September 03, 2026 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
This transcript was automatically generated and may contain errors.
The comments are welcome and encouraged with three minutes given to each speaker. After the committee discusses each item, members, the public will be invited to comment. A couple of housekeeping items for virtual attendees, please keep your cameras off unless speaking. For those attending by phone please press star six to mute or unmute yourself. And then as a reminder, Amad s committee meetings are audio recorded and posted on the Ammas YouTube page. Thank you.
Moved by Mr. Lindamood Second by Mr. Bowland. Are there any changes that are needed to the agenda? Okay, are there any objections to approving the agenda? Hearing none. The agenda is approved. Next item on the agenda is the previous meeting minutes. We have a motion for approving the August 6th, 2026 minutes
Mr. Chair? I do have a question on one of the items. Okay. On five A where it's talking about the 2052 transportation plan and we're talking about the fifth and sixth Avenue project where it identifies all utilities being upgraded or replaced. I thought it might be worth noting whether there was clear eligibility for the funding to accommodate that because I think in the meeting we, we discussed that only the relocations are clearly a eligible expenses. I, I don't know with noting
Eligibility is something we'd need to work out there impacted utility be located with the project if they're respected by the project, there's probably also opportunities for utilities to do betterments under their own funding. But all the details will be worked out with the project.
There's also one note, I know we talked about it already, but I'll mention this. It looks like member Koha, her name was not fully spelled out and so we will correct that as part of the this general, we don't need any amendment. We'll get it taken care of. You just wanted to know.
Thank you. Perfect. Thanks Aaron. So our, our move on our second agree to offend members. Is there anything else we need on that end? Good. Okay. Any other changes? Are there any objections to ud? The minutes as amended. Okay, hearing none the August 6th, 20, 26 minutes as amended are approved. Next we'll move on to item five A. The recreational trails plan. It's gonna be taking on that one Eric, we'll
Hello everyone. Emily Weiser, the non-motorized coordinator with AMATS. So the rec trails plan has been before you a couple times recently including the work session. So we don't have a whole lot for the presentation aspect of this item, but it is back before you today following some revisions to the plan that has been discussed that previously and the work section. So that final as of now draft is ready for approval if you are ready to approve it or recommend approval to policy committee. I think it covers everything that has been discussed with any exceptions. One is some of the maps still need to be updated and that is pending the additional funding which is still in progress through the proofs pipeline that was funding that you all recommended and be approved just additional to the project to handle some of these final revisions. It is in the tip and the tip is approved but we're working through this various other approval steps to getting that funding actually here to us. We're hoping that'll be done by the end of next week. So hopefully we are on track to get that finished soon. The other thing that's been discussed that we haven't done yet is making the rec trails plan as an amendment to the non-motorized plan that was discussed during the work session. That felt like something that probably needs a formal committee decision before it was actually implemented. So we have on that. But that option is there for your discussion and potential recommendation.
So a summary of the other changes are provided in the memo and we have our project team here to answer any questions and otherwise we'll turn it over to you guys for discussion or questions. And the recommended action is to approve this as the final version of the rec trail plan pending any edit to policy.
Sure. This is neglect for those online and I'm with parks and recreation. I think one benefit is that it would clarify that this plan scope originated within the non-motorized plan and during the time of that update it was determined that recreational needs and those user groups was gonna be a larger public involvement effort, a bigger effort that didn't quite fit into the scope or funding that was allocated for the non weatherized plan at the time. So I think perhaps by attaching it it could draw that full circle and say okay, this is part of the same network, these are shared use pathways that we're discussing. And so it kind of just ties it all in in some ways. Do you
I do think it would address some of those concerns because it would again make it very clear that many of the trails discussed through a recreational lens in this plan are the same trails people are using to get around shared use pathways mostly. So we've added some clarifying language in the preface there to, to make that high. But by attaching it to the non-motorized plan perhaps comes even more clear.
And coming a little bit on that, on my perspective is there's a recreational value on the non-motorized pathways trails and connections. And so rather than filling like these are the direct trails and these are the non-motorized system, have 'em separate. If one is independent, it's more of a hey we're just taking a more in depth look at these and especially focusing on recreational aspects and it becomes an enhancement of non-motorized not separation. So that's kind of my, my thought on of that question. And then maybe a related question I guess for staff is if that was the direction that was that went on this, would any changes need to be made to direct to the Rec Trails Plan or is it as simple as it then just, you know, just becomes an appendix? You know? Does anything in here need to change to have that be how this would be integrated in the non-motorized plan as is? Is there enough in here? Do you have thoughts I guess on that?
