Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the meeting for the Bloomington Metropolitan Planning Organization
technical advisory committee. This is August 26 2026 We are at quorum and I guess we will go around
and have some introductions Neil if you don't mind starting on my left Proxy for the city of Bloomington
City engineer Thanks, Neil John Baten GIS coordinator Monroe County
Morning Nate Nichols City Bloomington Public Works Department Jane Fleague City Bloomington utilities
Tim Lawson County Highway County Highway engineer Hunter Jackson proxy for the Mineral County Auditor's
Office Amy Garrett Oz area 10 rural transit Within that proxy for Linnea wellings
Cheryl Gilliland, Deputy Controller, City of Bloomington. Proxy for Jeff McKim, Controller, City of
Bloomington. Cool, and there are- Rebecca Swift, Operations Development Director, Parks and Recreation.
John Kennedy, Citizens Advisory Committee Ex-Officio,
Megan Blair, GIS manager, ITS department, city of Bloomington. And just a reminder for committee members
that are online, so you make sure that your camera and microphone are turned on when you're voting,
just as kind of housekeeping rules here. Thanks, everybody, for introductions. We're good, Pat and Katie,
I think, right? OK.
With that let's move on to approval of the agenda for August 26th I will say I appreciate again the
two different formats that staff is providing for the technical advisory committee Agenda one that has
the link documents and also the full it's just really nice to get through. So yeah, thanks Katie Could
I get a motion to approve our agenda for August 26 2026?
Awesome, thanks. I guess all in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed, same sign. Any abstentions? Seems like
that is approved. Next we'll move on to the approval of minutes from July 22nd, 2026. Could I get a
motion to approve? So moved. Second. Thanks, Neil and Jane. All in favor say aye.
Aye any opposed the nay any abstentions Looks like we're all good Okay on to communications from chair
and vice chair. I don't have anything to report Jane. Do you have anything to report? Okay, easy peasy
lemon squeezy as one of my children say this will move us on to reports from our MPO staff Okay, the
first one we have is
under reports from the staff number 6.1, USDOT surface transportation reauthorization priority letter.
This comes from the Secretary of Transportation. It's a little bit late because the reauthorization
discussions in Congress have been going along since January of this year and then all of a sudden we
get this letter. The thing that I want to point to first is going down to what's called Appendix C,
existing II that's in infrastructure investment jobs act programs not to extend or modify. They're doing
away with increased accessibility for transportation options. They recommend removing the requirement
that supports activities such as bicycle lanes. They're requesting removal
of charging stations for infrastructure, they're requesting elimination of carbon reduction program,
requesting elimination of healthy streets program, reconnecting communities pilot program,
get away with that, do away with that, invasive plant elimination program, do away with that, pollinator
friendly practices for highways right away, do away with that, active transportation infrastructure,
primarily bicycle lanes, they're against that.
National culvert removal and replacement, they already feel that that's already being taken care of.
Strengthen mobility through transportation grants, this is the smart, strengthen mobility and revolutionizing
transportation, do away with that. Electric vehicle work, working group, do away with that. Modify,
programs to modify are the reduction
of truck emissions at port facilities. They don't really believe that's necessary. Congestion relief,
don't really feel that's necessary. Safe streets and roads for all, the SS4A program. They call that
a federal burden. Wish I could say something nice about all of this. Any questions anybody would have
on that? Otherwise, I'll just move right along.
Items but is this why we can't have nice things why we can't why we can't have nice things It kind of
seems like it we already have them according to this letter Yeah back to the back to the future. I guess
is what this is second item six point two USD OT national roadways safety strategy
The key thing out of here, and I encourage you to at least glance at it, key thing out of here is they're
eliminating, sorry, just a second here, they quietly removed bicycle lanes, road diets, speed safety
cameras, variable speed limits and speed limits that are appropriate to vulnerable road users as a list
of proven safety countermeasures.
They did that about three weeks ago. Number 6.3, this is the USDOT Inner City Bus Atlas. This is just
a handy dandy thing to know. We didn't even realize it existed until we came across it by accident.
