PURPOSE:

This report requests authorization to submit grant applications for five transportation projects to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) as part of the 2007 Call For Projects grant funding process.  Staff recommends that applications be submitted for the Strategic Corridor Intelligent Transportation System Project, San Fernando Bikeway Project, the I-5 / SR-134 Traffic Management Program, and grants for the purchase of transit vehicles for the BurbankBus fleet.  Additionally, staff requests a joint project be submitted with the cities of Glendale and Pasadena for funds for a proposed express bus transit service linking the North Hollywood Red Line Station with a Pasadena Gold Line Station.

BACKGROUND:

The MTA Call for Projects application process is a competitive process whereby local agencies in Los Angeles County who provide transportation infrastructure may submit grant applications for transportation funding.  By federal and state statutes, MTA is required to prepare a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) for Los Angeles County and uses the Call for Projects process to program discretionary local, state, and federal revenues to local jurisdictions to implement regionally significant transportation projects.  The Call for Projects is the process that MTA uses to solicit, rank, and fund regional transportation projects requested by local jurisdictions.  Generally, the Call For Projects is issued every two years, however due to state budget shortfalls over the last number of years MTA has suspended the Call for Projects since 2001.  Thus, this is the first opportunity in six years for cities to apply for transportation funding through this process.  Also, because some of the funds for this process are one-time funds (e.g. bond funds recently approved by voters), this Call for Projects may be more significant than future opportunities.

Historically, the City of Burbank has successfully applied for a number of grants through prior Call for Projects. These grant funds have been used to fund a number of street, bicycle, and transit improvements throughout the city, and have traditionally been one of the significant ways that the City can leverage its locally-generated transportation impact fees and Proposition A and C local return funds. 

MTA ranking criteria for the 2007 Call for Projects emphasizes regional significance and mobility improvement, and consistency with the goals of the Long Range Transportation Plan, as the primary criteria for awarding funding.  Thus, competitive projects must show a strong regional benefit, and must provide mobility improvements to the transportation system on a regional scale.  Staff believes that the proposed candidate projects provide local circulation benefits and advance regional mobility goals.  The projects described below are consistent with the City�s short and long-range transportation goals, including consistency with the Infrastructure Blueprint and Bicycle Master Plan.

DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS:

Staff began preparing the application package for the MTA Call for Projects by identifying projects that meet the long-term transportation goals of the City and also satisfy funding categories that are funded through the Call for Projects program.  Currently, staff has begun feasibility and cost estimates for three proposed transportation projects that, if approved by Council, would be eligible for MTA Call for Projects funding and could score favorably in the project ranking criteria. 

Strategic Arterial Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)

This application would request grant funds to upgrade traffic signals on four arterial streets so that they can be integrated with the City�s Traffic Signal Interconnect system. The selected arterials include Victory Boulevard (including West Victory, North Victory, and South Victory), Magnolia Boulevard west of Victory Blvd, Buena Vista Street between Route 134 and Thornton Avenue, and Alameda Avenue between Buena Vista Street and Interstate 5.  These corridors were selected because they have not already been upgraded as part of prior ITS projects, and they are listed on the Draft Arterial Master Plan developed by MTA to identify regionally significant arterial streets.  This project is compatible with the City�s goal to maintain Level of Service D at arterial intersections, and is consistent with improvements to corridors identified in the Infrastructure Blueprint and confirmed with work done for the Draft Mobility Element.

The project would include upgrades to 16 �fixed-time� traffic signals so that they are fully actuated and can detect vehicles through loops in the street or overhead cameras.  These corridor upgrades would also include interconnects with the City�s traffic signal network and installations of fiber-optic communication lines in selected areas.  The project would also include funds to develop �adaptive� traffic signal timing plans for each corridor to allow the traffic signals to respond to actual traffic conditions in real time. Many of the traffic signals identified for upgrade are older, inefficient signals that have not yet been replaced with new equipment, primarily because they serve a smaller cross-street. Nonetheless, the inefficient operation of these traffic signals hinders traffic flow on these corridors, increases delay, and makes corridor timing more difficult.  It is estimated that corridors improved with adaptive traffic signal timing and other ITS improvements can improve intersection volume-to-capacity (V/C) by approximately 5%.  Staff is currently developing preliminary cost estimates for this project but tentative estimates of these costs are approximately $5 million.

