RAMP Tracking Several Bills in Play in Olympia

During this second week of the short 2008 Session, several bills are being tracked by RAMP participants for their potential to either hinder or support Pierce County's transportation objectives:

• SB 6748, submitted by WA Senator Jim Kastama upon RAMP's request, will make changes in the current transportation benefit district (TBD) legislation to make that potential funding mechanism more viable;
• SB 6754, introduced by Senator Mary Margaret Haugen at request of Governor Christine Gregoire, proposes a financing plan for replacing the SR-520 bridge;
• SB 6771, co-sponsored by Senator Haugen and WA Representative Ed Murray, would eliminate the RTID authority; while it's hard to argue against elimination, there is no rush to do this--RAMP supports keeping every option available, at least for now;
• SB 6772, co-sponsored by Haugen with Eastside Senator Rodney Tom, proposes radical changes in regional transportation governance as recommended by the Regional Transportation Commission; RAMP opposes these changes.

RAMP Adopts 2008 Legislative Priorities

Yesterday, RAMP's participants adopted their agenda for action on transportation issues in the 2008 Legislature, but the most significant activity this year may very well be outside that arena.

Following an exchange with King County leaders over their proposal to overhaul regional transportation governance, RAMP participants appeared more committed than ever to trying to establish a transportation benefit district (TBD), either alone or with another county, to pay for major highway projects. The Legislative package finalized yesterday states categorically that "RAMP believes that a Transportation Benefit District is the most viable vehicle for advancing towards the next voter-approved funding package" because it's a more flexible alternative to a new Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) and one which may not be saddled with the baggage of failure last November.

Despite some initial support from Governor Christine Gregoire and key state lawmakers, most handicappers for the upcoming Session see governance as a non-starter--there's too much opposition from Pierce County and, well, pretty much every place outside of King County, and this Session is too short to overcome that opposition. RAMP seeks some minor changes to the current TBD legislation--granting districts authority allotted to the Regional Transportation Investment District, as well as removing the ten-year limitation on voter-approved tax collections--but even that may be too much to expect this year.

The real action in 2008 is likely to be formation of a TBD either for Pierce County alone or for Pierce in tandem with one or more neighboring counties. Representatives from Thurston County are scheduled on RAMP's February agenda to make the pitch for alignment with their jurisdiction.

The RTC Comes To Town (Reprise')

T-Mobile founder John Stanton and former WA Transportation Secretary Doug McDonald met with RAMP today to seek Pierce County support for reform of regional transportation governance. Their reception by the group was polite but less than encouraging.

Stanton shared his belief that the failure of Proposition 1 was due, in part, to voter fatigue following a series of large, uncoordinated funding requests. He reiterated recommendations of the Regional Transportation Commission, which he chaired, calling for an overhaul of transportation agencies--a move that he feels will lead to more coordination, higher public credibility, and better leveraging of extant transportation funding sources.

McDonald suggested that sub-area equity--a pillar of RAMP's Legislative priorities now for several years--might work against Pierce County's goals. "You won't be able to finance mega projects like SR-167," he opined, "without tapping funding from the entire region." He said that the recent failure of Proposition 1 "convinced him" that he should join Stanton and others in seeking a major new agency that would replace groups like Sound Transit and the Puget Sound Regional Council.

RAMP's participants weren't buying. WA Senator Jim Kastama (who was a leader in crafting the Nickel Package as well as the RTID legislation) was quick to disagree. He claimed that King County did a much poorer job of prioritizing investments for the Roads & Transit package, and that this weakness would be magnified in a proportionally representative body--the entity proposed by the RTC.

Following a robust discussion, participants moved forward to adopt RAMP's 2008 Legislative Priorities. At the forefront was the statement that "a Transportation Benefit District is the most viable vehicle for advancing towards the next voter-approved funding package, whether Pierce County moves forward unilaterally or in cooperation with other counties."

