TRANSPORTATION PLANNING PROGRESS REPORT
SEPTEMBER 2015
Short Range Planning (601)
Staff disseminated bike maps to interested citizens.
Staff attended the Tri State Trails Executive Committee. The group discuss upcoming events and
prioritizing projects for the 2040 Long Range Plan update.
Staff continued to add bike rack location and pictures to the ARC GIS mobile bike rack app.
Staff attended ODOT’s bike route designation update meeting.
Staff met with Newport and KYTC to discuss the Red Bike TA project scheduled in FY17.
Transportation Improvement Program (602)
During September, staff continued to monitor and update highway and transit information contained in
the OKI FY 2016 – 2019 TIP. Fifteen STP applications were received for a special STP solicitation requesting
approximately $22 million. There is approximately $7.5 million available and all funds need to be
encumbered during fiscal year 2016. In addition there were 7 CMAQ applications received. The CMAQ
applications are for funds in fiscal year 2021. Recommended projects were presented to the ICC on
September 8 and to the Executive Committee on September 10. Seven STP applications were
recommended for funding—Butler TID South Hamilton Crossing, SORTA bus replacements, BCRTA bus
replacements, Springdale SR 4 SB ramp to IR 275, Cincinnati Duck Creek, Sharonville Sharon Road and
Evendale US 42 (Reading Road). These projects were approved through Resolutions 2015-23 (exempt
projects) and 2015-24 (non-exempt projects). Field reviews were held for the Springdale, Sharonville and
Evendale projects. Of the seven CMAQ projects requesting funds, six were approved for funding. The City
of Deer Park project was not eligible as it was basically a maintenance project. Staff also presented
Resolution 2015-26 to the ICC and Executive Committee. The resolution adopted several updated factors
to the TIP prioritization process.
On September 21, staff attended a meeting at ODOT-District 8 along with representatives from the Butler
County TID and the City of Hamilton to review the South Hamilton Crossing project. This project received
$3,750,000 in OKI sub-allocated STP funds that must be encumbered during fiscal year 2016. On
September 24, staff attended the Indiana MPO Council meeting in Indianapolis. On September 25, staff
attended the OARC transportation committee meeting in Columbus. On September 28, staff attended a
meeting with representatives from KYTC-District 6 to review the current status of projects funded with OKI
sub-allocated SNK and TA funds.
Surveillance (605.1)
Staff updated the street centerline file including speed limit attributes.
Staff updated the TIP layer.
Staff continued the process of collecting crowd sourced bicycle rack data for the OKI region by utilizing
ArcGIS online and collector for ArcGIS.
Staff made modifications to the TIP on Demand including adding Line Item projects to the application.
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Staff continued updating the Environmental Resources Viewer from a Flex based application to JavaScript
for the next round of environmental consultations.
Staff attended the Ohio GIS Conference in Columbus, OH on September 21 st – 23rd.
Staff updated license files for all ArcGIS software.
Staff continued acquiring and processing residential building permits issued from January 1, 2010 to
December 31, 2014 for all jurisdictions in the OKI region. Once processed, the new residences will be
geocoded in ArcMap, aggregated by traffic analysis zone (TAZ), and then added to existing 2010 TAZ
household counts to establish household estimates for the 2015 base year socioeconomic database.
Staff participated in a webinar entitled "Dynamic Mapping of Job and Labor Access for the New York
Metropolitan Region" on September 16, 2015.
Staff is continuing work on the next version of the travel model. Items addressed this month include the
ODOT Capacity Calculator.
Staff has been continuing bugfixes to the current version of the model, and utilizing the model for various
tests (including fulfilling scenario run requests from ODOT and the City of Cincinnati) to check model
sensitivity and reasonableness.
Staff has been receiving traffic count data from TEC and DLZ.
Staff collected several traffic counts and some bicycle and pedestrian counts.
Staff participated in conference calls with ODOT regarding the Ohio Disaggregate Model System project
and worked with data needed for model estimation. The university data collection for the model was
completed and sent to ODOT’s consultant.
Staff attended the Ohio Model User Group and Indiana User Group Meetings.