San Fernando Bikeway

This application would request grant funds to construct a 3-mile Class I bike path extending from the northern City Limit to the Downtown Burbank Metrolink Station via San Fernando Blvd., Victory Place, and the Los Angeles Flood Control Channel adjacent to the MTA railroad right of way.  This project is identified as a Top Priority project in the Bicycle Master Plan, and would provide a regional connection between a planned San Fernando Bikeway project currently being designed and constructed in the City of Los Angeles, which is planned to extend from near Sylmar to Burbank�s City Limit.  The City applied for money to construct this project under the prior 2003 Call For Projects, which was subsequently cancelled due to State funding constraints.  Since that time, the City has adopted the Bicycle Master Plan, of which this project is identified as a Top Priority project.  Also, the recently adopted MTA Bicycle Strategic plan lists an alignment of the San Fernando Path through Burbank as a gap to be closed in the regional network, and lists the Downtown Burbank Station as a regional bicycle transportation hub.  Thus, staff believes that this project would score favorably in the grant application process.

Staff is currently in discussions with MTA and Metrolink on the feasibility of reserving right of way along the Metrolink rail corridor for the proposed project.  While Metrolink has reserved this right of way for future rail track expansions, plans for additional rail lines beyond the planned Metrolink service expansion are not currently listed on MTA long-range planning documents.  Staff feels there is an a opportunity to use a portion of the railroad right of way for a bicycle path, especially as a method to improve the appearance and utility of the right of way that will remain after the grade separation of Buena Vista St. and the railroad is completed.  Staff feels that this is an opportunity to provide this important regional bicycle facility as a complement to the Empire Interchange and Interstate 5 High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) project, which will be extensively renovating the corridor where the bikeway would be located.

This project would connect the Los Angeles segment, a portion of which is funded for construction, to the Metrolink, bus, and bicycle facilities at the Downtown Burbank Station.  If approved by Council, this bikeway would provide an attractive means by which Metrolink commuters could extend their public transportation commute by bicycle.  A cost estimate for this project was prepared in 2003 that estimated a total cost of approximately $4 million.  However, changes in the Empire Avenue interchange design have caused some components of the proposed bike path to change as well.  Staff is currently reviewing this estimate in light of the changes to the Empire Interchange project.

I-5 / SR-134 Traffic Management Program

This application, submitted in cooperation with the cities of Glendale and Los Angeles, requests grant funds to install signal improvement infrastructure along arterials that provide the �missing� freeway-to-freeway connections between State Route 134 and Interstate 5.  These improvements were identified in a study of the I-5/SR-134 freeway interchange completed in 2002.  The purpose of the study, jointly conducted by the cities of Burbank, Glendale, and Los Angeles, along with Caltrans, was to address circulation issues in the vicinity of the South Burbank / West Glendale / Griffith Park area, and to improve arterial operations on the routes that serve to make the missing freeway connections.  The project would provide traffic control and route guidance systems, traffic surveillance, and management along major arterial streets in Burbank, Glendale, and Los Angeles that provide access between State Route 134 and Interstate 5, to improve travel time, manage incidents, and divert traffic from residential areas.  This project is consistent with the City�s policy of maintaining a Level of Service D at all intersections by increasing efficiency at intersections impacted by these two freeways.  This project is regionally consistent with studies of Interstate 5 as part of Metro�s Short Range Transportation Plan, and would be compatible with improvements to I-5 as part of the HOV project under design between State Route 134 and State Route 118.  This project was also applied for under the cancelled Call for Projects in 2003.  At the time, estimated costs for the project was approximately $2.5 million, with local match funds shared between all three cities.

Additional Transit Vehicles

Staff is planning to submit a Call application for additional transit vehicles for the City�s BurbankBus fleet.  This project would provide additional transit vehicles to replace older, used vehicles purchased in 2005 when BurbankBus service was expanded to the current five lines.  In addition, funds would be requested to purchase new vehicles to provide new routes, such as a possible cross-town connector between the Downtown Burbank Metrolink Station and the North Hollywood Red Line Station.  For 2007, there are two sources of funding that the City will apply for transit capital funding.  In addition to the standard Call for Projects process, which makes available a variety of local, state, and federal funds, MTA is also holding a �Mini-Call� application process for a special earmark of Proposition A funds that are being made available to local transit operators.  Staff intends to apply for new transit capital (for new service expansion) under the traditional Call for Projects, and will seek funds for transit vehicle replacement under �Mini-Call� process.

