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Transportation Department recommending the Board adopt said Department's proposed 2009 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) including the West Slope 10 Year Road/Bridge CIP, Trail CIP, 5 Year Capital Overlay and Rehabilitation Program (CORP), 5 Year Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) and 5-7 Year Airport Capital Improvement Program (ACIP).
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Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost: The CIP is a programming document, not a budgeting document. As such it has no fiscal impacts until the projects are actually included in the Department's annual budget. There is no change to the Net County Cost.
Background:
On March 2, 2009, DOT presented its proposed CIP in a workshop forum with the Board of Supervisors and the public.
The Board provided DOT with the following (informal) direction:
· Proceed with "Alternative 2A: A Balanced CIP" for the 10 Year West Slope CIP,
· Address the question of where DOT's proposed projects are versus the County's key economic development areas, and
· Address ongoing maintenance costs for projects in the Tahoe EIP.
Since the workshop, DOT has completed the project details associated with all the proposed projects in the West Slope Road/Bridge CIP, Trail CIP, CORP, EIP, and ACIP. These are in the attached DOT CIP.
Note: Some of the information presented at the workshop has been updated because these programs directly feed DOT's fiscal year 2009/10 budget; (for example, in the 10 year West Slope Road/Bridge CIP, the cost estimate for project #71336, the U.S.50 Missouri Flat 1B Interchange improvement, has been updated to reflect the engineer's most current cost estimate because this project is scheduled to start construction in FY 09/10.) Therefore, the Department has updated the project revenues/costs accordingly which are reflected in the following pages.
The overall conclusions presented at the workshop remain the same.
To address the question of where DOT's proposed projects are versus the County's key economic development areas, DOT has been working with the County's Economic Development Coordinator to identify those areas and these are depicted on the "10 Year" and "20 Year" versions of DOT's "CIP Project Map with Economic Development Overlay" in the attached CIP. Many of DOT's planned projects fall within the key areas identified by the Economic Development Coordinator.
Regarding the request to find a way to address ongoing maintenance costs for projects in the Tahoe EIP, many, if not all of the grants DOT receives for Tahoe environmental improvement projects include the requirement to perform maintenance for a continuous period of time (e.g., 20 years). DOT plans to explore opportunities to find ways to either attract separate funding for maintenance or to allow more maintenance dollars to be used as the local match dollars to either attract additional funding for maintenance or as the match for the County's share of the capital projects. DOT will return to the Board for review within the next six months to discuss this matter further with the Board. DOT requests six months to allow the Tahoe DOT unit to focus its full attention on building projects in Tahoe during the short summer construction season and return in the fall prepared for this discussion.
Since the workshop with the Board on March 2nd, DOT has identified several key Highway 50 projects that will require discussion with the Board in the near future in order to clarify the Board's desires regarding the projects' scope, timing, funding, and phasing. They include the:
· US 50/Silva Valley Interchange,
· US 50/HOV Lanes Phase 2 and 3, and
· US 50/Cameron Park Dr Interchange.
DOT has recently formulated enough information to be able to identify a number of key policy decisions that need to be made regarding these projects. DOT will be scheduling discussions with the Board on these projects in the upcoming months.
Reason for Recommendation:
DOT is obligated to submit an updated CIP annually to the Board for adoption. (Reference: General Plan Policy TC-Xb requires that "Every year prepare an annual Capital Improvement Program (CIP) specifying expenditures for roadway improvements within the next 10 years.")
Action to be taken following Board approval:
DOT will take the Board recommendations and implement the proposed CIP.
DOT will return to the Board in the fall to address ongoing maintenance costs for projects in the Tahoe EIP.
DOT will agendize discussions with the Board on various key Highway 50 projects' scope, timing, funding, and phasing in the upcoming months.
Contact:James W. Ware, P. E.
Director, Department of Transportation