I don't think anything would need to change. Maybe there's like a paragraph at the end where I, where we talk about updating this plan and how it should be updated and it should just be made clear that it should be updated per the non-motorized plan update, follow that update process. That's, yeah. And that is just a paragraph, correct. A sentence.
Yeah. And we do feel like this plan, the way that we've edited it based on the work session feedback as well, it can function as a standalone without being appended to the non-motorized plan. And if it became an appendix, I think the greater change is, but maybe just a paragraph acknowledging that update process. But I think the bigger change would actually be to the non-motorized plan to include it as the appendix. So that is another consideration is how the non-motorized plan may need to be adjusted to acknowledge it as an appendix.
Not sure exactly how that would work. We haven't had a chance to talk about that. It might just be, I don't know what file formats we have available to us from the non-motorized plan. Can we go back and actually change that? I'm sure we could work something out. At the very least we would certainly say on the website or you know, we can add a page and CS saying there's also this appendix that was added on this page for this reason. Here's kind of what it has and here's where it's located. So I think that's achievable.
Staff time, I don't think there's a whole lot that we need to change through there. Just minor things through there. We can easily update the PDFs. Again the website will be the easy part as well. I don't think there's anything we have to change in the text overall for that non-motorized plan to reference it. Yeah,
Just a point of clarification. When we amend the MTP, we put on the title page a date and what amendment that is. So we could include something not modernized on that first page that says, hey, we added the appendix on this date so that people looking at that plan would know that a change has been made.
Few comments. First of all, I just wanna say how much I appreciate the opportunity to add comments and then we had the work session, I thought that was productive. I did review the new draft and it largely incorporates many of my comments. So again, really appreciate that I read the preface and I kind of feel that it, it sets the stage of explaining how this does fit into it, into the non-motorized plan. And just looking at the sheer volume for anybody who lives in the world of printing out paper. Kind of an old school person. I have my copy of my non-motorized plan with it and its appendices and now even with this, you could pull it out without the appendices, but again you would have another document. It's appendices. I, I just like to offer, could we consider it as a standalone? But I would really hear if Parks and Rec feels strongly about it being incorporated in, I don't know, I could go either way, but just thought your preface really did a really nice job explaining how this all fits together and if anybody could see, you know, the original non-motorized plan with its date.
And then this with its really well documented preface. I, I feel like it would function and everybody could be just fine and if they were like me old school and wishing to print things out and have it on their shelf as a resource, you'd have something that fits in the palm of your hand and another document that also fits in the palm of your hand versus a big, big volume. So just some things, nothing to do with content, but just a consideration
But it I think was for us it seems like the cleanest way us at Parks and Recreation and the project team to suggest that plan is approved as an amendment to the non-motorized plan to make it explicitly so. So the recommendation from I think hopefully, or that's, I I think that's what my support would be for to the policy committee would be like, this is it, this is the intention. There's no, there's not much space for further analysis of discrepancy in the rec trails plan. Not qualifying as not, or not qualifying for a non-motorized transportation consent. So yeah, I, we talked about this a lot and the team has worked on it a lot. And I'll also note that during the work session it was recommended that how they contacted legal, we emailed them three times and made verbal contact once and we have yet to receive any specific recommendation which has been challenging. I know legal's busy, there's a lot of other things that are more pressing. But it is something that we feel will hopefully make the policy committees job easier in, again, just tying it explicitly to the non-motorized plan.
More of just a overarching, and this is more for staff, do do we have some sort of process laid out for our plans in general as far as bringing 'em to the group and the committees for approval And we have that process kind of laid out just because I'm looking at our UPWP and our funding plans and we've got a lot of corridor plans coming up and things and, and I, I think just having something that gives us, we we're probably gonna be coming in here with plans coming up here soon too, so I just was wondering if we have some sort of formal process for this.
Staff has been having some minor discussions more recently about this and trying to come up with an idea. And I think our approach is we wanna develop a policy and procedure to bring forward that kind of outlines how plans are done or more precisely how the TAC and PC are engaged with for plans through AMATS. Because every plan seems to be different depending on the context. Staff makes some assumptions about how plans are done. Like we release them without coming to you for public for your review before the public sees it. What do you guys want? Do you guys all want to be the ones to always release a plan for public or can we put it out for the public and then bring it back for your guys' review after? Do you guys want work sessions? When do you want work sessions? How do you wanna be involved?