Joint Project Application � Tri-Cities Transit Link

In concert with MTA, staff from the cities of Burbank, Glendale, and Pasadena have been developing plans for a regional express bus connection between the North Hollywood Red Line Station and a Pasadena Gold Line Station.  This connection would include a stop in the Burbank Media District, as well as a stop in Glendale and potentially one adjacent to an Eagle Rock park-and-ride facility.   MTA has secured start-up funding for planning purposes, and has tentatively committed to fund the operation of the service.  This Call for Projects application would fund stop improvements or other necessary roadway enhancements to facilitate more efficient transit vehicle travel.  In Burbank, staff has preliminarily identified a segment of Caltrans right-of-way along Riverside Drive near Hollywood Way that could serve as a transit stop for the proposed service.  Staffs from the three cities are currently identifying needs for this service and have preliminarily estimated a cost of $1.5 million for improvements in all three cities.

Staff presented the above-mentioned projects proposed for submittal to the 2007 Call to the Transportation Commission at their meetings of November 20 and December 18, 2006.  The Commission expressed their support for proceeding with the proposed projects outlined.

The projects staff proposes to apply for funding under the 2007 MTA Call for Projects includes a number of important transportation projects that meet regional mobility goals, and are compatible with the long-term transportation goals of the City.  The ITS projects represent a cost-effective method of adding capacity to existing local and regional transportation infrastructure by increasing system efficiency, and the improvements identified will integrate and enhance the City�s prior investment in ITS technology.  The San Fernando Bikeway Project bolsters the viability of bicycle transportation as a means of reducing vehicle trips and would close a significant gap in the regional bikeway network.  Finally, the transit projects allow the City to continue to build out its local and regional transit system to achieve a City Council goal of using alternative transportation as a method to reduce vehicle congestion.  The projects presented above represent a tremendous leveraging of transportation development impact fees and Proposition A and C local return funds, as the grants require only a 20% local match to the regional, state, and federal dollars distributed under the Call for Projects. 

It should be noted that staff did not identify any roadway widening projects as part of this Call for Projects.  The City is already receiving substantial outside funds for the construction of two major freeway ramp projects that will add significant capacity to the City�s roadway network.  Thus, additional outside funding is not required for these major improvements.  As far as local arterial projects, there are needed widening projects identified on both the Infrastructure Blueprint as well as through the Draft Mobility Element that is currently being developed.  While staff considered these projects for funding, it is believed that many of these intersection widening projects would not score favorably on a regional basis if proposed for funding.  In addition, MTA is currently developing a countywide transportation impact fee on new development, and is also developing an arterial master plan of significant streets that may be used as the basis for funding improvements on these arterials.  Staff believes that if this funding source becomes available that certain intersection flaring projects would be more appropriately funded under this process should it be enacted, rather than through the Call for Projects.  Finally, as the Mobility Element is not finalized, policy direction from the community and from the Council is not yet clear regarding the scale and scope of arterial projects that would be acceptable to the community.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Staff is not seeking Council authorization for any local fund expenditure at this time.  If Council were to direct staff to move forward with the grant applications described above and a project were to be successful in receiving MTA grant funds, the City would be required to provide a 20% local match in order to accept the grant money for that project.  This 20% local match is expected to be available from a combination of Proposition A and C local return funds as well as Transportation Impact Fees.  Also, the San Fernando Bikeway project may also be eligible for funding under future Bicycle Transportation Account grant cycles that could partially offset the local match.  Further, submittal of this grant application package does not commit the City to the identified projects.  Any project that is successful in receiving MTA grant funds would be brought back to the City Council for authorization to accept the grant funds and the allocation of the required local match.

CONCLUSION:

The 2007 Call for Projects is an opportunity for the City of Burbank to apply for local, state, and federal funds to complete regionally significant local transportation projects.  This grant process represents an opportunity to leverage transportation development impact fees collected locally to receive grant funds requiring only a 20% local match.  The projects listed in this report will address many of the City�s transportation needs outlined in the Infrastructure Blueprint, Bicycle Master Plan, and other transportation studies, which will help improve local as well as regional mobility.  The projects being proposed for submittal represent valuable investments in street capacity, transit capital, and alternative transportation. Staff feels that the projects described above present to MTA a well-rounded package of regional transportation improvements that provide local benefits to the City.

RECOMMENDATION:

Staff recommends that the Council adopt the proposed resolution authorizing the submittal of grant applications for the above-described projects.

go to the top