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FY 2021, 4th Quarter Wake Transit Work Plan Amendment Requests
Bret Martin, MPO Staff
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A total of eight (8) amendments to the fiscal year FY 2021 or a prior year Wake Transit Work Plan have been requested by various project sponsors, including the Towns of Wake Forest and Cary, City of Raleigh, and CAMPO. Seven (7) of the requests fall into the ‘Major Amendment’ category and required a 30-day public comment period, while one (1) of the requests falls into the ‘Minor Amendment’ category.
These requests include a number of scope changes to various Town of Cary bus operations projects/implementation elements that would better align components thereof with both the focus of each project and how the Town tracks corresponding budget information. An additional Town of Cary amendment request was submitted to increase Monday-Saturday off-peak service frequency from 60 minutes to 30 minutes on the Weston Parkway route. A request from the Town of Wake Forest was submitted to expand the scope of the Town’s reverse circulator service to include Saturday service.
In terms of amendment requests that pertain to capital projects, CAMPO submitted a request to remove a prior $1.2 million allocation/encumbrance for alternative fuel vehicle matching grants from a prior Work Plan. The City of Raleigh submitted two (2) requests pertaining to bus rapid transit (BRT) implementation. These include a request to expand the scope of a prior alternatives analysis/refinement and project development funding allocation for the Northern BRT corridor to include a larger study area and a request to increase the budget for and include design and integration of art elements into the construction of the New Bern Corridor BRT facility. Documentation for the amendment requests, including more information on the nature of each request as provided to the Wake County Transit Planning Advisory Committee (TPAC), is provided in Attachment 1.
The amendment requests were released for public comment between March 19, 2021, and April 18, 2021. No public comments were received in response to the amendment requests. The TPAC recommended approval of the requests at its April 21st regular meeting with a finding that the changes in scope of work for the projects requested to be modified are appropriate for the continued implementation of the Wake County Transit Plan and that funding the requests does not involve an unwarranted use of funds, with one exception. For the amendment request to include design and integration of art elements into the construction of the New Bern Avenue Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) facility (project TC005-A1) and to add commensurate funding, the TPAC made the following recommendation:
• Up to $250,000 of the requested $500,000 should be made available to the project immediately upon approval by the CAMPO Executive Board and GoTriangle Board of Trustees of the amendment request;
• That the full amount requested for the design and integration of art be made available ($500,000) to the project if and when an art funding eligibility policy currently under development is adopted by the CAMPO Executive Board and GoTriangle Board of Trustees if the policy ultimately allows for the requested amount of $500,000 to be funded under the policy; and
• If the adopted art funding eligibility policy’s allowable amount for the subject project is more restrictive than the $500,000 request, the amount made available to the project should be the greater of $250,000 or the maximum permissible amount allowable for the subject project under the adopted policy, up to $500,000.
Requested Action: Action Approve the FY 2021, 4th Quarter Wake Transit Work Plan Amendment Requests, with the noted exception to the amendment request for project TC005-A1, and authorize the Executive Director to sign the applicable project-level agreements to which CAMPO is a party.