Do you wanna be involved in the scoping of the plants? Do you wanna be involved in the every, every other thing that we do? We kind of need to flesh that out because it seems like things have changed from back in the e old days and we need to kind of all be on the same page. So staff is gonna be working on that and we're probably gonna bring something forward. We're trying for November, but we'll see how it goes for your guys' kind of initial review. The idea is these would apply to AMATS funded plans that staff does, that AMATS staff does, but can be used as a template for anybody who does a plan in the AMATS area to be like, okay we come to the TAC and PC when we do the original scoping plan so they can get their input and have that early. But those plans done by DOT and others won't be found to the AMATS policy and procedure process. So we're working on that but we just don't have anything for you guys right now.
Okay, thanks Aaron. Other questions or comments from, so thing that I'll add is that it did appreciate the little expedition in there and I recognize that that adjust the criteria for those and the priority for this is still my intent. Like where there is that overlap in my mind I see them as parties and we'll be coordinating and saying, hey, this could really be great and we can talk about how we get it funded and how we, you know, does anybody see any concern if those quote unquote lower priorities from the plan because of this not being able to be accounted for in the plan across other projects? Is that an issue?
Mark Eisman acting AMATS coordinator. Something I heard in our work session was kind of that in the future probably these two plans should not have been separated in, in the first place and that in a future iteration it would be fully combined. Right? Not just amended to, I don't know if there's anything in the document that states that fact for, I'm just trying to think of our future selves when this plan does get updated, however long that takes that that that intent is laid out somewhere. So it's not kind of lost. But that's all I got.
Are there any discussion or changes to the motion? Is any other, is any anyone opposed the motion? Okay, seeing none, that motion is approved. Next we'll move on to our information items. I guess we just had one action item today. The information items six a, the state great plan of 2026 to 2056 presentation.
Right. Yeah, thanks Aaron. And I see the slides are up on the screen there, so thanks, thanks for having us. We want to just do a, a brief introduction or overview of what we're beginning as a statewide freight plan. Well my name is Brett Nelson. I'm, I'm the planning chief in northern region and I work with FFO up here and I'm also a on the technical committee with fast planning in Fairbanks. So thanks for having us. Sarah Cripe is one is our waterways and freight planner and so she couldn't make it today. She had a a conflict. So I'm kind of filling in and this is a, a great opportunity for, for us to be able to share a little bit. And I, and I see on the, as far as on the sign-ins, we also have from, we're working with a couple consultants because there's a lot of specialty items in here that, that we're, that we're learning as of state employees. 'cause last time we did the freight plan we had pretty much a whole different staff. So we have Brian Auer with Michael Bakers on there and also Kara McGillary and she, they both are with Michael Baker. And then in the room there, I think you have Bernie Whiteville. So she's working on the with Dow and she's working on the water waste portion of it. So that's kind of kind of it for our, our introductions. If you wanna advance the slide there.
Thanks. That's, sorry, introductions, and I'm just gonna go through this should be pretty short, just overview of, of where we're at and what we, what we're hoping to cover with the plan. It's gonna be a pretty compressed timeframe, so we'll get into that in a slide here too. And then we have overview of the last freight plan and also some specific items that the MPOs can help us out with. We'll be doing a similar presentation next week and fast planning and then in a couple weeks with MVP and then just a couple other components that are wrapped in with this. And we also have the truck parking study and is incorporated with the freight plan here. And then we have a waterways plan also. So, so a lot going on. Go ahead to the next slide please.
So just an overview of the, the elastic statewide freight plan is a required plan. It has to be updated every four years and so we're kind of coming up on our, on our cutoff here pretty soon. So we're really pressed for, for time to kind of get this in. But, but thankfully we have, we have consultants that are able to help us that have a lot of experience in this, in this realm. So the freight plan is really what sets it helps to guide our investments and policies for priorities for freight transportation, for the, it's a 30 year window that we're looking at and we're gonna an important part of it. And, and what's really interesting for me too is, is seeing how goods move to and across Alaska and we're gonna be looking at some strategies to, to help improve it with reliability and infrastructure resilience in particular. So go ahead to the next one.