It shows all the links of inner city buses throughout the entire United States. Next item, 6.4,
Indiana's second, actually this is the third gas tax holiday reimbursement. State of Indiana began under
the governor authorized a gas tax holiday, spending the gas tax in Indiana, well that started in May,
June, July, August. The tune of this is five million dollars per month.
And the governor has said that we have ample reserves to cover this, ample state reserves to cover this.
The question is, how is the state of Indiana gonna replace $5 million a month for the last four months?
Because that money is all dedicated to road improvements. So down the road, it's possible that you may see
Fewer 100% state-funded projects and this is me talking Okay, the next thing we have is item a question
about yeah six four just when I was looking at it and this is just for a point of clarity with that
reimbursement is is that money that's coming back to the county and city is that
Does that go directly to like for instance the Monroe County Highway Department? Is that where the county
money goes or does it go is it allocated somewhere else? Yes Yeah, it goes straight straight to the
highway department and the distribution goes to the normal LPA local public agency process it's just
coming out of State of Indiana's reserves not its gas tax reserves. That's that's the key thing to be
aware of and
Thanks. And they're you know, the first law of economics is there is no free lunch. And so we're providing
a free lunch here and that free lunch will come down to pay some time, sometimes several months down
the road. Next thing we have is an early coordination letter from a consultant for the Indiana Department
of Transportation. This is for the new sidewalk addition on State Road forty five forty six bypass.
between Kinzer Pike and Walnut Street. This is on the north side of the highway. This pathway would
be a protected barrier type sidewalk that would be constructed on the north side of the bridge. This
is to facilitate pedestrian movements, which have been ongoing for at least six or seven years.
Usually it takes five years for programming for projects in the Department of Transportation. That's
nothing against them, but they also had a policy up until two years ago. They did not build sidewalks.
That policy changed two years ago. They're currently allocating somewhere around 18 to $20 million per
year in LPA areas for safety projects that involve sidewalks and pedestrians and bicycle movement.
kudos to them. This project would be programmed for construction sometime about four to five years from
now. Stay tuned, we'll have additional information as it comes along. Yes. The maintenance of the facility
would be responsibility of the Department of Transportation.
they would have to sweep it, protect it, make sure. They would probably build concrete barrier walls,
either what I call GM barriers or permanent barrier walls, probably permanent barrier walls is what
they would do to ensure the safety of the pedestrians and the bicycles there for anybody that left the
roadway in that area. Go ahead. Typically, NDOT requires the local public agency
to do maintenance of any pedestrian facilities. So I would guess this would be similar to the bypass
where the city is responsible for those sweeping, plowing, et cetera. But it's a discussion we would
have with them. It would be great if NDOT was actually responsible. But I would be surprised if that
was the case. It's unclear because it's a bridge. And so therefore, the question is, I don't know. Fair,
yeah. I mean, part of it is a bridge, right?
Yeah, yeah part of it is a bridge. You're right In fact, we'll ask that question and get back with you
with an answer for the next meeting You know, there's been some bridges that have been issues for maintenance
in the past 2nd Street 3rd Street we're in dot is throwing the responsibility for pedestrian maintenance
over to the local agencies, so it
This one definitely look into this because in the past, they've been very reluctant to maintain these
types of facilities. Any additional questions, observations? Okay, we've got our homework assignment.
The next item we have, the city of Bloomington announces increased traffic enforcement ahead of the
Monroe County Consolidated School Corporation school year. This one is self-evidence and schools have
already started.
Please be aware of speeding, disregarding stop signs, traffic signals, failure to yield to pedestrians
and crosswalks. Turning right on red, we're prohibited using cell phones while driving, big no-no, and
other unsafe driving behaviors that put pedestrians, bicycles, sickles, students, and motorists at risk.
This not only goes for the school corporation, but it also goes for Ivy Tech and for Indiana University.
Um, next item we have is city of Bloomington safety week. Uh, this kicks off. Well, it started this
week. Uh, the big action starts tonight. Um, on, well, Tuesday, yesterday, August 25th from five to
six 30, uh, the planning and transportation department sponsored a welcome week community bike tour.
