Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Um, at this time we'll rise for the invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance. Gracious God, we invite you into our
discussions today. Unite our hearts and guide our conversations with wisdom and patience. Help us to seek solutions that honor you and benefit everyone involved. In your name. Amen. >> Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Welcome everyone to the February 12th, 2026 meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Organization. Uh, at this time
we'll ask uh the clerk's office to call the role, please. >> Mayor John Eric Hoover >> here. >> Councilman Lance Smith >> here. >> Councilman Murphy >> here. >> Commissioner Ron Oakley, Commissioner Seth Waitman,
Commissioner Catherine Starky, Commissioner Lisa Jagger, Commissioner Jack Mariano, Chairman Scott >> here. Thank you very much. And at this time we do not have a quorum, but we anticipate
in the next few minutes we'll have an additional member who will make that quorum for us. This this is a period of time that's set aside for public comment. If there's anyone in the public would like to speak regarding any of the transportation issues in Pasco County.
Um we'd ask that you limit your comments to three minutes, but this is your time to come forward and speak if there's any public comment. Yes, sir. if you could please come forward and state your name and address for the record. >> Uh I'm Lucas Miller. I live at 1855
Thorn Hill Road. And my suggestion is more like uh my comment is more like uh I want more uh transitoriented development. So basically around the uh every time I go to a bus stop, there's basically nothing around it. So there's
really no point to going to that bus stop uh unless there's uh mixeduse walkable neighborhoods around it. So if we increase the amount of mixeduse neighborhoods around uh transit stops and decrease the amount of uh car
infrastructure like parking lots, then it would increase the efficiency of our of our public transit and would it would make traffic better. So that's that's all I want to say. >> Very good. Good planning, Mr. Miller, thank you very much. >> That something you're in favor of? I
guess >> I like the idea. It's a good planning technique and we'll certainly appreciate your public comment and something we can work toward. I know I've seen it in with rapid transit as well. Uh to transit oriented development and >> it's a neat tool to have in the planning
toolbox. >> Okay. Thank you. Thanks for being with us today. Would anyone else like to address the MO board at this time? Seeing none, we'll close the public comment and we'll move into our uh agenda. Um
we have the several items on our um this I guess this is not a consent agenda, but we do have three items. Uh and they're all approving minutes of the January 9th meeting, the May 8th meeting, and the February uh 13th meeting. Um, do we need to
>> There's no >> Okay. >> Can you just announce the >> Yes, we're we're pleased to include at our meeting this morning, Commissioner Mariano and Commissioner Wakeman, we now have a quorum present. Uh, are we able to vote on these three items, these
three minutes in one with one vote as a consent agree consent agenda item? Where's our county attorney? Are we >> Are we able to vote on these three items with one vote as as in a consent agenda, the minutes of the three meetings? Okay.
>> Okay. Very good. Do we have a motion to approve the the minutes of the three meetings uh January 9th, May 8th, and February 13th? Pending pending any corrections or additions? Mr. Chair, I move approval. >> Okay, we have a motion. We have a second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none.
All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Those opposed, nay. Thank you. under um MO advisory committee reports. Item four, uh Pesco Metropolitan Planning Organization NO Advisory Committees. Um at this time we
have let's see with our um Mr. Tom Ryan, Citizens Advisory Committee. Tom, if you come forward and for your report. Thank you. >> Good morning, chairman, board members. Uh Tom Ryan with the Pasco Economic Development Council, also longtime
resident, Pasco County, 26800, Stillbrook Drive, Wesley Chapel. Uh normally I'm up here for other reasons, bringing a company to Pasco, but now I'm my turn to be the chairman of the CAC. And uh I was nominated as chair at our
last meeting last week. Uh Dr. Randy Sto is our vice chair. Um wanted to let you know the committee voted to approve the November 2025 meeting minutes 2026 Pasco MO safety performance measures. Uh the
committee also heard a presentation on the safety action plan and you the annual go Pasco performance measures and administrative costs. Um th this concludes the CAC committee updates uh as it relates to our previous or last
week's meeting. Uh, happy to answer any questions if you have any. >> Thank you, Tom. Any questions for Mr. Ryan? Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Next, we have the technical advisory committee, Miss Cynthia Spyel. Welcome, Cynthia.