So as I mentioned at the beginning, this is a a, a pretty compressed timeframe. So we're already in September, hard to believe we've been hit the ground running in August and there's been just a, a, a ton of groundwork that's taken place. And now as we're in September, we're have several stakeholder engagement meetings, focus groups including the, the 3M PO meetings here. They're working on some objectives and strategies and getting into the scenario planning and, and then at the same time, the, the freight plant is a whole, is a whole big thing in and of itself. But we're also gonna be doing a, a water waste plan. This is kind of our inaugural water waste plan, at least at this scale. And also our inaugural truck parking study. So, and that's, that's kind of where I'm coming in 'cause I'm the, I'm the PM for the truck parking study and, and we're working this all together to try to have the best collaboration possible.
You know, as long as we're engaging the, the freight community, we wanted to hit the truck parking at the same time. So we're hoping to have a draft plan in October, which is next month already. So, so this is really a aggressive calendar, but we're, we're assured that we can, we can make it, we have a lot of people working on it. So then hopefully, hopefully we can adopt it later on or early winter. And with the goal of wrapping up by the end of the year, knowing that it'll probably most likely we'll spill into January. And that's kind of our target timeframe is getting done in January to match up with Federal Highways requirements. So go ahead to the next one please.
As far as the federal requirements, there's several things that we are trying to, trying to match up with. So, so it is, does require that states have and maintain and develop a, a current state freight plan and there's 17 required elements that need to be addressed. So I'm not gonna go into all those today. Right now we're just kind of, this is just an introductory what's gonna be going on. So the next component is stakeholder engagement. So that'll be with the stakeholders and focus groups, but also we'll have some public input process coming along. And so we're gathering through these focus groups, we're gonna be gathering some information on, on modes and specific issues. And also working with the MPOs, these focus groups, I don't think I have a slide audit are, there's gonna be three of'em next week starting with the rail, A real focus group next Wednesday.
And on Thursday we have a waterways or waterborne transportation focus group. And then on Friday we have a air transportation focus group. And then the following week we have one on land use and economic development on Thursday, think that's the 16th. And on the 17th we have one on just the trucking industry. So pretty, pretty aggressive. And then amongst all that we have, we have of course this, this presentation with, with A MPO, but also fast planning and next Wednesday afternoon. And then MVPI think is third week or the end of the end of the month. So, and then we'll have, as we have materials and start pulling more together, then we'll have a third G comment period and take it more just general comments and get it out in front of the, in front of the public. And these, this feedback we get, you know, particularly from the focus groups and the MPOs is gonna be critical to, to going forward. So you go ahead on the next slide please.
And as far as the scale relatively of, of what's involved with the funding, 'cause you have to have the state freight plan to be in place in order to be eligible to use these and HFP funds. And so it's roughly $19 million annually. So it's not on, on the scale of the whole appropriation, it's not huge, but it's still keenly important to, to Alaska. So we need to have the, the freight plan in place. And then as a part of a component of the freight plan is our freight investment plan. And that's the, that's the constrained, fiscally constrained plan for the projects that are gonna be in the, in the stip or, and or tips. So the program is designed to improve the movement of, of freight. And so there's, there's lots of terms here. And, and this is, you know, as I mentioned, this is a great way for, for me to get more familiar with a lot of them.
So we have the National Highway Freight Network, so that's national. But then, you know, within state we have the, we have the primary highway freight network and then most funds can be used when they're identified in the freight plan. And then you have projects that come along. You can program things into the FIP for highway bridge projects, truck climbing waves, rail grade separation projects. And also there's some for freight rail freight projects. So we have to develop and maintain our freight plan in order to be eligible for this funding. That's why we have this kind of scrambling to get, get this going, but, but now we're hit the ground running. So go ahead to the next slide please.
And this is kind of an overview of what we have it in place currently is Alaska moves 2050. We're replacing this with Alaska moves 2056. So components of that are looking at economic trends, transportation modes. So we have the, the truck airborne, we have air carriers, we have rail and then some special topics, military freight, which is, you know, there's been more military action interactions, at least at our airports. But also they're hitting the roads between J Bear and Greeley and Fairbanks. There's a lot of movement and they use the rail system as well. So just how, how were all these components utilizing our transportation network to move freight and move commerce around the state. And I was at just kind of a interesting satellite. I was at a a chamber commerce meeting this morning and talking with some people that are trying to expand their glass business right now.