Another Voice: Shawn Bunney

There's already been some Sturm und Drang across the blogosphere regarding Shawn Bunney's recent letter to Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, in which he blames King County Executive Ron Sims and The Seattle Times for the defeat of the Roads & Transit package in November. The letter was sent November 28th and widely disseminated around Pierce County, even being incorporated into Bunney's year-end report to his constituents.

Bunney's been involved in the regional struggle over transportation funding as chair for the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID), the agency whose mission was to develop the roads portion of the package. The letter is certainly a brash one--some might say its tone is downright nasty--and it ends with a request for Gregoire to embrace transportation needs more widely dispersed than just King County.

In the letter, Bunney attacks Seattle and King County interests for grabbing--and continuing now to grab for--an inordinate share of the region's revenues for mobility investments:

I am sure that before voters went to bed on election night some Seattle legislators were busy ramping up for another raid of the region's roads funds... funds they say are for a $4.4 billion "Safety" project called the 520 Bridge.

This is the same group that siphoned $700 million in gas taxes out of Pierce County in the past 15 years.

We heard this same story yet again in 2006 when the same Seattle interests took almost $400 million out of Pierce County wallets to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct; a viaduct, it turns out, not wanted by Seattle because it blocks the view.

Certainly Bunney's argument has merit--as has been previously observed by this blog, Pierce County (and every other county in the state save one) has been shorted its fair share of funding, as in 2005 when the Transportation Partnership package delivered 65% of the statewide revenues to King County. That's a sure sticking point which any effort to develop a new regional package will have to address before it can move forward.

King County's 'Plan B': What's In It For Pierce?

As predicted by RAMP's Co-Chairs at the group's most recent meeting, King County leaders are now beginning the push to implement the flawed recommendations set forth last year by the Regional Transportation Commission. An oped in last Thursday's edition of The Seattle Times offers the opinion that Proposition 1's recent failure should mandate folding the project and financial planning powers of Sound Transit, the Regional Transportation Investment District, Puget Sound Regional Council and dozens of other regional transportation agencies into a new regional transportation agency.

Even a cursory glance at the piece, co-authored by Phil Talmadge (a Tukwila attorney and former state Supreme Court justice) & Mark Baerwaldt (a Belltown entrepreneur and financier), should give pause to readers from the South Sound. For starters, its list of vital regional projects lists the Murray Morgan Bridge--not SR-167--along with the Viaduct and SR-520; that reflects the same rough percentage of funding dispersion as the 2005 Transportation Partnership package from which King County derived 65% of the statewide revenue versus 5 percent for Pierce County and even less for everyone else.

It's abundantly clear from November's election results that the region's voters believe that bigger is not better. The curious logic behind this piece seems to be that, nonetheless, what voters now want is an even bigger agency that can mastermind transportation investment with even less local input.

The piece also decries the high cost and low benefit its authors anticipate from the light rail line soon to be linking Seattle with SeaTac Airport; a cynical South Sounder would view this as knocking a done deal (the dollars are already there to finish that line) so as to avoid stating their real objection--that Tacoma and Pierce County "don't need" high capacity alternatives to the highway system.

There are, however, some suggestions with which RAMP participants can agree, such as the following:

• Holding transportation agencies accountable for producing verifiable and quantifiable results;
• Expanding bus service on busy corridors;
• Providing financial incentives to increase bus ridership;
• Providing the maximum number of vans for van pools;
• Crafting incentives to major employers to stagger their hours of business;
• Sequencing traffic signals in cities to increase traffic flows and save energy;
• Initiating pilot projects for congestion pricing--automated tolls based on demand or capacity--on our most clogged highways.

All of these initiatives can be implemented without any new agencies--what's needed is more resources spread more equitably across the region. How to do that seems to be absent from this oped's advice.

Back to the Drawing Board

Proposition 1, which would have raised taxes to pay for $18 billion worth of road and transit projects, failed at the polls Tuesday by a wide margin in all three Central Puget Sound counties. At this month's RAMP meeting (held yesterday morning), local transportation leaders were still trying to regroup after the drubbing at the polls.