Long Range Planning: System Management (610.1)
Regional Transportation Plan: Staff continues work on the 2040 Regional Transportation Plan, 2016
Update. The Plan’s website is up and running. New data and information will be added monthly as it is
developed. Staff made a kick-off presentation to ICC and the Board at the September meetings. Staff
provided a presentation to the Regional Transit Collaboration committee regarding the 2040 Plan update.
Coordination and Staff Development: Staff continued to work with ODOT, KYTC, INDOT, transit agencies
and local communities to support the project development process. Staff participated in the following
training and coordination meetings in September: Eastern Corridor Partners (9/3/15), Meeting with CSX
representatives (9/3/15), ODOT project manager regarding Eastern Corridor (9/9/15), Clermont County
TID (9/11/15), Conference on Freight (9/14-16), Metro Futures (9/16/15), OARC and the Ohio Statewide
Urban CMAQ Committee (9/25/15). Hamilton County TID (9/28/15).
Congestion Management Process: In conjunction with calculating regional performance measures, updates
to travel delay and travel reliability continued. New traffic volume data was included in the calculations
vehicle delay. Work was completed on the draft Congestion Management Process Findings and Analysis
Report. The final report is scheduled to be completed in October.
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS): Staff began preparing a request for qualifications (RFQ) for
consultant services to assist in the update of the Regional ITS Architecture and Strategic Plan.
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Project development activities for future corridor or special studies: Staff continues to coordinate with
TANK, SORTA, CTC, the City of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce to investigate transit
improvements in the region. A meeting was held on 9/22/15 to review benchmarks of other peer regions.
Safety Planning: Staff is revisiting the crash rates used in 2040 Plan and performance measure
applications. Traffic count data used in the calculations is being subjected to additional scrutiny. Staff
participated in a workshop with FHWA, ODOT and Clermont County on 9/21/15 to evaluate roadway
departure crashes in the County.
Project Level Traffic Forecasting: Staff is working with the Butler County Engineer and TID to facilitate
forecast requests for their study of the I-75/SR-129 and Liberty Way network. Staff assisted consultants for
the Eastern Corridor.
Regional Freight Planning – See also activities reported below in 610.2. Staff provided a presentation to
the Regional Transit Collaboration committee regarding the 2040 Plan update. Staff accepted an
invitation to participate in Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of Planning, peer exchange on
the "Greater Charlotte Regional Freight Mobility Plan" hosted by the Centralina Council of Governments
(CCOG) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Staff has initiated preparations for the November 13 event.
Prioritization Process Update – The ICC and Executive approved updates to the agency’s scoring criterion
for the Plan and TIP prioritization process as recommended by the Prioritization Subcommittee. The
updates add performance measures, new methodologies for awarding economic impact points and new
procedures to evaluate bike and pedestrian projects.
Environmental Consultations - For Taking Root, staff attended, assisted with, and prepared notes on
meetings of the Steering Committee on September 2 and a Council Planning Task Force on September 9
for involving green industry businesses such as nurseries, landscapers and tree care professionals in the TR
campaign. (Taking Root is a campaign to address the need to retain forested area, which is a major issue
identified in environmental consultations on the transportation plan.)
For upcoming environmental consultations on the update of the long range transportation plan, staff
revised the draft online survey, continued to research information for updating Streams with Special
Significance (formerly Regionally Significant Streams) and prepared tabular and mapped data for other
resource categories. Staff conducted multiple reviews and revisions of the online Environmental Viewer to
enhance its value for environmental consultations (and other planning applications), including the addition
of viewing options and data for Historic Places, State Conserved Areas, and Streams.
For the update of OKI’s GIS layer of Parks and Preserves/Protected Lands, staff began entering additions
and revisions to Kentucky sites into the GIS edit file (edits to polygons are completed and edits to attribute
data have started).
September 21-22, staff attended the 2015 annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) Mid-Year
Workshop in San Diego, at the invitation of AASHTO, and presented information on the OKI Environmental
Consultations process; Natural Heritage Data integration to the process; and a preview of the OKI
Environmental Viewer. AASHTO has also invited OKI staff to present work related to Natural Heritage Data
inclusion during a peer exchange at US DOT in October.