They, they truck glass into the interior of Fairbanks special arctic double, triple pane glass. And they're looking at maybe doing some more manufacturing in Fairbanks, kind of adding in the, the triple pane and creating a, a vacuum for higher r ratings. Anyhow, talking to him, transportation of glass, as you can imagine is tricky, but it's, it's their most, it's their most expensive part of the whole process. It costs a lot more to transport the glass than it is to make the glass. So, so it was interesting, you know, I was talking about the freight point coming up and, and here the, the next presenter at that meeting is talking about freight and, and glass. So, so it's tied into pretty much all that we do. So the freight pipe also gives us a strategic direction, helps us implement and monitor where we're making, where we're making progress.
Then as I mentioned earlier, the water waste plan and the truck parking study are two, two attached plans. You guys were talking about attached plans earlier with the non-motorized and recreational trails and how do they fit together. So we have the, the freight plan is required water waste plan and truck parking study. Well the truck parking study actually came out of the last freight plan and the FHW wanted us to, to do a track marketing study 'cause we're a little bit behind other states and that, and then the water waste plan is a, is kind of a, helps us to better understand our whole holistically how, how to understand our, our system. So go on to the next slide please.
So some components of the freight plant, some goals are of course safety, mobility and access are, are key economic vitality, state of good repair and resiliency. So we don't have a lot of built in resiliency. We kind of have to create resiliency in Alaska just 'cause so much of our, our transportation at work is somewhat fragile, whether it's the marine court system or air carriers, whether those are, can be heavily weather dependent and even the surface transportation is weather dependent. Okay, next slide please. Is more, more goals. So sustainability and partnerships. Those partnerships are working with the railroad air carriers, marine barge lines and riverine and also our military partners. They use, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of the transportation system. So we want there to be good stewardship of the transportation system and we're, we also have performance based management. And so at this same time we're working on the freight plan.
We also realized that we had, as part of the performance based management, we have the asset management program and we had to update our, our freight bottleneck. And so we've reached out to the, the MPOs to, to discuss that and get that ready for this fall, just updating our bottle freight bottleneck plan and looking at where we're having pinch points in our, especially in the MPOs in our urban areas for, for movement and freight. So, and you have a lot going on down there in, in the acreage area with the port and the rail and the airport, you know, large largest airport and, and just the, the network of roads that, that connect up. One of the important ports, you know, if LNG goes forward is things coming in through, through Seward. We also have the, the Port of Valdez, but, but so much more comes in through crosses through acreage, enters acreage and crosses through acreage from other ports. Course the, the port of Alaska there. So yeah, just a lot going on. So, so that's why I wanted to get your your eyes on this next slide please.
So yeah, where can, where can am a s participation help out? Well as I mentioned, you know, so much is critical, you know, comes through, originates and comes through acreage. So you can identify where we have challenges and bottlenecks where you see deficiencies and where you, where there you see opportunities as well. So can help identify regionally significant projects. You know what, when we say regionally significant, we talk about anchorage, that means, you know, statewide significant too because just the, there's such a population centered down there and I identify and designate freight corridors, so we'll get into that more here in a second. But just the corridors of how these, how goods are moving through the, through the area, you know, within your region but also through the state to different parts of the state. And then assist, assist the team here in DOT designated critical urban freight corridors and also rural critical rural for freight corridors. So those, those are important parts of the whole system. Those are kind of like your access points to the, to the national highway freight system. So go ahead to the next slide please.
More on how MPOs can participate. So we have, like I mentioned the MPO specific focus groups. So this is kind of, you know, what this is where using your expertise, and this is just kind of a, a primer, but we will, we'll be back and trying to stay in touch, but we'll not more than try it. We will stay in touch where I think we have meetings with the executive directors here coming up soon. And there's, on the website, there's the, the Alaska statewide freight plan webpage. There's just a ton of information there. Later on when we get more materials gathered up and get it distributed, there'll be a a 30 day public review and comment period. And that would be a chance to look over the whole thing, like in one piece if they consider projects that might be good candidates for the, the freight investment plan and also provide input when we have the memos on the freight investment plan.
But also the, in the, in AMAs area would be the critical urban freight corridors. And, and something I didn't know until fairly recently is that states can designate, I think it's 300 miles of a, of rural freight corridors or a, a percentage of their overall network of roads. And then for urban areas it's 150 miles for a state. And since we just have the the three smaller urban areas, smaller relative to other states, how those get, how those get partitioned and identified it will be important but, but it's not identified and locked into place forever. They can be, they can be removed to line up with plans that are in the, come out of the freight plan and fit into the, the freight investment plan. So the next slide and truck parking study, this is one where like federal highways will, will ping us every year or two and ask us for an update on truck parking facilities or when we, we look through, we just, we, we don't have anything that meets the FHW criteria.
