F/ETCA Board Approves Funding for Oso Parkway Bridge Project Design Services During Construction

The Oso Parkway Bridge Project continues to move forward. The project includes replacing a portion of Oso Parkway with a new bridge structure to improve traffic flow and provide a direct connection between the 241 Toll Road and Los Patrones Parkway. The Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency (F/ETCA) Board of Directors voted to authorize a Task Order amendment for Oso Parkway Bridge Project design services to be provided by T.Y. Lin International for an amount not-to-exceed $385,000. The design services needed during the construction phase will support F/ETCA staff and the construction management team with submittal reviews, requests for information, plan revisions, analysis and recommendations to address current site conditions, and coordination with Caltrans for timely review and concurrence on design changes. Construction for the Oso Parkway Bridge Project began in July 2018 and is anticipated to be complete in Summer 2020.

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Presentation of TCA’s South County Traffic Relief Efforts Project Initiation Document

Staff provided an overview of the recently completed Project Study Report/Project Development Study (PSR/PDS) for the South County Traffic Relief Effort Project. For the past two years, the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA), in partnership with Caltrans and the Project Development Team, have been preparing a PSR/PDS that establishes a preliminary purpose-and-need statement, describes a range of alternatives and identifies the technical studies to be completed as part of the next phase of the project. The PSR/PDS is the planning document of the Caltrans project development process that assists Caltrans with identifying the level of staff resources required for the next phase of project development – the Project Approval/Environmental Document (PA/ED). The final PSR/PDS was submitted to Caltrans in November 2018 for approval.

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South County Traffic Relief Effort Project Moves Forward to Next Phase

The F/ETCA approved work for the initial tasks in the PA/ED phase to include Notice of Intent/Notice of Preparation, development of a draft purpose and need statement and completion of the Alternatives Screening Report to define the alternatives that will be carried through the full environmental review process. This work will be completed in partnership with Caltrans, the Orange County Transportation Authority, County of Orange and local cities and will include opportunities for public comment on the purpose and need statement and alternatives.

In December 2016, the F/ETCA Board authorized LSA Associates, Inc. (LSA) and Fehr & Peers to provide on-call environmental consulting services for the PA/ED phase. At the Nov. 8, 2018 F/ETCA Board Meeting, staff sought Board approval to add scope and budget to their contracts to prepare and manage the EIR/EIS along with the required technical studies, traffic modeling and traffic technical study.

F/ETCA Board of Directors approved:

• Authorize the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to extend the term of Contract No. K000946 with LSA for On-Call Environmental Consulting Services for a period of five (5) years.
• Authorize the CEO to extend the term of Contract No. K001054 with Fehr and Peers to provide On-Call Traffic Engineering Consulting Services for a period of five (5) years.
• Authorize the CEO to execute Amendment No. 14 to Contract No. K000946 with LSA to provide environmental consulting services in support of completing the PA/ED activities related to Scoping Phase and the Alternative Screening Report per Caltrans requirements for an amount not-to-exceed $3,000,000.
• Authorize the CEO to execute Task Order No. 10 to Contract No. K001054 with Fehr and Peers for traffic modeling and technical services in support of completing the PA/ED activities related to Scoping Phase and the Alternative Screening Report per Caltrans requirements for an amount not-to-exceed $2,000,000.
• At the conclusion of the NOI/NOP Alternative Scoping Phase, TCA staff is to return to the Board with a reduced number of Alternatives for evaluation as part of the following technical studies phase. 
• Direct the CEO to return to the F/ETCA Board of Directors at the conclusion of the NOI/NOP Alternative Scoping Phase for authorization to move forward with additional scope and budget.
• Direct the CEO to constitute a Technical Advisory Committee comprised of the City Managers selected from Foothill/Eastern member cities.
• Direct the CEO to provide quarterly updates to the F/ETCA Board of Directors on the progress for the South County Traffic Relief Project.

During this next phase, TCA, will work with Caltrans, the project’s lead agency under NEPA, to hold an Alternatives Scoping Meeting to allow the public, regulatory agencies and other stakeholders to provide input into the alternatives they would like evaluated during this process.

“The PA/ED phase has a number of sub phases within it and this first phase – Scoping Phase and the Alternative Screening Report – will include a public meeting to provide an opportunity for the public and stakeholders to formally comment on the purpose and need statement and alternatives. Meanwhile, we’ll be conducting the technical analysis that we need so that by the end of this first sub phase we have the data, that the Board and public are looking for, to determine which alternatives will move forward in the subsequent phases of the environmental process,” said TCA Chief Executive Officer, Mike Kraman.

The formal environmental process is projected to be complete in 2025.

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Transactions and Revenue Increase in October 2018

Transactions and revenue increased in October for both Agencies, compared to October 2017. For the 73 Toll Road, transactions increased by 0.9 percent and revenue grew by 3.4 percent. On the 133, 241 and 261 Toll Roads, transactions increased by 0.7 percent and revenue increased by 4.9 percent.  Collectively, the Agencies processed nearly nine million transactions in October 2018, an average of 285,000 transactions a day.