Long Range Planning: Freight Conference (610.2)
OKI Co-hosted the 2015 Conference on Freight on September 14 - 16 in Cincinnati. The conference was a
huge success with over 375 registrants attending. Staff received many congratulations on a job “well
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done” during and after the conference. OKI Board members were a tremendous resource assisting with
tours, break-out sessions, and keynote speaker Q&A.
Long Range Planning: Land Use (610.4):
Staff continued to refine an outline for land use and environmental agencies engagement during the FY16
environmental consultations process to include a webcast engagement of stakeholders in the fall. Staff
finalized agency contact information and began initiating invitational calls. Agencies responsible for
historic preservation are being included to the FY16 consultations.
Staff presented an overview of OKI programs, emphasizing environmental programs, to the Greater
Cincinnati Green Business Council on September 11. Members of the Council include representatives of
the region’s largest employers and institutions.
Staff participated, and helped facilitate as co-chair, the September 17 Green Umbrella Transportation
Action Team. Information regarding the Team’s Transit Friendly Destination program was reviewed and
will be presented at a press event by Green Umbrella and Metro staff in October.
In September staff continued to research current sources of data to update statistical information cited in
all topic areas of the SRPP and prepare updates, as appropriate to the information housed at
www.howdowegrow.org. Information regarding the Transportation, Housing, and Natural Systems topics
were identified for updating.
Staff presented on the topic of fiscal impact and featured the OKI FIAM September 24 at the Ohio
Government Finance Association annual conference during a session. Several session participants
indicated they were staff representing communities in the OKI region.
Staff continued to prepare descriptive text associated with the Environmental Viewer being incorporated
into the Greenspace web page.
Fiscal Impact Analysis Model (610.5):
Staff generated a series of concepts for potential functionality expansion to be vetted with users and
prioritized for implementation. New Senior Planner staff also began orientation with Model including indepth review of methodology, community profile set-up procedures and gaining familiarity with all
database components integral of the Model.
Fiscal Impact Analysis Model – Web-Based Maintenance and Startup (611.5):
Staff monitored daily back-up activities which occurred as programmed.
Staff met with PRIME, newly hired consultant, in September to discuss priorities for web-based FIAM
updates. Updates will include adding additional functionality to improve user experience and ability to
better analyze FIAM results, and refreshing site graphics.
Transportation Services: Participation Plan (625.2):
Staff attended the Pleasant Ridge Community Council Meeting. City of Cincinnati personnel gave a status
report on the CMAQ project planned in the community’s business district on Montgomery Road for twolane traffic in each direction with a left turn lane.
Staff attended the Mt. Washington Community Council Meeting. The Economic Development Committee
reported that the community has been awarded a $30,000 grant for a multifaceted traffic and economic
development study on Beechmont Avenue. The study will run from corporation line to corporation line.
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Staff attended the Madisonville Community Council Meeting. Council President reported that Cincinnati
City Council has passed a motion approving the design for the Duck Creek Connector/Extension. The
design has a sidewalk on only one side of the Connector however, the community has informed the City
Manager that it wants sidewalks on both sides of the Duck Creek Connector.
Staff also attended the Corryville, Walnut Hills, Avondale, Linwood and Over-the-Rhine Community Council
Meetings.
Staff participated in Greater Cincinnati Green Business Council, presenting OKI’s ‘green’ initiatives,
including Solar Ready and Compressed Natural Gas along with GIS Raven capabilities.
Staff participated in 2015 Conference on Freight.
Staff participated in I-275/SR 32 ribbon-cutting ceremonies (for the opening of the ramp). Joined ODOT,
Clermont County Engineers and Clermont County Transportation Improvement District staff.
Special Studies: Regional Clean Air Program (665.4):
The smog alert hotline and email account was maintained by retrieving messages and responding to those
inquiring about the clean air program.
Ads continued to run on all Cumulus stations along with digital ads on Cincinnati.com.
Staff reviewed invoices and contributed services.
Commuter Assistance Services: Rideshare (667.1):
Staff continued to process and update applications.
68 matches were attempted in the month of September
● 36 Carpool matches
● 15 Vanpool matches
● 7 Transit matches
● 10 Park and Ride matches
2,723 commuters registered with RideShare.
Vanpooling
Staff provided van quotes for commuters interested in the vanpooling program.
There are 20 vanpools in operation throughout the region.
