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Bus Rapid Transit Project Sponsor Designation
Bret Martin, MPO Staff
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The TPAC-commissioned core technical team (CTT) for the fixed guideway corridors major investment study (MIS) is nearing completion of its high-level, regional-scale evaluation of alignment and station area alternatives for the bus rapid transit (BRT) component of the study. The CTT is currently in the process of reviewing and assessing evaluation framework data outputs for the alignment and station area alternatives associated with the four corridors proposed in the Wake Transit Plan and will ultimately use that information to piece the four study corridors together into viable standalone project corridors with independent utility. The next step in the process of moving any defined standalone project corridors toward implementation is to designate project sponsors to take on the responsibility of further developing viable projects, interfacing with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for any federal grants being pursued, and managing engineering, right-of-way acquisition, construction, or any other subsequent phases of project implementation toward an end of effectuating an operating BRT service. In effect, project sponsors absorb an ownership or lead role over certain phases of a project’s execution to ultimately bring the project to fruition.
On August 10th, the CTT received a memo from the contracted consultant for the fixed guideway corridors major investment study that recommends through supporting justification that the City of Raleigh be designated as the project sponsor for any viable standalone BRT project corridors with independent utility that may be pieced together from the four MIS study corridors (Attachment A). CAMPO has been assigned as the lead agency responsible for administering the process of designating project sponsors for Wake County Transit Plan projects, and the CAMPO Executive Board has been designated as the appropriate authority for effectuating project sponsor designations for the plan’s BRT projects. At the August 15th Executive Board meeting, based on the information contained in Attachment A, the Executive Board requested that the City of Raleigh be designated as project sponsor for one or more BRT project corridors.
The project sponsor request has subsequently been sent to the City of Raleigh, and CAMPO is anticipating a response from the City in advance of either the September 19th or October 17th regular meetings of the Executive Board such that the Executive Board can proceed with finalizing a designation at one of those meetings. It is expected that viable standalone project corridors or preliminary locally preferred alternatives with logical termini, independent utility, and regional mobility benefits will be pieced together from the four MIS study corridors before a final project sponsor designation can be acted upon by the Executive Board. The aggressive schedule developed for completing project sponsor designations is being driven by the City of Raleigh’s desire to move one or more projects forward to project development and have the ability to meet federal grant deadlines in early calendar year 2019.
Requested Action: Action Receive as information