"We're going to have to work through the noise about the campaign and its failure over the next few weeks," Shawn Bunney, Chair for the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID), stated. We have to go back to the people of our region and ask: "Did you really not want transportation to work?"

RAMP Co-Chair John Ladenburg observed: "There will be lots of conflicting theories, but one thing's for sure--doing nothing is not an option." Ladenburg is the Pierce County Executive and the Chair for Sound Transit.

The impassioned "morning after" soul-searching gave way to steely resolve as RAMP participants began their scheduled discussion about priorities for lobbying in the 2008 Legislative Session. Governor Chris Gregoire and other state leaders seem to be focused mainly on one project--replacing the SR-520 bridge across Lake Washington. Senator Mary Margaret Haugen, Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, believes it’s time to take another look some sort of super agency--like the Regional Transportation Commission--to coordinate all agencies across the region that plan, fund and operate road and transit projects.

"We need to be at the top of our game going into Olympia this year," Ladenburg said. He and RAMP Co-Chair David Graybill called for a transportation summit of sorts at next month's RAMP meeting (December 5th). At that meeting, participants will be asked to consider several related issues, including:

• How does Pierce County gain statewide--even regional, for that matter--recognition for its infrastructure needs (e.g., the I-5 bridge over the Puyallup River is just as ready to fall as the Alaskan Way Viaduct)?


• Should Pierce County break away from King and Snohomish counties to present its own roads package to voters, as allowed by state law if the regional Roads & Transit measure failed?


• How do we effectively address not just building projects but providing congestion relief?

Murray Moves RTC Forward

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The Washington State Legislature is moving ahead with sweeping changes to the way transportation projects are funded--and not in a positive manner for Pierce County.

Yesterday, despite opposition by RAMP and other transportation advocacy groups, the Washington State Senate passed SB5803 by a comfortable margin, 33-14. The bill, sponsored by Senator Ed Murray, would enact provisions of the Regional Transportation Commission if also adopted by the House without significant changes.

The bill sets up a new body of elected officials from King, Pierce and Snohomish counties, elected by district. "It will clearly be dominated by King County voters and money," warns RAMP Co-Chair John Ladenburg. This group will take over the funding and planning for local and regional road and transit projects and would displace the transportation planning and funding functions of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC).

RAMP Co-Chair David Graybill told Senators that the legislation "will destroy Pierce County's hard won equity role in regional transportation project planning and funding, and shift the influence to Seattle/Bellevue, where this idea got its life. "

"Another mega-regional governance vehicle is the last thing we need," Graybill concluded, especially now when "[WS]DOT, Sound Transit, and Pierce Transit are all cooperating and planning together like never before with most projects being done well and completed on time as funding becomes available."

Other voices around the region are also sounding an alarm. The Northwest Progressive Institute claims that the legislation will "complicate and confuse the existing decision making process, which is already hard for many citizens to understand. The proposed law would stomp all over home rule and local control by essentially consolidating existing transportation agencies into one larger entity."

Traffic congestion is a worsening problem throughout the Puget Sound region--not just in King County. That message needs to be communicated to members of the Washington House of Representatives, where the battle now begins.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

Scorecard for the 2007 Legislature (I)

Submitted by Paul Ellis

RAMP is watching a number of bills currently in play in Olympia, and will continue to pursue the consensus Legislative agenda with state lawmakers duirng the 2007 Session.

