Board Agenda Item

Agenda Item # 12

BOARD MEMORANDUM

RECOMMENDATION:

Review and recommend that the VTA Board of Directors approve the 2005 Santa Clara County Congestion Management Program (CMP).

BACKGROUND: 

State law requires that urbanized counties biennially adopt a Congestion Management Program (CMP) containing specified elements.   The intent of the CMP is the development of a comprehensive program that will monitor and mitigate traffic congestion, improve air quality, and better integrate land use and transportation decision-making.   The 2005 Santa Clara County Congestion Management Program is defined in terms of nine elements that logically structure the program: 1) transportation system definition; 2) traffic level of service standards; 3) multimodal transportation performance measures; 4) transportation demand management; 5) countywide transportation model; 6) community form and land use impact analysis; 7) capital improvement program; 8) annual monitoring and conformance requirements; and 9) deficiency plan requirements. 

The CMP is submitted to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for an evaluation of its consistency with MTC’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).   Following MTC’s evaluation the responsibility to implement the CMP rests with VTA and local jurisdictions. 

DISCUSSION: 

Despite the economic downtown in recent years, Santa Clara County faces significant job and population growth over the coming decades and concerns about congestion and community livability are expected to increase. The CMP provides practical options for managing our region’s traffic congestion today and provides a framework for preventative and innovative planning options for the future. The CMP also serves as a short-term element of VTP 2030 and the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) focusing on congestion management strategies that can be implemented in advance of the longer-range transportation solutions contained within these plans.

The 2005 update signifies an evolving and more active role for the CMP in our region’s future. The 2005 CMP contains four revisions in comparison with the 2003 CMP:

• The implementation of a new land use program, the Community Design and Transportation (CDT) Program to better integrate transportation and land use decision-making.   The VTA Board of Directors has adopted the CDT Program as it’s primary program for integrating transportation and land use. In addition, since the 2003 update to the CMP all VTA Member Agencies have endorsed the CDT through formal council or Board actions.
• A revised Capital Improvement Program (CIP) reflecting the most current information available regarding VTA’s programs, operating revenues, and information resulting from the latest updates to the Valley Transportation Plan (VTP 2030) and the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).    The CIP identifies programmed projects as well as future transportation projects and programs identified in VTP 2030.
• An updated Traffic Level of Service section, reflecting monitoring results from the 2003 and 2004 annual monitoring program.
• An updated Countywide Transportation Model and Database Element to reflect the new countywide transportation model and enhanced GIS/Land Use Analysis capabilities.

Areas that VTA will address in the CMP over the next two years and include in the 2007 update are:

• Revisions to the CMP Transportation Impact Analysis (TIA) Guidelines and development of an Alternative Mitigation Strategies toolkit (work initiated in 2005).
• Revision to Guidelines for Preparing Deficiency Plans (work initiated in 2005).
• Guidelines for establishing “infill opportunity zones.”  

ALTERNATIVES:

The Board may request staff to make changes to the 2005 Congestion Management Program.

FISCAL IMPACT: 

There is no fiscal impact on the VTA enterprise account.

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