This was for Indiana University students meeting at the Showalter Fountain, guiding them in what I would
call a loop area, showing them different areas of the city, shopping, shopping groceries, recreation,
you name it, and it was there. And that was last night. Then tonight, we have another special event
called Traffic Cones. This is being hosted at Chocolate Moose.
just down the street from here, where it's an open area from four to six, I'm sorry, on Safe Streets
Initiatives, receive free ice cream. I will be there. Please come on down. I'll share my ice cream,
please. The next event we've got is tomorrow night called Kidicle Mass, Back to School Bike Ride and
Celebration. This one is from five to seven o'clock at Bryant Park.
Please, if you have youngsters or you even want to come yourself, come join us for the celebration.
It's all about safety and bringing pop-up booths at several locations throughout the cities where we've
got interactions, survey questions. This is all part of our, part of the City of Bloomington Safe Streets
and Roads for All grant, which was given to this, given, awarded
to the city of Bloomington last year for around 1.2, 1.4 million dollars. Next item we have is future
tip review and oh, I'm sorry, call for projects. Call for projects, this was issued on August 17th.
If you look at the link that we've got here, the application deadline,
we currently have is September 18th. This allows the local public agencies a full four-week period to
determine what their projects are, to fill out the applications, to line up their funding, get the approval
from the elected officials that oversee the projects. The anticipated schedule here, you can see August
17th is when we opened it.
September 18th the call for projects October 2nd and 4th legal advertisements October 2nd will begin
a 30-day public comment period for a draft transportation improvement program which we will submit to
end on October 2nd also October 12th will be a drop-in open house public meeting here in McCloskey room
here in City Hall not here but in
McCloskey room and City Hall first review for the draft draft Technical Advisory Committee and Citizens
Advisory Committee is the 21st 23rd is the first review for the Policy Committee October 31st first
30-day public comment period will end December 2nd final draft will have to the Technical Advisory Committee
and Citizens Advisory Committee and then the Policy Committee approval
for a vote for adoption would be on December 4th, December 9th. We'll be submitting that to the Indiana
Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and FTA. And then hopefully we anticipate
receiving approval by February 27th. Now, given all of that, I want to give the caveat that this is
very optimistic. Federal agencies have been delayed because of staff cuts
Federal Highway Administration normally would take four weeks to review something and now it's been
somewhere around four months to six months So therefore we would hope to have the transportation improvement
program approved by February in reality it could end up being as late as March or April and then also
we've got the anticipated program funding levels here and
These are shown for fiscal year 28 29 30 31 and 32 with each one of the categories that are currently
authorized for our urban area or allocated to our urban area based on our population size. We encourage
public participation not only at the public meetings but also in written form until the public comment
period closes.
project evaluation and selection we're using this this time around we're using the complete streets
policy but it's in an advisory capacity for the next tip which will be coming along two years from now.
We'll be changing that entire evaluation and selection process based on a merit technical system merit
technical circumstance evaluation.
Questions, anybody on any of this? Okay. Next item we've got here is the state fiscal year 2027 summary
of annual federal funding allocations. I'm not gonna read all of these, but it gives you an idea of
how much funding is available
for state fiscal year 27 based on our population. Recent tip updates. Future tip development, that's you.
I thought that this one was me actually going back to the 2027 summary. So this information is all available
in the tip document. But we thought we would pull it out and put it in the memo for you so that so that
you could find it and see it easier. So this is basically just a summary of the plan for this this fiscal
year's allocations annual federal allocations.
So from the period of July 1st, 26 to June 30th, 27. And this just lists out where all of the money
that were being allocated in this fiscal year is going and how it's changed from the original allocation
for various reasons, whether
due to exchanges with other MPOs or any extra funds that have been granted. And so this year, as previously
approved by MPO committees, the fiscal year 27 funding is going towards High Street Multi-Use Path and
then the downtown curb ramps project
preliminary engineering phase. If anyone has any questions on that, feel free to let me know. Regarding
recent updates, item 611, I don't have any significant updates since the last meeting on current TIP
projects, but if
Neil or Tim have any more specific changes on the current projects that they want to share, feel free.