The following bills should be of interest to RAMP participants and will be tracked by the group until their ultimate disposition:

• HB1094 and SB5136 are versions from each chamber proposing transportation appropriations for the biennium (2007-2009);


• HB1396 and SB5282 both provide for a single ballot proposition for the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID) and Sound Transit at the 2007 general election;


• HB1858 and SB5767 both permit transportation benefit districts that fully encompass a city or county to impose impact fees for up to $20.00 in vehicle fees without voter approval;


• SB5207 is the substitute bill amending the controversial container tax proposal and, instead, authorizing a study to evaluate the imposition of such a fee in the context of other funding mechanisms to improve freight corridors;


• HB2101 and SB5803 propose two versions for implementing recommendations from the Regional Transportation Commission;


• SJR8211 extends state bonding from thirty to forty years for transportation projects;


• HB1773 helps implement recommendations of the Washington State Transportation Commission's Tolling Study;


• HB2146 and SB5681 will help residents of the Gig Harbor Peninsula get a break on tolls for crossing the new Narrows Bridge.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

RTC: Dead On Arrival?

Submitted by Paul Ellis

Although the group internally has differences of opinion, the Regional Transportation Commission is reportedly ready to release its final report with the recommendation that existing Puget Sound transportation agencies should be replaced by one regional board that would choose which highway and transit projects get built.

A bold recommendation, but is it necessary? While the report explores at length the problem of scattered decision-making, it doesn't cite any specific mistakes. Based on past unhappy experience, decision-makers outside King County can be expected to be gun shy about the term "regional"--it usually means "Seattle and the East Side" more than anything else.

State representative Dennis Flannigan, who sits on the House Transportation Committee, told RAMP participants last week that he believes the RTC recommendations will be "DOA" this Session. Senate Transportation Committee Chair Mary Margaret Haugen told The Seattle Times that she likes the suggestions and that Legislative leaders are already working on a bill. Who's right?

Maybe it's a moot point, anyway. Any reforms would likely come after November's expected Roads & Transit ballot measure, which would set in motion billions of dollars in projects picked by the Sound Transit and the Regional Transportation Investment District boards--agencies the RTC suggests replacing with the new regional body. Won't the likely result of this watershed opportunity be to "wait and see" until after November?

By the way, the report will not be released until later this month, but a copy has been posted online by John Niles, a Seattle supporter of bus rapid transit.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

RAMP Responds to the Regional Transportation Commission

Submitted by Paul Ellis

RAMP Co-Chair David Graybill has responded on behalf of the coalition to the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) draft recommendations released last month. In a letter to RTC Co-Chairs John Stanton & Norm Rice, Graybill stated that:

• "We agree with RTC that regional transportation is in crisis and that this crisis has resulted from chronic underfunding--delayed investments that mean, as construction costs continue to rise, ever higher prices for needed projects. We further agree that the public has often shown its support for wise expenditures and accountability.


• "We cannot agree, however, with your conclusion that the absence of unified regional governance is the major impediment to our collective success in easing gridlock and building a better transportation system; in fact, we are concerned that the RTC’s recommendations as currently expressed seem to ignore and overreach progress now taking place in several agencies such as RTID and WSDOT.


• "The role of RAMP and similar alliances in other counties was not addressed in your report. Although participation is voluntary, RAMP serves as an effective vehicle for coordination between agencies and jurisdictions, and provides a forum for unified discussion on road and transit improvements. We also provide benchmarking for successes in prioritization, accountability and funding. While your draft report is critical of existing organizational structures, it does not present corresponding models that work. We believe RAMP is a good model and should be considered in your final recommendations.


• "We also take issue with the RTC’s finding on sub-area equity—not only does it introduce a “sense of fairness,” it provides a safeguard for accountability. As some have said: “All politics is local politics,” and we’ve seen in regional road and transit votes in other parts of the country that the system which best improves everyone’s transportation network is the one that passes muster with voters."

The RTC is scheduled to meet again tomorrow at the University of Washington Seattle.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

Pierce County Responds to RTC's Recommendations

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The Regional Transportation Commission held their first public hearing--in Pierce County--tonight, and pitched the benefits of a souped-up Puget Sound transportation mega-agency.