So we don't, we haven't really undertaken this challenge. In the past it's kind of been more hit or miss identifying truck parking. But it's critical because there's, there's federal requirements for truckers as far as hours in the day that they can, that they can move freight. So they have to, they have to be able to stop and rest and have a place that they can count on. It's a, it's a whole different scale when we work with experts helping us with the truck parking is that, compared to other states, they have a whole big rest areas for trucks and also just a, a more complete network of truck stops, which are private, private facilities. We, we have some truck stops and we have some wayside or pullouts and some, some, you know, light rest areas, but not really a big truck stop. So we're, we're kind of learning as we go, trying to identify things and you know, so we'll identify and also like categorize things.
So, but in the future this will be a good framework, but we're making good progress right now. There's a lot of data, online data because there is electronic report reporting requirements for truckers. So then that database can be mined and brought back into, we can see how trucks are, are utilizing the, the facilities that we have or lacker facilities and we also have weather situations. So the truckers need to be able to have places where they can dependently, pull off and either rest wait out weather or chain up. So we'll be talking to truckers more about this and we can look at strategies on where, where we have gaps in any more truck parking facilities or maybe there's different types of operational things we can do to support, support that industry. And then, yeah, here we go. Yeah, go ahead. Waterways. So the goal here is to understand Alaska's marine and I'd say Rivering transportation system.
'cause everything so much moves in into our ports and, and communities by barge. So how those, how those move, just getting it documented. We, we know lot of the parts and pieces but we haven't pulled it together in a comprehensive plant. So this will be real, real key to have this. And then we will, we'll link things more to GIS as well. So we'll have not just a, not just a report for the shelf, but we'll have a good, a good electronic record and GIS so we can move forward. So supporting Alaska's economy, you know, through, through river and marine movement of, of goods. So I think that might be about it. Any more slides? That's it. So Sarah Cri, she, her name's on here 'cause she's the water wastes and freight planter and, and our main point of contact and I'm supporting her. And then we probably have time for, let me know, Aaron, do we have time for a couple questions? I have, I have a couple friends here in online and, and they're in person that can help you answer questions.
Yeah, just to, just to elaborate more on that, obviously the NHS was created back, back in the mid nineties, I think back in 1995. The NHFN is the federally designated network of any roadways that would be eligible for NHFP funding. So Brett mentioned a little bit ago, you know, what that number is? It's, it's around 18 or19 million a year that Alaska receives for freight funding in freight funding. But it has to be on a project for a roadway related project. It has to be on the, the NHFN priority freight network, which was created, you know, right after MAP 21 a couple years ago. But, you know, the state continues to, to maintain those priority freight networks in collaboration with FHWA. So it's really similar to the, the CFCs and the CFCs that the MPOs worked with DOT and PF on a couple years ago. Same thing, you've, you've got to be on a, a critical urban freight corridor or part of the NHFN to be eligible for those funds.
Thank you. I guess something that I'm also just thinking about is what we have in our downtown network for freight and as we looked at different, our, our downtown plan and then our new downtown traffic engineering study, just to look at those as references as you move forward or move move forward with your new plan update for your core, your urban corridors because we, we kind of have a vision that is laid out in those plans anyways, thought I would mention that. Yeah,
Is is the plan gonna be focusing on things that have changed since 2022 plan? And is there anything that, like you, you are aware of like key changes in the Anchorage area? I'm thinking of things like the Seward to Glenn fell and on our end, as was mentioned, the downtown streets engineering study and know some of the efforts that are efforts and coordination asking about the NHS designation of the six I&L. So that's how that plays to it. So
Yeah, that would be great information to to that, you know, that that's super information that Ammas can, can give to us so we don't miss it. So that's, that's partly why we're, why we're wanting to give this presentation and why it's key to to work with the MPOs. Looks like Brian has his hand up too. He's gonna add something
Yeah, I, I just wanted to mention it hasn't come up yet, but you know, the DOT and PF has done work earlier this year that you would normally see in this schedule here, but work on the background profile was completed earlier this year and that work should be on the department's webpage. If it's not yet, the intent is to get that up on the webpage here shortly so people have access to that background information, which is gonna serve as the plans really serve as the, the baseline for the overall plan. And in terms of changes since 2022, when we think about the plan strategic directions, you know, Brett mentioned a number of the goal statements, you know, he presented those a few moments ago. Our assumption is that those goal statements are largely gonna carry over as part of the plan update. We're not, we're not starting from scratch with this, with this initiative.