I don't have anything notable. Okay. Okay. You can check the spreadsheet that's listed in the agenda for any
Any of the latest information. Old business which we don't have any. So on to new business. We have a few.
amendments for your review and your vote to recommend that the policy committee approve them. The first
is FTA funding, Federal Transit Administration funding related project. So this is a Bloomington Transit
project that's in the TIP currently. It's called Green Line Design and Engineering, Bus Stop and Infrastructure.
And the change that is being requested is to change the funding source from 5309 to 5307 and then to
add fiscal year 2027 funds. And this funding is to go to traffic signal prioritization.
The second amendment to the tip is also a transit update. It is for the project called new administrative
and maintenance facility. Currently there are no funds planned for fiscal year 27, but this request
will update the funding to add
23 million to 2027. And this is for phase one of the building construction. The funding for that comes
from three different sources. The first being some of the flex money that the transit, the Bloomington
Transit has received in the past through MPO funds. And then the others coming from the Transit
Administration's accounts.
The third request or the third amendment to the tip that we are putting forth for your review is to
add a new INDOT project called High Mass Tower Lighting Replacement at various interchanges in Vincennes
and Seymour districts. And so as usual, we don't have specific locations for these projects. They like
to put these
general amounts, get them in the documentation, and it tends to accelerate the approval processes in
the future once they have those specific locations figured out. And finally, also would like to update
the funding for an INDOT project called Repair or Replace Joints on SR45 over I69, SR48 over I69,
And so this project is increasing in funds and taking place in fiscal year 27 this year. Any questions?
I don't see any here. I'm not sure if there's any online.
Does not look like there's any hands raised. So I guess with that We move on to approve the amendments.
Is there a motion to approve? item 8 1 Thanks, John Is there a second? Second, thanks Neil So a voice
vote all in favor would say aye. Aye Any opposed would be same sign and any abstentions?
With that, it looks like motion carries. Thanks, everyone. Looks like next on the agenda is public comment.
If there's anybody here that has a public comment, please come to the podium. I don't see anybody here.
Anybody online, please raise your hand. I'm not seeing any Katie. I'm not sure if you guys are either. Okay.
Moving on, any communications from committee members on non-voting members not included on the agenda?
I have two quick things. One of them is that Monroe County recently, we took part in a study by the
Silver Jackets, which is an organization of the Army Corps of Engineers. They work primarily on flooding.
And we, as well as the city of Bloomington, kind of collaborated in Ellitsville and EMA and the fire
districts.
To receive a couple turn around don't drown signs and so there was a process but we're receiving I think
two signs For streets where we have experienced flooding in the past so that that's gonna be happening
sometime in September and then with all the flooding we received in the state of Indiana we were fortunate
in Monroe County not to experience as much as our friends to the north and
The Monroe County GIS team put together a new precipitation app that's showing kind of live data from
the NWS, as well as crowdsourced data from, I'm gonna butcher it, I wanna say it's COCORAS, which is
kind of a citizen science organization that monitors creeks and things like that for precipitation as
it occurs. So we have that as well as some kind of nifty flood predictions that'll show up as we get
extreme rainfall events. So that's on our website.
just for folks to look at as we get heavy amounts of rain that we're not experiencing over 100 year
periods. Any other communications or? Seems like it. We had a very busy agenda today, but it seems like
we got through it pretty quickly, which happens. Any topic suggestions for future agendas that folks
might have? It looks like that is none as well.
Okay, so we have a couple upcoming meetings coming up. The Citizens Advisory Committee is taking place
today as well at 5.30 p.m. That's a hybrid meeting. And then we have the Policy Committee taking place
August 28th, which I believe is Friday at 10.30 a.m. That will also be hybrid. The next meeting with
the Technical Advisory Committee will take place September 23rd at 10 a.m. in this room. With that,
I guess we will adjourn. So thanks much staff, and thanks for everybody here.
See ya.