Co-chair John Stanton began the meeting with a brief presentation outlining the Commission's current view on regional transportation issues as reflected in the draft recommendations released last week:

• Regional transportation is in a state of crisis;
• Currently identified sources of funding will be inadequate to meet the region's growing needs to the tune of a $62 billion shortfall from $134 billion needed over the next 2.4 decades;
• Regional transportation governance is "fragmented, uncoordinated and hence unproductive," according to Stanton.

This introduction was followed by almost an hour and a half of testimony from just five entities, most of them from Seattle and most in favor of the recommended changes. The one exception was Pierce Transit CEO Lynn Griffith, who was accompanied by Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma, current chair of the board for the transit agency. Griffith told Commissioners that:

• Opinions about PT expressed by RTC's focus group were much harsher than those expressed in August in a statistically valid survey performed for WSDOT;
• There is much greater collaboration between local and regional agencies than was reflected in the RTC report;
• Recent progress in collaboration and accountability has been and is occurring and should be duly noted.

Mayor Baarsma noted how well the different entities in Pierce County already work together, and he cited RAMP as one group that is effective but was not considered in the RTC's survey of the regional transportation system. He expressed concern that a new mega-agency could be so centralized that it might replace "the organic with the bureaucratic."

Somewhat after 7:00 p.m., members of the public were allowed to testify--with a three-minute limit. Some highlights:

• Sean Egan spoke on behalf of the Port of Tacoma, asking Commissioners to consider whether their recommendations "might overreach real progress in prioritization, accountability and funding already taking place on the ground" and thus become counterproductive;
• Randy Lewis, offering comments on behalf of the City of Tacoma, suggested that "Tacoma and Pierce County already utilizes the model that you ought to consider for regional governance";
• RAMP Co-chair David Graybill told commissioners that the coalition "is a good model and should be considered in your recommendations" and stated that sub-area equity--which the draft report sees only as an impediment to progress--not only introduces a "sense of fairness" but provides a safeguard for accountability.

Public comment will still be accepted (in writing) through November 30th. The final report from the RTC will be submitted to the 2007 Legislature.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

Pennsylvania's RTC Recommends Raising Revenues

Submitted by Paul Ellis

On RAMP has written previously about Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's Transportation Funding and Reform Commission and its work paralleling (in some respects) that of Washington State's Regional Transportation Commission (RTC). Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania group released its final recommendations for how to fill Pennsylvania's $1.7 billion transportation funding gap.

Pennsylvania's commission was given the mandate to identify new revenues to fill the gaps. Highways and bridges require $900 million in additional funding per year, while public transit requires an additional $760 million per year, the commission concluded. The final report recommends revenues from the following sources:

• Increase the cost of vehicle registration and license fees to raise about $150 million a year for highways and bridges;
• Increase realty transfer taxes that would add about $5 a month to a homeowner's 30-year, $150,000 mortgage and help out public transportation;
• Seek public-private partnerships to reduce the need to raise taxes (e.g., leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike and setting tolls for existing roadways);
• Raising the gas tax by 11.5 cents for projects under state jurisdiction and by one more cent for local highways and bridges.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

RTC Recommendations Now Online

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The Regional Transportation Commission yesterday published its draft recommendations to Governor Gregoire & the Washington State Legislature on how regional transportation can be better governed and financed in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

In brief, the document calls for the merger of six agencies--Sound Transit, King County Metro, Pierce Transit, Kitsap Transit, Community Transit and Everett Transit--into one to plan and finance projects. The recommendations call for tolls, user fees and private-public partnerships as ways to pay for transportation needs rather than raising taxes.

The document is under review by members of RAMP's staff team, but participants are also encouraged to review the draft and participate in the RTC's upcoming public hearing next week in Tacoma.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

Pennsylvania's Regional Transportation Commission

Submitted by Paul Ellis

The Puget Sound region is, of course, not the only one in the nation wrestling with transportation funding and governance issues. Washington State's Regional Transportation Commission may be able to gain some valuable insights from a similar effort that has been underway in Pennsylvania since last year.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell formed the Transportation Funding and Reform Commission, a bipartisan group of nine commissioners, last February in the aftermath of financial crises at the Port Authority and Philadelphia-based Southwestern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. The commission was charged with assessing the magnitude of the transportation funding crisis and identifying reform measures and funding sources for current and future needs of both highways and transit. Its purview was expanded to other elements of the transportation network--including highways, bridges and capital improvement programs.

