan Area Managed Lane Study for an amount not to exceed $200,000.

Summary: On Feb. 27, Fresno COG staff submitted its federal fiscal year (FFY) 2024/25 obligation plan to Caltrans’ Office of Project Management Oversight Division of Local Assistance. This plan documents Fresno COG’s estimated project delivery for the remainder of 2024/25. The obligation authority (OA) target for 2024/25 is $32,698,654. (Attached to this agenda item)

As of Jan. 31 $1.5 million or 7 percent of the federal Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program and Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) funding has been obligated, leaving the region with an OA balance of $20.7 million. Based on projects programmed in FFY 24/25 of the 2025 FTIP, Fresno COG’s projected OA delivery is $24.2 million, excluding projects that may be expedited to obligate this Federal fiscal year. The obligation plan outlines approximately $8.4 million in additional, combined CMAQ, CRP, and STBG.

The Federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30; however, as of March 15, Federal funds may become available to the rest of the state on a first-come, first-served basis if OA use is below 35 percent. It is the state’s goal to exceed the OA target and, in August, receive additional federal funds redistributed from other states to projects pending authorization. Fresno COG encourages all agencies to continue submitting their requests for authorization as soon as possible to ensure they are queued up for the funds that will become available. If projects do not receive authorization approval after August, they will be delayed until October, the beginning of the next federal fiscal year.

Please keep Fresno COG staff updated on any changes that could impact the region’s project delivery plan. Contact Ofelia Abundez at 559-233-4148 ext. 205 or Blake Rincon at 559-233-4148 ext. 203 with any questions regarding fiscal year deadlines or the process of obligating project funds.

Action: Information. The Policy Board may provide additional direction at its discretion

Summary:  Senate Bill 375 (2008) required metropolitan planning organizations, such as Fresno COG, to include a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) within each update to the federally required Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).  The SCS is intended to demonstrate how the region will meet greenhouse gas reduction targets, established by the California Air Resources Board (CARB), through land use decisions — as expressed through local general plans and such strategies as infill and other, denser development patterns.

Failure to meet the GHG targets can result in a region’s disqualification for multiple State funding sources, including certain transportation and housing-related grant programs.

Though not specifically stated in the law, the implication is that GHG targets should be achieved by wholesale reductions in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), or more specifically, the number of single-occupant vehicle trips occurring on a daily basis.  The correlating assumption is that denser development patterns would encourage less driving and more bicycling, walking and transit use, as well as other alternative transportation options for commuters.

In 2013, SB 743 further codified VMT as an alternative metric to level-of-service for roadway capacity projects when considering transportation project expenditures.  Under this law, jurisdictions are required through the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to determine whether adding capacity to a roadway would encourage VMT growth, and if so, to mitigate for that additional VMT.

As a result, VMT has become the primary metric for meeting GHG targets under SB 375, and while VMT did diminish temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, its growth — via single-occupant vehicle trips — has rebounded above levels previously seen in 2019.  This is despite continued and increased investment in transit capital and operations, as well as active transportation projects such as bicycle lanes, paths, sidewalks and trails.

This fact, combined with variables such as lower population growth projections, a growing electric vehicle fleet, and reduced housing production, among others, have transportation models throughout California showing that regions will face considerable difficulty meeting their CARB-prescribed GHG targets for the next SCS update.

Consequently, MPOs throughout the state have begun calling for administrative and/or legislative solutions to reform SB 375, primarily by adjusting its focus on VMT as the sole metric for GHG reduction.

Since SB 375 was first enacted nearly 18 years ago, California has endured a staggering housing and homelessness crisis, mandated its passenger vehicle fleet convert to EV by 2035, and centered multiple policy initiatives on equity considerations.  SB 375 author Darrel Steinberg could not have conceived of any of these developments when writing and negotiating this law.

Fresno COG staff are participating in a working group along with multiple State agencies, including CARB, to determine administrative and potentially legislative solutions to these concerns.  Simultaneously, SB 486 (Cabaldon, 2025) is the first bill aiming to address comprehensive SB 375 reform. Staff will continue to update its standing committees and Policy Board as this situation develops.

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

Summary: In February, Fresno COG and Fresno County Transportation Authority (FCTA) staff held its kick-off meeting with facilitator and program manager Kendall Flint with consulting firm DKS to review expectations and approaches to forming the Measure C renewal committee and how it will operate. To date, Fresno COG has received more than a dozen “expression of interest” forms from different stakeholders and stakeholder groups to serve on the committee.

In the interim, DKS has begun setting up one-on-one meetings for me with all 15 City Managers and mayors as well as the county administrative officer and Board of Supervisors/FCTA Chairman Buddy Mendes to discuss strategy regarding appointments/selections for each representative on the committee. The goal is to have these completed over the next two weeks. DKS will review the proposed names/selections with the goal of final selection by March 24.

In addition, DKS’ graphic services team has developed some updated logos for consideration, and FM3 has provided a preliminary approach to the focus groups. Staff, DKS and outreach consultant Tripepi Smith are also reviewing the revised MC3 website to consider access, content and incorporating tools from FCOG’s Public Input platform and/or DKS’ Social Pinpoint

Finally, DKS is finalizing the master calendar, which includes proposed timing for focus groups, presentations, events – everything for the path forward in 2025, as well as a draft of talking points.

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

This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the Committee on items within its jurisdiction but not on this agenda.
Note: Prior to action by the Committee on any item on this agenda, the public may comment on that item. Unscheduled comments may be limited to three minutes.