Santa Cruz County Transit and Transportation Agency Meetings - Audio Tracks

SCCRTC's summary of the last 3 episodes:

The existing bridges are old and most have deteriorated to an unusable state. There are advantages for rebuilding the bridges to the E80 freight standards. That will be expensive, but there are not many savings to be had with lower ratings. The RTC does not know how much it will cost to replace them.

The RTC's highlights:

"The Commission received an update on the Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail Project Concept development, including information on recent public engagement. As the project team begins the next milestone of the Project Concept Report – preliminary conceptual alignments and zero emission vehicle types – evaluation of existing corridor infrastructure was completed in February as a first step. The evaluation concluded that the majority of the existing bridges on the Branch Line would need to be replaced in order to accommodate passenger rail service. Staff informed the Commission that since the Branch Line is an active freight railroad, the recommendation is that the Project Concept Report include rail infrastructure that supports loading for freight rail and passenger rail. The current industry standard design loading for new infrastructure supporting freight rail is referred to as the Cooper E80 loading, in which the heaviest locomotive loads are 80,000-pounds per axle. Constructing new bridges to a design load standard less than Cooper E80 yields very little cost benefit while introducing fundability risks. Staff also informed the Commission that for existing Branch Line bridges that can be strengthened and potentially remain, adopting a loading standard for existing bridges that is lower than Cooper E80 may be practical while still meeting the needs of both freight and passenger rail uses of the Branch Line."

Agenda:

https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-04-RTC-agenda-revised.pdf

An introduction to bridge load ratings for non-engineers by from HDR.

Agenda:

https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-04-RTC-agenda-revised.pdf

A very basic presentation of the ZEPRT covering topics that have been discussed many times and published. I think this was an opportunity for the consultant (HDR) staff (Tiffany Mendoza) to make the presentation.

Agenda:

https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-04-RTC-agenda-revised.pdf

Scott Eades from CalTrans discusses projects and funding opportunities in the area.

Agenda:

https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-04-RTC-agenda-revised.pdf

Commisioner Schiffren discussed the "good news" that one of 4 bids came in under the engineer's estimate.

ED Weiss read a scripted announcement covering ongoing projects.

Of note, at about 5:00 minutes in he addressed concerns about the possibility of losing the large grant for the upcoming Coastal Trail segments (see 3/26 SC County Supervisor's meeting).

Commisioner Johnson:

"Yeah, I just want, and regard to the item that's pulled today, there's a lot of concern about the grant being lost. Can you say, I do not get the feedback that it's going to be lost. Can you say yes or no? Was this delay going to jeopardize the grant?

ED Weiss:

"So the issue is getting the allocation from the California Transportation Commission, and I have some familiarity with that. I guess I would note that at the June meeting at the last year at the California Transportation Commission, they approved 18 time extensions for active transportation program projects. And that is just one program, many other time extensions on their agenda.

It's not something the commission wants to see, but I do not envision a short time extension jeopardizing this project. And certainly it's the commission's discretion, but I think everybody wants this project to succeed and a little more time to have a little more discussion is not gonna kill the project."

Agenda:

https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-04-RTC-agenda-revised.pdf

Commisioner reports - Com Koenig reports on a visit to Sacramento meeting with lobbyists and transportation funding agencies. There are challenges.

Agenda:

https://sccrtc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-04-RTC-agenda-revised.pdf

INTERIM CEO/GM ORAL REPORT

Daniel Zaragoza, Interim CEO/General Manager

3/22/24 - SC Metro Board Meeting notes and links

Meeting Portal with video link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRWW6uPkw8&list=PLo9N9AsVOVvT_Ae6YrLvf_pJKSTzuuMqX

Agenda

https://scmtd.com/images/department/board/archive/agendas/2024/2024.03.22-BOD-Agenda.pdf

Continuation of the presentation by John Urgo and Daniel Costantino (Jarrett Walker and Associates) on the Reimagine Metro service upgrades including board questions and comments.

If you are interested in the presentation there is a video here:

https://youtu.be/sXJPA9yiN5w

3/22/24 - SC Metro Board Meeting notes and links

Meeting Portal with video link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRWW6uPkw8&list=PLo9N9AsVOVvT_Ae6YrLvf_pJKSTzuuMqX

Agenda

https://scmtd.com/images/department/board/archive/agendas/2024/2024.03.22-BOD-Agenda.pdf

Presentation by John Urgo and Daniel Costantino (Jarrett Walker and Associates) on the Reimagine Metro service upgrades.

If you are interested in the presentation there is a video here:

https://youtu.be/sXJPA9yiN5w

3/22/24 - SC Metro Board Meeting notes and links

Meeting Portal with video link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRWW6uPkw8&list=PLo9N9AsVOVvT_Ae6YrLvf_pJKSTzuuMqX

Agenda

https://scmtd.com/images/department/board/archive/agendas/2024/2024.03.22-BOD-Agenda.pdf