February 29, 2012
The Regional Board Room, 723 Woodlake Drive, Chesapeake, Virginia

1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by the Chair at approximately 1:39 p.m.

2. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

Mr. Dwight Farmer noted that four HRTPO Board members will be serving on the Task Force, providing voice to Passenger Rail on the HRTPO Board.
No public comments received

3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

At the request of the Chair, Old/New Business amended with two items. One item referred to the appointment of the Task Force Chair. The other item referred to the meeting frequency and next meeting. The amended Agenda was approved.

4. Department of Rail and Public Transportation: Major Passenger Rail Initiatives

The Director of DRPT provided an overview of Major Passenger Rail Initiatives, which included:

• Statewide Passenger Rail Vision
• Richmond to Hampton Roads Passenger Rail Project ($500 million over 20 years)
o Tier I EIS under review since December 2010
o Anticipated Final EIS in March 2012 and Record of Decision shortly thereafter
• Amtrak Virginia Extension to Norfolk ($114 Million over 3 years)
o Anticipated service to start December 2012
o Whistle Stop Tour in mid December 2012 (ticket sales July 2012)
• Passenger Rail Funding mandates and initiatives
This item was for informational purposes only. The Passenger Rail Task Force took no action on this agenda item.

5. Hampton Roads Passenger Rail Study – Data Collection: Phase 2A

TEMS provided an overview of the Data Collection Study to be conducted. The study will look to collect data for the following databases:

• Market
o Stated Preference Survey (online and in-person)
o Coordination with Transit agencies and Military on ongoing survey efforts
• Engineering
• Technology
• Environmental

This item was for informational purposes only. The Passenger Rail Task Force took no action on this agenda item.

6. Passenger Rail Station Development Update

The cities of Newport News and Norfolk provided an overview of ongoing multimodal passenger rail station development efforts ongoing to support anticipated increases in ridership and new passenger rail service.

In Newport News, the two proposed stations will replace an existing Amtrak station with facility limitations and challenges. Additionally, the proposed stations will provide greater multimodal connections on the Peninsula. The presentation highlighted design and functional aspects of the new stations.

In Norfolk, the proposed Harbor Park multimodal station will support upcoming passenger rail service in December 2012 with connections to multimodal transportation options. The station development faces delays due to architectural concerns.
This item was for informational purposes only. The Passenger Rail Task Force took no action on this agenda item.

7. Passenger Rail Task Force Implementation Plan

Mr. Dwight Farmer provided an overview of draft efforts to guide the purpose of the Passenger Rail Task Force. The efforts presented were:
• Reviewing and becoming familiar with the federal rail planning process
• Monitoring federal and state legislation and Executive actions pertaining to passenger rail
• Monitoring passenger rail funding opportunities
• Assisting the HRTPO Board to position Hampton Roads to advance and implement the Hampton Roads Passenger Rail plan

Mr. Kevan Danker made the recommendation to add an effort that ‘seeks opportunities to connect and coordinate with alternative modes of transportation’. Mr. Farmer invited the public to provide comments and suggestions on the guiding efforts.

8. For Your Information

This item was for informational purposes only. The Passenger Rail Task Force took no action on this item.

9. Old/New Business

Mr. Dwight Farmer expanded upon the addition of the four HRTPO Board members to the Task Force. Mayor Paul Fraim has volunteered to serve as Chair of the Task Force.
The Task Force agreed to meet bi-monthly/quarterly, with the next meeting in the May/June timeframe.

Mr. Farmer opened the floor for additional public comment. Ms. Julie Timm of WTS noted her organization’s support to provide educational outreach. Mr. Will Christopher of Future of Hampton Roads inquired about metrics and methods to leverage public comments on the Richmond to Hampton Roads Tier I Final EIS. Ms. Thelma Drake noted to keep informed of project updates on DRPT’s website. Mr. Dwight Farmer noted to keep informed on the Passenger Rail Task Force on the HRTPO website.

ADJOURNMENT at 3:20 p.m.