So we're looking at really carrying over, you know, those goal statements objectives. Really the, the changes are gonna be on the specific action strategies that flow out of this planning process. What are those specific action strategies that are needed? That's one of the reasons why the department is reaching out to the MPOs because we wanna make sure that, you know, regional priorities and local priorities are being reflected in the overall statewide plan. So it's really a, a great opportunity for the MPO to get involved and, and really help influence, you know, statewide freight policy as opposed to just merely reacting to it. So we will be working with, you know, the department and, you know, state freight stake freight stakeholders in really identifying what those action strategies need to be. We've also talked about critical urban and rural freight corridors. You know, they, there could be some changes there as well, you know, as our, the MPO region is very dynamic. It's constantly changing and there may be a need to change some of those priorities, those first and last mile connections, you know, what are, how have those priorities changed since the last plan was adopted?
I mean we can do a work session if you guys want, but I'll be honest, there hasn't been a lot of hurrah for work sessions from the committees. So let me know if you guys want a work session and I can reach out to the project team if we can get some things set up. But it seems like we can probably get just as much information for you guys kind of individually wanting to put something together. We can get it on a future agenda because there's a public comment period. So Brett, when is the public comment period gonna happen for this plan?
Yeah. Specific dates but it would be toward the end of the year. And here again the, the department's really not even required to do a 30 day public review and comment period. Federal regs really mandate that we meet with stakeholders for a freight plan, which we're certainly doing, but we're gonna give the public an opportunity as well toward the end of the year. But we'll provide more details as they become available.
Yeah, so what we can probably do is as we get close to that public comment period, just get any comments from the committees together and we can put 'em on like the November agenda, November December agenda and make it available if there's something official that you guys want to submit as committees to them.
Yeah, I mentioned, this is Brett. I mentioned that we, you know, this is a compressed timeframe, you know, it's pretty aggressive, but, but there's still, this is early in the process, so for what the, the calendar laid off and as Brian mentioned, there's been a lot of background work that's gone off. So it's not, it's not being, not not being dismissed, but there's a lot, been a lot of background that's already happened now we just need to kind kind of pull some of that together and then, you know, get, get the stakeholder and public input, especially stakeholder early and then public opinion for review later. So there's, there's still time, time to contribute. So that's why we're reaching out now.
That would with the other members of the be open to maybe trying to get this on the agenda earlier rather than later maybe in October. Just because I know the timeline on the, a little tricky when it comes to our, our meetings versus when the public comment period might have, how soon it can get. And then I would ask staff too if there's actually room on our cover to have as well.
I would recommend November, October has the MTP, the Complete Streets plan potentially and then Amad boundary stuff. So we're gonna have a very busy meeting potentially and I would hate to put this on and have it, I mean we can do it, but it may be delayed. November is looking like we'll have more, it's busy but it's things that may take a little less time. So I would recommend maybe September, October getting your guys' comments together and then getting them ready to a, at staff to get for November's meeting.
Hold on. I'll say, so if you guys want to get something on the agendas for November, that means we're gonna need comments from you all by October. I'd say the 20th at the latest close of business October 20th. So we can get everything compiled and put together for the agendas. So I think what I can do is I can send out an email.
Well, yeah, I mean that's kind of my understanding is the only thing that's out there right now is there is their baseline additions. I don't remember if that's a draft form or not, but there's no draft to comment on for have working groups going through September. When will the draft be available for us even to buy comments.
I mean one, one approach would be to take our freight mobility study. I know it's 2017, identify, hey, these are all the things that AADs would like the state to realize changed or some of our focus points. And that's what gets submitted. It's not a comment on what state plan looks like. It's more a comment on we just want to give you information and right now all you have is something that's 10 years old. So here's some updated awareness of some of what our priorities are and some of the things we're seeing, some of the things that just should be more awareness for the project team to to account for. Like, we're trying to do this, we're trying to do that. Here's some more studies. You know, just more of kind of this sort of package is, I guess what I would envision if we wanted that to come from AMATS. I mean each of us individually could share our thoughts, but if there's like an AMATS deliverable of account for this because our plan,
Or some of, I mean I think some of us on the muni side that are doing some different planning have an idea of some different things that we would wanna make sure we're incorporating. So sure we could work with AMATS staff and come up with, here's a suggestion which then comes to the AMATS committees for at that point. Others can say yes or no, we don't agree this should be part perspective. And then at that point it
Freight advisory subcommittee has not met in quite a long while. We have tried three meetings and they have not had quorum to meet. So at this point they are suspended until they kind of wanna meet. And we're leaning the onus on the committee members to actually put together meetings instead of staff. 'cause every time we try, we don't get, we get maybe one or two people show up at a meeting and that includes inviting DOT and others to do presentations and they do a presentation for one person. So it has been a real struggle for us.
