Agenda - Council Work Session - 12/09/2014

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Page 8 • Infrastructure Condition — To maintain the highway infrastructure asset system in a state of good repair. • Congestion Reduction — To achieve a significant reduction in congestion on the National Highway System. • System Reliability — To improve the efficiency of the surface transportation system. • Freight Movement and Economic Vitality — To improve the national freight network, strengthen the ability of rural communities to access national and international trade markets, and support regional economic development. • Environmental Sustainability — To enhance the performance of the transportation system while protecting and enhancing the natural environment. • Reduced Project Delivery Delays — To reduce project costs, promote jobs and the economy, and expedite the movement of people and goods by accelerating project completion through eliminating delays in the project development and delivery process, including reducing regulatory burdens and improving agencies' work practices. There are no other performance goal areas established for the other transportation systems in federal law. The above -noted performance measures are primarily focused on highway infrastructure, yet the Plan has an over -emphasis on the non -highway modes of transportation. RECOMMENDATION The TPP should include a comprehensive investment plan for the regional highway system that fully correlates to these federal performance measures and leads to improvements on this system necessary to achieve an increase in the level of mobility and a decrease in the rate of crashes in 2040. At the very least, the Plan should clearly and more explicitly emphasize the ramifications of not making the necessary investments to the regional highway system with regards to congestion and crashes so that the general public fully understands the consequences of this Plan. Reality Check Sadly, the I-35W bridge collapse tragically demonstrated the deficiency and lagging maintenance in our existing infrastructure. In Anoka County alone in the past five years, 16 people were killed and 1,593 persons were injured in highway crashes on average each year. RECOMMENDATION Unfortunately, we feel that this Plan, as presented, is severely lacking on these matters. These figures cannot be ignored and it is our responsibility as leaders to address these issues across the region with a Plan that takes into consideration all the citizens it is supposed to represent, not just a few.