By Benito O. Pérez,
HRTPO Transportation Engineer

Starting in the fall of 2013 or sooner, it will be all aboard for Amtrak’s new passenger rail service to Norfolk, Virginia. Dubbed Next Stop Norfolk, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation is partnering with Amtrak, Norfolk Southern, and CSX Incorporated to realize passenger rail service from Norfolk to the Northeast Regional Corridor.

To realize this project, DRPT and its partners have been hard at work at planning, designing, and constructing improvements along the Petersburg to Norfolk rail corridor. Those efforts include:

 
• Construction underway of the Harbor Park passenger rail platform
• Construction underway of the Norfolk train turning and servicing facility
• Discussions and design work of the Norfolk multimodal station facility improvements to connect the following services:

o Tide Light Rail (noted in red on map)
o HRT Ferry
o HRT Bus Service (noted in blue on map)
o Amtrak connector bus service
o Amtrak Passenger Rail service (noted in orange on map)

• Survey and design underway for Portlock Rail Yard improvements (circled in red) 
 

• Design work on Petersburg Collier Connection (circled in red) completed by CSX and under review by DRPT
• Grading work on Norfolk Southern’s component of Collier Connection is complete; track work near completion – adjustments to be made upon CSX connection work
• Facility coordination meetings being held between DRPT, CSX, and Norfolk Southern
• Coordination between Norfolk Southern, DRPT, and Petersburg on minimizing impacts to the Johnson Road highway construction project (circled in blue)
• Design work complete for Norfolk Southern running track between Poe and Walnut Hill (marked by white box); Construction to start in early 2012

• Bi-weekly update meetings between partners to efficiently advance and deliver the project
• Field surveys continue on the design of the US 460 corridor signal and crossover improvements
• Amtrak technical service agreement has been executed; work underway on service design

For additional information and project updates on Next Stop Norfolk, consult DRPT’s project website at: http://www.drpt.virginia.gov/activities/norfolk.aspx

Sources: Maps- Google Maps; Amtrak Train -Flickr @ Rob Shenk

Keith Nichols, Senior Transportation Engineer

The number of passengers using intercity passenger rail service in Hampton Roads has increased in recent years.  Over 175,000 passengers used Amtrak service at the stations in Newport News and Williamsburg in 2011.  This is an increase of 7% from the passenger levels seen in 2010 and a 35% increase from the levels seen in the middle of the 2000s.  Statewide, over 1.3 million passengers used Amtrak service in 2011, an increase of 16% over 2010 levels.

These passenger levels in Hampton Roads are expected to increase further with the addition of new passenger rail service between Norfolk and Richmond.  This service is expected to begin in 2013, and construction has already started on the platform to the east of Harbor Park.

By Rob Case, Principal Transportation Engineer

In its first eight weeks with paying riders, the Tide has served approximately 5,000 trips per weekday.  Given that an analysis prepared for HRT prior to construction forecasted weekday ridership of 2,920 for the opening year and 7,130 for the year 2030, the early ridership is higher than expected.

By Stephanie Shealey
Transportation Engineer

For 18 consecutive months, AMTRAK ridership has seen growth over the previous year, according to a recent news release. Total ridership on all trains in April 2011 was close to 2.7 million passengers, increasing 9.9% over April 2010. Locally, the Washington to Newport News corridor saw 25% growth, increasing from 43,129 passengers in April 2010 to 53,900 passengers in April 2011. Looking at the AMTRAK fiscal year, which runs from October-September, national AMTRAK ridership is on track to set a new annual record.  This is likely due to high gasoline prices and improvement in the economy, particularly reflected in growth in business travel on the northeast high-speed train network.