The interim report recently released by the Commission does not recommend specific sources of new funding; rather, the 25-page report outlines factors and problems leading to the crisis, suggests reforms and proposes three "investment levels" to address the problems.

Commissioners have developed a set of principles to guide their recommendations:
While the state cannot be the only source of transportation financing, it must fund the core transit, highway and bridge systems and work to keep them in a state of good repair;

1. Efficiencies should be rewarded with straightforward, market-based financial incentives embedded in the public funding system;
2. Local municipalities must have more flexibility and incentives;
3. Financing at the regional and local levels should be encouraged;
4. State funding should reward smart planning that integrates transportation, land use and economic development.

The Commission will hold a series of statewide "listening sessions" this month to allow the public to give its opinions about where additional revenue should come from--and how much. The commission is to recommend revenue-generating measures by November 15.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis was the head of the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community's largest transportation planning effort.

Through the Looking Glass

Submitted by Paul Ellis

To some observers (most notably Mary Margaret Haugen, current chair for the WA Senate's Transportation Committee), the only list longer than that of the critical transportation projects awaiting funding is the list of agencies empowered to direct transportation funds. Senator Haugen and other leading Legislators believe that this is no coincidence; in other words, that the plethora of agencies (from FMSIB to TIB) with their own funding "silos" and separate agendas is a big share of the problem. We can probably all agree that entering the world of transportation funding can resemble entering Alice's side of the looking glass, a place where alphabet letters conspire to upset the Mad Hatter's tea--it's part of the rationale behind starting this blog, in fact.
The WA Legislature's solution to this modern voyage through the looking glass is the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC), which was formed last Session to "develop a proposal for a regional transportation governing entity more directly accountable to the public, and to develop a comprehensive regional transportation finance plan for the citizens of the Puget Sound metropolitan region.” Norm Rice and John Stanton have been appointed to co-chair the commission. Dan McDonald and Mary Gates from King County, and Gigi Burke from Snohomish County were also appointed to the commission; an appointee from Kitsap County has yet to be confirmed. Dave Johnson and RAMP Co-chair Tim Farrell are representing Pierce County on the RTC.

The RTC's mission is multi-faceted, including goals to:

• Consolidate governance among agencies, including changes in institutional powers, structures, and relationships and governance needed to improve accountability for transportation decisions, while enhancing the regional focus for transportation decisions and maintaining equity among citizens in the region;
• Improve coordination in the planning of transportation investments and services;
• Improve investment strategies

Thus far, most press coverage and public interest has been focused on the first goal listed above.
Expectations for positive change are running high in Olympia. “This commission needs to be forward thinking--I want them to consider our transportation needs in 2030, not only 2010,” said Governor Christine Gregoire in announcing formation of the RTC. “I know that these recommendations will get mixed reviews, but I hope that everyone, including transit providers, local governments and the Department of Transportation will work with the commission to reach a solution that helps to fight traffic congestion in the Puget Sound region.”

The Commission is meeting with and hearing from transportation agencies in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties. The proposal to create a single transportation agency designed to make it easier to build roads and mass transit is getting a cool reception in Snohomish County. Pierce County jurisdictions and agencies will get a chance to have their say at a hearing beginning at 9:00 this Thursday in the Port Business Center (3600 Port of Tacoma Rd.).

The Commission is scheduled to release its report and recommendations by November 15, which will be forwarded to the WA State Legislature for its next Session beginning in January, 2007.

Paul Ellis is lead staff for RAMP; an employee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, Ellis led the Pierce County Transportation Advisory Committee (PCTAC), the community’s largest transportation planning effort.