Marketing
Staff attended the OARC Rideshare subcommittee to look at other ridematching software and discuss
issuing a joint RFQ for a new software provider.
JARC/New Freedom Coordinated Transportation Plan (674.1/674.2)
During September, staff continued to monitor the JARC and New Freedom projects in the Cincinnati
urbanized area. On August 24, OKI hosted a Section 5310 Workshop for private, non-profit agencies
interested in applying for these federal funds for vehicles or preventive maintenance. Completed
applications are due to OKI by September 30. The Oversight Team will meet on October 8 to review the
applications and make recommendations to the ICC and the Executive Committee. The Oversight Team
will also begin work on updating the OKI Coordinated Public Transit Human Services Transportation Plan.
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Staff worked with SORTA to ensure that Section 5310 sub-recipient agreements for the previous awards
were completed and forwarded to SORTA. This is a requirement before the vehicle procurement grant can
be submitted to TEAM and the vehicles ordered through the program.
Section 5310 Program (674.3)
Staff continued to manage the Section 5310 Program for the Cincinnati urbanized area. There were no
fund drawdowns in Section 5310 administrative funds for Grant OH-16-X012 during the month.
New Freedom Pass Through (674.4)
Staff continued to manage the New Freedom sub-recipients and OKI Administrative Grants. New Freedom
pass through funds are provided to Towne Taxi for a taxi voucher program. The New Freedom grant for
Senior Services of Northern Kentucky was completed and closed out during the month.
During September, $5,773 in JARC funds were processed from Grant OH-37-X067 for OKI administration as
well as $1,798 in New Freedom funds from Grant OH-57-X064 for OKI administration.
Ohio Exclusive: Regional Transportation Planning Organization Pilot Program (684.4)
Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission (OVRDC) is developing a regional transportation plan. OKI
is providing assistance to OVRDC through a contract with the Ohio Department of Transportation. No
activity this month.
Ohio Exclusive: Eastern Corridor Study (684.9)
No activity this period.
Indiana Exclusive: Dearborn County Transportation Planning (685.1-CPG):
3C Planning Process - Active management of the OKI TIP continued. Staff continues to coordinate with
Dearborn County and INDOT personnel to advance the programming of Dearborn STP and CMAQ projects.
Staff is working with Dearborn County in the potential preparation of a CMAQ application in January 2016.
Staff continues work on the 2040 Regional Transportation Plan, 2016 Update. The Plan’s website is up and
running. New data and information will be added monthly as it is developed. Staff made a kick-off
presentation to ICC and the Board at the September meetings. Staff provided a presentation to the
Regional Transit Collaboration committee regarding the 2040 Plan update.
Staff presented Administrative Modification #1 of the FY 2016 – 2019 TIP to the ICC on September 8. The
modification included 3 highway projects in Dearborn County—Des #1297183, an intersection project at
US 50 and State Line Road, Des #1296973, an overlay project on IR 275 and Des #1500336, an overlay
project on IR 74. Staff attended the Indiana MPO Council meeting in Indianapolis on September 24, 2015.
Monthly progress reports were prepared for work elements in the Unified Planning Work Program (ongoing). Work on the year end progress report and list of obligated projects lists commenced.
Air Quality – Staff participated in a June 1st conference call to discuss Indiana’s update of 2015 fleet mix
data and updates to MOVES2014 emission factors. Subsequently, the OKI emission calculation process
was updated to reflect the latest fleet mix data. A June 8th conference call with the Indiana Department of
Environmental Management focused on the upcoming development of a revised SIP to redesignate the
region to attainment of the 2008 ozone standard.
Project Development and Special Studies –Contract negotiations are complete with AECOMM selected as
the preferred provider to assist the OKI staff in the conduct of the Bright/74 Corridor Study. Formulation
of project committee membership and structure is complete. See 685.2 report.
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Functional Class, HPMS and CMP Performance measures – Refinements to the draft regional performance
scorecard continued. Staff continues to monitor state and federal activity on the remaining performance
measures to address the MAP-21 goal areas of safety, infrastructure condition, system performance and
environmental sustainability.
