greer board retreat gpats - keith brockington

City of Greer

Board RetreatKeith Brockington, AICP

Transportation Planning Manager

Greenville County | GPATS

• Greenville-Pickens Area

Transportation Study

• Metropolitan Planning

Organization (MPO),

one of 11 in SC

• Required by federal

regulations for all

Census-defined UZAs

with 50,000 or more

population

• www.gpats.org

TIGER VII

Grant

TIGER Grant Transportation Investment Generating

Economic Recovery

USDOT Federal Grant

$500 million available nationally

Extremely competitive

Seventh Annual Round

Focus on transportation projects that are:

Transformative

Innovative

Collaborative

TIGER Primary Benefits Better access to jobs, health care, and education

through better connections. Connects the distressed and underserved to critical

services and opportunities.

Shorter headways and extended service hours.

Decreases vehicle congestion and oil dependency. Multimodal service, making transit and bicycling

practical, affordable, clean, and safe.

Increases air quality Upstate facing “Ground-level Ozone Non-Attainment.”

Activates the neighboring areas for economic development or redevelopment.

TIGER VII Application Creating Circuits of Economic Success

Joint Venture

City of Greenville (applying entity)

Greenville County

Greenville Transit Authority

Transform the Greenlink transit system into a regional transportation network.

Builds off the City of Greenville’s TIGER II Planning Grant, “Connections for Sustainability”

TIGER VII Application Ten (10) Zero-Emission Electric Buses

Two (2) Charging Stations

Ten (10) Supporting Circulator Buses

Twenty-Four (24) Multimodal Transit Stations

Seven (7) with Electronic Pay Equipment

Sixteen (16) with B-Cycle Bike Share Stations

Five (5)-mile Extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail

Cleveland Park to CU-ICAR

Six (6) Pedestrian Bridges

• 24 Stations

• 7 Electronic Pay

• 16 B-Cycle

• Gold Line

• TR through the

Golden Strip

• Blue Line

• Greer to SC-

TAC

• Main Transfers

• Midtown

(University

Center)

• Downtown

Transfer Center

• CU-ICAR

*Map not to scale

TIGER VII Application Impact for City of Greer

Direct connection to Greenlink transit system (30 min. headways)

Circulator Bus – connections to Greer neighborhoods, employment (BMW), and GSP Airport

Terminal-style station downtown

In-kind match provided by City of Greer for 0.32 acres ($110k value) of city-owned property for station

B-Cycle Bike Share station, with 10 bikes

TIGER VII Application

Total Project

$24,036,220

TIGER Fund Request

$13,611,037

Local Match (Cash and In-Kind)

$10,425,183 (43.37%)

20% Minimum

TIGER VII Application Cash Matches

City of Greenville

Greenville County

Clemson University

Furman University

Greenville Health System

Hollingsworth Foundation

Piedmont Health

Foundation

SC Launch

Upstate Forever

Verdae Developments

In-Kind Matches

Greenville County

City of Fountain Inn

City of Greer

City of Travelers Rest

Private Property Owners

SC-TAC

Proterra

University Center

Greenville

Verdae

Timeline Pre-Application

Due May 4, 2015

Final Application Due June 5, 2015

Grants Awarded Fall 2015

Pre-Construction Activities Completed June 30, 2017

All Funds Obligated September 30, 2017

All Funds Drawn Down September 30, 2022

TIGER VII Application 6,100 Applications received in the seven rounds of

TIGER, 310 Approved

$124 billion applied for

$4.1 billion granted

This year, $9.8 billion applied for, only $500 million

available. Less than 5% of applicants will be funded.

Average Local Match, 350%, though many minimum-

match projects are funded.

Future TIGER in danger of being severely defunded by

Congress

Should Greenville’s Application fail, the planned system

is still on the books, but will take much longer to

implement

US-29 and I-85

Congestion

Management

I-85/US-29

Congestion Management

Joint Study between GPATS, SPATS, and SCDOT

Use of allocated funding for I-85 Improvements

MAP-21 Highway Authorization allows for use of Interstate Funds to be spend on identified “Parallel Relief Corridors”

US-29 identified as I-85 reliever

US-146/296 as alternative reliever

I-85/US-29

Congestion Management

US-29

SC-146/296

I-85

I-85/US-29

Congestion Management Stakeholder meetings have occurred since late

2014 Greenville County/City

Spartanburg County/City

City of Greer

GPATS/SPATS

Appalachian Council of Governments

GTA/SPARTA

Upstate Forever

SCDOT

RFP Underway to site/design specific infrastructure improvements

I-85/US-29

Congestion Management

Funding: $223,880,000 in GPATS TIP I-85 Widening from US-25 to SC-129

Primarily Functional Improvements

Targeted Lane Increases

Includes funding for Congestion Management on I-85 and US-29 Signal Timing/Upgrades for US-29 Congestion Relief

Park and Ride Lots for I-85 and US-29 Carpool/Vanpool and Transit Support

Truck Parking Facility Safety and Air Qualify Improvements

I-85/US-29

Congestion Management

US-29

I-85

SC 153

CU-ICAR

GSP

Westgate

MallUpstate Port

Truck

Parking

Facility

I-85/US-29

Congestion Management

Next Steps

Selection of Consultant

Completion of Study with Stakeholders support.

Implementation with approved funding.

Potential Future Coordination

Integration with Greenville TIGER Project

Expansion of Transit Systems

Southeast High-Speed Rail

SC-101/SC-290

North Buncombe Rd Ranked #1 in 2007 GPATS

LRTP

Preliminary Engineering

2009-2011

Scope reduced from 5-lane

to 3-lane (Historic

Preservation)

Right-of-Way 2012-2014

Bids opened 2014

Re-bid in 2015

Eagle Construction awarded

contract at $4.22 million

Construction is Underway

Total Cost of Project at $6.18

million

Completion date of

5/31/2016

Thank you!

Questions?

Keith Brockington, AICP

Transportation Planning Manager

Greenville County | GPATS

kbrockington@greenvillecounty.org

www.gpats.org

Thank you!

Upstate (Inland) Port

Opened in 2013

Freight moved by rail from Port of Charleston

Projected to remove 28,000 truck trips off the

Interstate, according to the Ports Authority

In reality, truck traffic is reduced in Charleston,

on I-26, and on I-385

Travel patterns shift on I-85

Preservation of Wade Hampton a priority

Activity at Port is exceeding projections

Upstate (Inland) Port

US-29

I-85

Upstate (Inland) Port

28

Woodruff Road Parallel Top Ranked Project in LRTP

$27 million cost, minimal

Alleviate congestion

Provide alternatives

Connect network

Open more land for economic

development

Other goings on….