SWRC Coalition Core Project Team Meeting
October 26, 2006
Minutes
Present: Pearsall, Garey, Veidt, Bohannan, Milroy, and Smyth
Absent: Tevlin, Schwartz, and Herr-Cardillo
Calendar:
December TBD, 2006 - Core Project Team Meeting
January/February TBD, 2007 - SWRC Coalition (Full Team) Meeting
February 2007 - AzTA Legislative Conference
March 2007 - FOT Annual Conference
Fall 2007 - SWRC/ARPA/AzTA Passenger Rail Symposium
The following items were discussed during the meeting. Action Items are included below.
1) Smyth reported on the action items from the September 13, 2006 Coalition Meeting.
* Caywood with assistance from Tom Fisher of PAG succeeded to have PAG join the Coalition.
* Smyth is contacting Yvonne Hunter, Pinnacle West/APS and Rob Antoniak, Goodyear Council
* Schwartz will contact Sky Harbor after the elections
* Smyth through Ken Driggs is contacting Roc Arnett, East Valley Partnership
* Leister to still follow-up with Pinal County Partnership’s Developers Committee
* Caywood/Herr-Cardillo still to follow up with UA and Tucson Downtown Business Alliance
* Smyth to meet with AzTA and FOT to determine their interest in commuter/regional rail
* Milroy reported that the AzTA Strategic Planning schedule has slipped. SWRC Coalition will hear from AzTA soon.
* Smyth updated the Project Charter
2) Smyth reported that the Arizona Department of Transportation, Goodman-Schwartz, and Pima Association of Governments have joined the Coalition.
3) Pearsall reported on the State of Arizona ~ Railroad Inventory & Assessment
ADOT and its consultant, RL Banks & Associates, are currently in the final stages of the State of Arizona ~ Railroad Inventory & Assessment. A Draft of the I&A is being written for review in November 2006. The I&A work began in April 2006, with ADOT and RL Banks completing a baseline assessment of all of the state’s current rail infrastructure, including it’s condition, it’s usage, and any short-range plans to improve it, in cooperation with several other state and regional partners. This is the ninth such report since 1978. The baseline assessment will enable state agencies, and regional and local municipalities to understand current infrastructure condition and uses in order to facilitate additional study work and/or initiate improvement plans, including:
a. Commuter Rail studies and assessments.
b. Freight Rail studies and assessments.
c. CANAMEX transportation solutions.
d. Intra-state connectivity between major metropolitan areas.
e. Grade crossing improvements around the state.
f. Funding sources and solutions.
g. Current status and needs from various Class-1, short line, and various mining railroads on privately owned infrastructure, including capital improvements over an ensuing 5-year period.
h. Establishment of a GIS database associated with current railroad infrastructure, created in conjunction with ADOT-TPD GIS Staff rail database program.
i. Coordinate with Maricopa Association of Governments during their concurrent Commuter Rail Study for Metropolitan Phoenix area.
4) Pearsall reported on the MAG Commuter Rail Strategic Plan
Maricopa Association of Governments through its Transportation Review Committee is partnering with ADOT in the development of a multi-year Commuter Rail Strategic Plan. The goal of the strategic plan is to measure public, private, government and fiscal support of commuter rail transit in the Metropolitan Phoenix and northern Pinal County region. Phase-1 of this study was recently awarded to URS Corporation and its team of sub-consultants. Phase-1 will focus on the task of identifying support for the commuter rail mode and will take approximately one year to complete, with a Final Draft due in November 2007.
If the overall measure of support warrants the continuation of study, then Phase-2 will proceed by January 2008 in which the more detailed technical, engineering and financial elements of commuter rail will be studied (Alternatives Analysis, Ridership analysis, Environmental Impact Statements, Engineering, Construction Costs, Public Investments, trackage rights, etc). This Phase-2 component would take 1-5 years depending on the characteristics of each participating railroad segment and commitment to funding.
5) A round table discussion was held on increasing the standing of the SWRC Coalition, in order to get professional staff and funding to get the Coalition’s message to the public, business leaders, and government. Three approaches were presented and discussed.
1. Bring on an executive director (a David Schwartz type)
2. Become integrated with AzTA and/or FOT
3. Have ARPA provide the staff and funding through its developing application for 501 (c)(3) status
A majority agreed that approach #2 would be the best. Smyth was directed to meet with the AzTA and FOT boards. Smyth will continue looking into approach #1 with David Schwartz. Bohannan will continue to develop ARPA’s 501 (c)(3) position.
6) To support item #5 above it was agreed to update the Project Charter. Each Core Project Team member to review the Charter, identify the key issues, and be prepared to finalize the revised Charter at the next meeting. At that time we will assign owners to each issue.
7) Pearsall is developing a comparison between the Philadelphia-Harrisburg and Phoenix-Tucson corridors. He provide a status of this effort with the goal to complete the comparison by January.
Jay R. Smyth, PhD, PRP
Coordinator, SWRC Coalition