>> Uh, good morning, Cynthia Spidel representing the uh technical advisory committee. So, we also reelected our chair. So, um, I was reelected as chair and Rebecca Bogue is who's in the audience is our vice chair for the upcoming year. So I don't think our
actions um when we make motions and if we make changes to recommendations I don't think that makes it into your agenda due to the timing of the close timing of the of the hearings of the meetings to each other. So I just am here to tell you that we did look at the
performance um let me look at it here. Hold on. Yeah the recommended adopted standards for a Pasco MO highway safety PM1 targets. So that is going to come before you later today, but we just wanted to let you know that we made a motion to approve them, but we did ask
for a modification and that was to the number of fatalities. The um technical advisory committee didn't feel comfortable increasing that number. So we voted to keep it at the 2025 target, which is the lower number, 91.26,
versus increasing it to 93. We just felt that it we didn't feel comfortable saying it would be okay to add to add more fatalities to the target. And with that, um, we just had our usual business. Um, so happy to answer any questions if you have any. Thank you. >> Any questions for Miss Bidell, technical
advisory committee. >> Thank you very much, Cynthia. Appreciate it. Thanks for being with us today. >> Angel Avala, bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee. Angel, >> good morning. Angela, Pasco PO staff. The um Pasco Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee occurred on February 4th and
it did have a quorum. Um the committee held their annual um election of MO BPAC uh officers and they did choose to reelect um the same officers, Brian Michaels as chair and Jeff Laneir as vice chair. Um the committee also voted to approve the November 2025 meeting
minutes and three new committee members um as well as the 2026 Pasco and PO safety performance measures. And finally, they also heard the same presentations as the previous two committees for the safety action plan and the annual go Pasco performance measures. And that concludes my um update if you have any questions.
>> Any questions for Mr. Miss Aila? >> Okay, very good. Thank you, Angel. I think we'll keep you there. We have the next items are yours as well. >> Uh item five is approval of new regular member of the bicycle pedestrian advisory committee. This we have three
that we're bringing on, but if you'll go ahead and introduce the first, please. Yes, of course. So, our um first one, Pasco MO staff recommends Mr. Daniel McDow to serve as an atlarge representative on the Pasco MO BPAC. Mr. McDow is a lifelong Pasco County
resident and an avid trail user. In addition to his passion for outdoor recreation, he serves as a local soccer coach and referee. He's also the president of the Mcdow Foundation, which organizes one of the largest back to school events in the county. For requesting a vote to approve. >> Thank you very much. Any questions for
Miss Aila regarding this nominee? >> Mr. Chair, move approval. >> We have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Okay, we have a motion. We have a second to approve Daniel McDow as a member of the bicycle advisory committee, bicycle pedestrian advisory committee. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Those opposed,
nay. Thank you. Same item. Uh, second nominee approval of new me regular member bicycle pedestrian advisory committee. This is Francisco Moreno Arama. >> Yes. Miss >> Pasco Pio staff recommends Mr. Francisco Moreno Oramama to serve as the date city representative on the MOB pack. Mr.
Oramama was recommended to the committee by Mayor Scott Black in November and will replace the currency holder, Mr. Tyrone Levit. He's a bicyclist enthusiast and an architect by profession. We are requesting a vote to approve. >> Any questions for Miss Aila regarding this nominee? Move >> approval.
>> We have a motion to approve. We have a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Thank you very much. Item seven, approval of new regular member of the bicycle pedestrian advisory committee. Miss Aila,
>> the Pasco MO staff recommends Mr. Chris Palvich, excuse me, to serve as the district 3 representative on the MO BPAC. Mr. Pelovich was nominated by Commissioner Starky and brings a strong professional background in business and marketing as well as a master's degree in business.
In addition to his expertise, he's a cyclist and a frequent trail user. We're requesting a vote to approve. >> Any questions for Mr. regarding this nominee hearing. None. Do we have a motion to approve? >> Move approval. Second. >> We have a motion. We have a second. All those in favor, please signify by saying
I. I. Those opposed, nay. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Angel. Appreciate it. >> Item number eight, 2026 Pasco MO safety performance measures. In just a moment, we'll hear from Zach Funkhouser, the urban SDK staff member. But first, Tania
Gorman has some opening remarks. Good morning board. >> Good morning Tamilia. >> All right. So this is our annual 2026 safety performance measures. Um this item is our annual adoption. Uh we're required under federal transportation
and also state uh law to adopt our vision zero targets. So this this measures tracks five key safety indicators. total fatalities, fatality rate, total serious injury, serious injury rate, and combined pedestrian and
bicycle facilities and serious injuries. When Pasco first began discussing target zero, we knew we had a significant challenge ahead of us. But reducing fatalities and serious injuries requires coordination, data investment, and
sustained focus. And today, while our numbers are not perfect, uh this provides clear, measurable, and achievable benchmarks while keeping us focused on long-term reductions. These targets do not affect funding eligibility. Rather, they ensure
accountability and reinforce that safety remains at the forefront of our planning and investment decisions. To walk us through this data analysis, we are joined by Urban SDK Zach Funkowser, our data analytics partner, who has assisted
the NO in evaluing trends and developing and recommendations for our 2026 targets. And at this time, I will turn it over to Zach. He is online. >> Thank you very much, Miss Gorman. Mr. Funkhouser, welcome. >> Good morning, everyone. >> Good morning.