I know the struggle on our end is to keep being on Wednesday afternoons right in front, right on top of my boss's staff meeting. So if they continue to be on Wednesday afternoon, not gonna participate. But in a perfect world, I think this body would be looking to them for some input.
We are reaching out to them about this and I think it has already sent the info out. However, there are a number of people who no longer have a working email. That position hasn't been filled and since the committee members aren't meeting, we haven't been able to fill those positions, those spots. So we're, we're pretty limited on that. But we have let everybody on the freight committee that we have access to know that this is out so that they can at least provide comments on their end and their professional capacity for the plan. So at this time, staff is gonna have to review it and provide any comments to you all as well is kind of our approach to this.
Yeah, let's just have it all. And I, I will know that members have expressed concern of the number of work sessions in a month, especially with our regular committee meetings. It's a lot and trying to get people to actually show up to those meetings has proven a challenge.
Good work. If we got everything together for October, we could do, you know, second the, the first full week of October the second, full week of October and get everything ready so then we can get it posted in a week or so after that. So we could schedule, we could look at a, a meeting in those two weeks of October.
Well, I, your point's well taken. We can't just fix, assuming that we have that long of a work session, I don't think it's reasonable for us then to just go and make a recommendation and just hand it to them without any explanation behind it. I, I kind of agree with you. I think they need to be as well.
And that it's probably one of those work sessions that's whoever has things that they want to incorporate in count come and it's noticed in the public and the policy. You know, I don't think it's quite the same level as the boundary that really needs like a lot of key people there.
I can send out an email with a doodle poll and well not a doodle poll, but a, a meeting thing and for those two weeks of October and see what we can get scheduled maybe early now before everybody's on vacation. Okay. Unless there's huge disagreement. I'll do that. Sounds
Kind. I already let everybody know what it is, but we have the 2052 MTP public release coming to you all. We've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to get everything ready. We're doing our internal review of it right now and hopefully we'll have it all ready for the October meeting. We may have something for the complete Street Street topology release. We'll see where we're at with that. And then depends on where the boundary work session ends, we'll either have something on the agenda or we'll have another work session or nothing. We'll see what happens at this point. That's all I have for the agenda at this moment. It's always dynamic so something gets added at the last minute as always. Oh, we will probably have our first tip admin mod in October depending on how that goes. So just as a reminder, the 27th through 30 TIP got approved by FHWA and that starts October 1st. So we are hitting the ground running. I expect we'll be doing an den mod every month for every year now. So I hope you guys are ready for it.
Okay, thanks Aaron. Are there any members, are there any questions from staff, comments from staff or not staff from the committee. Alright. Okay. Are there any members of the public who would like to comment on at up six B. Okay. Don't see any. So that moves us on then to item seven, committee, comment, comment. Are there any members of the committee who would like to provide a comment to the group? One, one that I'll share is that the traffic engineering department is coordinating with some community volunteers to do an asphalt art installation on Heider Street, which is one of the recent ones that's identified in the PAL that's becoming a greenway of sorts. And so their few weeks will show up some curb bulb extensions with some art our first foray into, to that realm, which will be fine and engaging and you'll see more information as that happens. And then also Denali Street is a project that is looking to happen this month to have the outer two lanes, one lane each direction repurposed for a buffer snow storage using a paint and flex post. So those are both some things that you'll see happening in this this month or maybe,
I guess I do have a quick update. We are in the process of trying to get the official streets and highways plan update out to RFP. I don't know unfortunately exactly what the timeline is on that, but a thing is the midst of a software change. So it could be hopefully it soon, it could be a month or so, but that'll be, that request for a proposal will be going out pretty soon.
I just wanted to share that there's a road closure on Lake Otis Parkway between 40th and 42nd, and I believe it's going to be on, starting on Saturday the 12th of this month. And it is to repair and storm drain that crosses the roadway and it will be performed by Roger Hickle, who is also doing the road work project on 42nd Avenue. So something to be aware of as far as road disrupt disruptions
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