Travel Model, Data, GIS & Homeland Security – Staff has completed the model validation phase of the OKI
Travel Demand Model Version 8.0. Refinements to the model’s IMPACT program, which performs postmodel summary reports is being revisited to make additional improvements related to congestion
measures. Work on truck model refinements continues. Traffic counts are being collected across the
region by OKI staff and consultants under contract with OKI.
Participation Plan – Staff remains active in disseminating information about regional transportation
projects and DBE opportunities.
Fiscal Impact Model – The Executive Committee approved staff request retain a consultant to maintain the
web-based Fiscal Impact Analysis Model.
Environmental Consultations – For Taking Root, staff attended, assisted with, and prepared notes on
meetings of the Steering Committee on September 2 and a Council Planning Task Force on September 9
for involving green industry businesses such as nurseries, landscapers and tree care professionals in the TR
campaign. (Taking Root is a campaign to address the need to retain forested area, which is a major issue
identified in environmental consultations on the transportation plan.)
For upcoming environmental consultations on the update of the long range transportation plan, staff
revised the draft online survey, continued to research information for updating Streams with Special
Significance (formerly Regionally Significant Streams) and prepared tabular and mapped data for other
resource categories. Staff conducted multiple reviews and revisions of the online Environmental Viewer to
enhance its value for environmental consultations (and other planning applications), including the addition
of viewing options and data for Historic Places, State Conserved Areas, and Streams.
For the update of OKI’s GIS layer of Parks and Preserves/Protected Lands, staff began entering additions
and revisions to Kentucky sites into the GIS edit file (edits to polygons are completed and edits to attribute
data have started).
September 21-22, staff attended the 2015 annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) Mid-Year
Workshop in San Diego, at the invitation of AASHTO, and presented information on the OKI Environmental
Consultations process; Natural Heritage Data integration to the process; and a preview of the OKI
Environmental Viewer. AASHTO has also invited OKI staff to present work related to Natural Heritage Data
inclusion during a peer exchange at US DOT in October.
Indiana Exclusive: Dearborn County (685.2-STP)
The 21-member Advisory Committee has been confirmed and the website is nearing completion. INDOT
provided in writing that they do NOT need to approve the contract between OKI and AECOM. The contract
was circulated for signatures and the study will formally begin when all signatures are received.
Kentucky Exclusive: Transportation Planning Activities (686.3)
KY 536: The Study has entered its third and final phase. The eight draft alternatives have been refined
down to two options. The two refined alternatives reflect the immense feedback received from the public
and work to best address eight specific goals that were established early in the Study process by the
Project Development Team. The PDT held their fifth meeting on September 25. The final public open
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house will be held on October 5 from 4-7pm at the Independence Senior and Community Center. A 30day public comment period on the two refined alternatives will end at midnight on November 5, 2015.
Unified Planning Work Program (695)
The FY16 UPWP is in effect.
The FY 2015 Performance and Expenditure Report (year-end progress) was completed and presented to
the ICC and the Executive Committee in September. The report was approved through Resolution 2015-22
and copies were forwarded to ODOT, KYTC, INDOT, FHWA and FTA. Work has been completed on the
review and update of the metropolitan planning agreements between OKI and partners.
Monthly progress reports were prepared for work elements in the Unified Planning Work Program (ongoing).
Transportation Program Reporting (697.1)
No activity this period.
Mobile Source Emissions Planning (720.1)
At the September 8th ICC meeting, staff presented the draft prioritization scores of seven project
applications for FY2021 Ohio CMAQ funding. One project application was determined to be ineligible for
CMAQ funding. The ICC recommended approval of the remaining six projects and scores. The results
were presented and approved by the OKI Executive Committee on September 10th. The applications and
scores were forwarded to the Ohio Statewide Urban CMAQ Committee (OSUCC) on September 13th. Staff
participated in discussion of the CMAQ projects and scores at the September 25 th OSUCC meeting in
Columbus.
Staff participated in a conference call regarding updates to the Kentucky vehicle registration data, as
prepared by KYTC. The information regarding age and composition of the existing fleet will be used as
input for future air quality conformity work.
Staff prepared a short air quality conformity report for TIP Amendment #3. The TIP amendment,
scheduled for adoption in September, involves a major cost change for one non-exempt project. The
conformity determination is relying on a previous regional emissions analysis.
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