Kendall Miller
Public Involvement and Community Outreach Administrator

Camelia Ravanbakht, PhD,  Deputy Executive Director of Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO), will be the guest lecturer at  the Women in Transportation, Hampton Roads Chapter, (WTS HRC)   April 12 Professional Speaker Series Luncheon.  Dr.Ravanbakht will discuss the integration and future of transportation modes in Hampton Roads.  During her presentation, she will discuss High Speed Rail and how our region will be proceeding to advance this mode in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT).  The Luncheon is from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm.  Online pre-registration is required by April 10, 2011.  For more information and to register for this luncheon, please click on the link below:

http://wtsevents.org/chapter/HamptonRoads/

Kendall Miller
Public Involvement and Community Outreach Administrator

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is pushing more stimulus money out to states to reimburse them for completed infrastructure projects, with total payouts reaching nearly $26.7 billion as of March 11.

That's up from $26.5 billion on March 4 and $26.3 billion Feb. 25, reflecting DOT payments totaling nearly $200 million in each of the past two weeks. From Feb. 28 through March 11, the DOT paid out $521 million in stimulus project reimbursements, according to the Obama administration's Recovery.gov Web site.

In all, the DOT had $48 billion to spend from the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, so it has more than $21 billion left to pay out. Through March 11, it had obligated over $44.7 billion to back active or planned projects, leaving more than $3 billion yet to lock down.

However, those totals will soon change to reflect a new grant implementing agreement signed this week between North Carolina's Department of Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, Amtrak and other parties. That allows the state to spend $461 million on grant projects under the administration's intercity passenger rail program, much of it to improve tracks in a key corridor used by NS for intermodal service, and will push the DOT's total of obligated ARRA funds up to $45.2 billion.

In addition, the DOT recently offered up $2.43 billion in unused passenger rail funds for new project bids, with most of that money coming from stimulus grants rejected by Florida. Applicants have until April 4 to send in their requests, and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the DOT will quickly decide how to allocate those funds.

After the grant money is awarded, it can still take months to lock in final terms among the parties sharing the money or the track lanes, but DOT officials say they are well ahead of ARRA schedule requirements. That law set a September 2012 deadline to obligate remaining passenger rail grants, but federal officials expect to finish more than a year earlier.

Once the money is obligated, states or other grant recipients can move ahead on project engineering and construction. LaHood says thousands of stimulus projects -- ranging from highway and bridge construction to freight, passenger rail and port work -- have already been completed and paid for, while thousands more are under way.

Kendall Miller, Public Involvement and Community Outreach Administrator

A recently released Capitol Research brief from the Council of State Governments (CSG) focuses on the successes and failures of development around passenger rail projects. The brief examines land-use issues states should focus on as they prepare to use federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to improve intercity passenger rail lines and begin constructing some high-speed routes.
 
"Although local governments, transit agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, and special-purpose districts must all work collaboratively on transit development issues, state governments play an important role in ensuring the development that takes place around transit stations both serves the overall vision for the community and state and taps all the potential benefits of state and federal investment in the transit system," according to the brief.
 
One example discussed in the report involves the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit System. With a San Francisco-to-Los Angeles high-speed-rail line in the works, planners and researchers are seeking to prevent some key mistakes made when that transit system was developed during the 1960s, CSG notes. Those mistakes, according to the brief, included the lack of an effective land-use plan and the consequent limits placed on the system's overall connectivity and the accessibility of several of its stations.
 
States can avoid such mistakes and facilitate efficient transit-oriented development in several ways, according to CSG. These include encouraging regional coordination as well as public/private partnerships; establishing collaborative relationships among various stakeholders at the state level; creating goals to promote tax savings and environmental well-being; developing financial incentives or grants for planning, property acquisition, and construction; eliminating regulatory obstacles for land use; and supplying technical assistance to local governments.
 
"State governments in the years ahead are likely to be on the forefront of shaping policies that will ensure the right kind of development takes place around rail stations -- development that makes the best use of public- and private-sector dollars, creates sustainable rail-serviced communities, and ensures the short- and long-term success of the high-speed-rail network," according to the brief. "Most importantly, they will ensure the full benefits of transit and transit-oriented development are achieved for transportation, the environment, the economy, and the health of communities."
 
The nine-page brief, "Transit-Oriented Development," is available at bit.ly/CSG-Study.