At its March meeting the TPB approved the budget and work program for the year and approved the budget and work program for Commuter Connections. After a robust report on from some public comments, the board discussed how the TPB’s staff work on Climate Change mitigation will factor into the process of developing the next long-range plan. Also, at the meeting the board received briefings on Airport Ground Access and on some trends from the Regional Travel Survey.

Action Items

The main action items at the march meeting were the approvals of the TPB’s Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), which is the budget and work program for the upcoming 2022 fiscal year. The board also approved the Commuter Connections Work Program.

The board reviewed and approved three resolutions for the UPWP. One was to amend the current 2021 UPWP, next to approve carryover funds from 2021 to 2022, and finally to approve the 2022 UPWP.

During the board discussion, board members asked about the work staff will be undertaking to study what actions the region could take in the transportation sector to address climate change. This study builds upon work the TPB has done in the past. The study examines strategies previously found to have the potential to reduce on-road greenhouse gas emissions to estimate the level of outcomes that will be necessary to reduce emissions commensurate with the region’s goals.

Board members wondered about the timing of the climate study in relation to the ongoing process of updates to the projects in the long-range transportation plan. Staff noted that TPB’s climate study will, by December, assess various strategies to reduce on-road greenhouse gas emissions and the level of outcomes needed, not specific individual projects that are being proposed for inclusion in the plan. Staff also said that a regional air quality conformity analysis will be completed, by March of next year, that will provide estimates of the level of reduction in greenhouse gases from all of the projects, combined, in the long range transportation plan. These two results will indicate the amount of on road greenhouses reduction current plan could provide and what gap, if any, remains to hit the region’s goals. Chair Allen noted that while we will learn about the current plan’s contribution next March, these project actions would need to come in future plans and wondered about reaching the region’s goals more quickly.  Board member David Snyder suggested that the board should discuss the question of better aligning its policy objectives with how individual projects are developed at the local level in future meetings. Other board members noted the importance of accounting for the diversity needs within the region and avoiding any disparate impacts across the region.

Watch and listen to the presentation and board discussion.

Other items

Regional Travel Survey Trends: The board received a briefing on the Regional Travel Survey. The RTS is a once-a-decade survey asking people in the region about their travel behavior. The survey has two parts, a questionnaire, and a travel diary. The briefing at the March meeting covered changes since the 2007/2008 survey. Read more about the RTS.  Watch and listen to the briefing.

Airport Ground Access: The board received a briefing on Air Systems Planning, and specifically an overview of projects from plans in the Washington and Baltimore region that would impact ground access to the area’s airports. Watch and listen to the briefing.

Community Advisory Committee: CAC Chair Elisa Walton presented the CAC report. The CAC met on March 11 and received a briefing on the Voices of the Region survey. The committee also continued to get to know each other and plan for the upcoming year. Watch and listen to the report.

Public Comment: The TPB had received 16 letters and emails from the public. These messages focused on how the TPB will be addressing Climate Change Mitigation through its work plan and how the update to Visualize 2045 will address climate change. Read the letters and emails. Watch and listen to the public comment report.

Get all the materials and watch and listen to the March TPB meeting.

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