>> We can hear you very well. Thank you. >> And are you able to see my screen? All right. >> Yes, sir. We have that as well. We're set. >> All right. Well, thank you guys uh for having me today. Let me get my
screen pulled up here. Um so I'm proud to present Pas County MP highway safety performance measures for 26. Urban SDK has partnered with the NPO for the last several years to assist with the completion of this document
presentation. Um today we will examine how performed against one performance measures over the past year and make recommendations for the current year's targets. Okay. Uh performance measures reporting requirements. So state department
transportation are required by federal law to establish safety performance measures one target annually. MOS must adopt the target no later than 180 days after FD establishes state targets. FD established 2026 statewide target of
zero to all safety performance measures. Pasco supports statewide target zero that establishes targets to track the safety performance of the transportation system in Pasco County. Safety performance measures apply to all public
roads. Uh so there are five safety performance measures. The 2026 PM1 targets are established based on the current 5year rollout average. And that would be number of fatalities, number of serious injuries, nonmotorized
fatalities and serious injuries, the rate of fatalities and rate of serious injuries. And as far as the the first metric would be the the number of fatalities. Um so there was a slight uptick from the last year which is 2029 2023 range um to this
year's data 2020 to 2024 uh an increase of 2%. Uh this books a trend that began around 2017 uh a steadily decreasing numbers of fatalities uh not a result we want to see but there are mitigating factors explaining this uh that I will bring up
later here. And then as far as the annual fatality rate. Uh this has actually decreased 0.9% of last year's data to this year's. Uh this is a good result especially considering the uptick in the overall number of fatalities and an increasing
number of miles traveled on the state highway system in Pasco. Uh this continues to trend which began in 2017. And here listed is a heat map of the fatal collations for the 2020 to 2024 uh range. This is a static map but we will
be able to provide a dynamic zoomable map to this point after this meeting that I'm more than happy to send over. So overall 58 total files from the 2020 to 2024 um range.
And then When it comes to uh serious injuries, this is a very positive result. Um strong continued decrease. The trend of following numbers injuries began around 2013 and continues to accelerate. Um for this study, there's a 13.3%
decrease year-over-year. when it comes to serious injuries on the road. And then for serious injury rate, similar to the raw number of serious injuries, a continued strong decreasing trend, a decrease of about 14.7%
year-over-year, which is fantastic to see. And then this heat map is showing the uh serious collisions from the 2020 to 2024. Um again same as the fatalities this is just a static map happy to send
a dynamic interactive map to this entire group after this meeting. Um so total there was 300 3,71 post series injuries due to the collisions um from 2020 to 2024 range and then the geographic similar
fatalities the two were often for those and then for the average angel pedestrian and bicyclist serious injuries this is a number of non-motorized fatalities serious increase. Not a very consistent trend,
but a very positive result as a sizable decrease is noted here. Looking at 7.7% drop and decrease. Again, same for this. This is the static map. We are showing a total of 500 and
vehicle miles. So this is the number of daily vehicle miles traveled on the Pasco state highway system. Um steady increase in number of vehicle miles traveled owing to a continued development and growth in Pasco and the state of Florida as a
whole. Even as the total vehicle mile travel increases, most performance measures continue to decrease uh aka improve in this case. All right. And then comparison of Pasco County results to statewide results.
Pasco performed better than the statewide average in four out of five measures. There the only measure which Pasco underperformed the statewide average is number of fatalities. Florida as a whole experienced a 0.5 decrease
versus the 2% increase seen in Pasco. Pasco did not know fairly significant spike in the number of fatal fatalities at the start of the pandemic in 2020. This year is the first year where the 5-year rolling average starts in
prepandemic years 2020, 2024, this year 2019 and 2023 last year. possibly accounting for the slight increase in those numbers. And how is the addressing safety? So
support safe system approach advocated by the FWA education management and community transportation planning on small and large scales. Uh continue to improve coordination and communication with plan partners. Pastor NPS project
prioritization methodology safe streets and roads for all comprehensive safety action plan. Urban SDK has been proud to support the NPA transportation planning effort for the past several years including implementation of the project
priorization. The ultimate goal last year's results of the PM1 performance measure who set a series of targets for the PM1 measures for the upcoming year. For the past several years, CASP's PM1 targets have been set to the target of a 10% reduction and each measure
year-over-year compared to the previous 5 average. This year, the NPO met 2025 adopted targets for two out of five measures. This is an improvement over last year where the NPO did not any of those parties. The no is again
recommending a 10% reduction in each target next year. Since the number of fatalities metric increase slightly year-over-year, the 2026 recommendation target is higher than 25 target in order to target a more achievable result.
>> Any questions or staff? >> Any questions for Mr. Funkhouser? >> Mr. Chair U. Commissioner Mariano, can you go can you go back to the slides? Let's just go like the slides one by one. >> Um, >> yeah. >> You know, we made a lot of improvements.
DOT have made some good investments on crossing uh channelization improvements, etc. But I'm going to tell you when you get the data of a 5-year rolling average, especially throwing CO in the middle. It's almost useless data to me from what I'm looking at. I want to see year to year what we're going what ties
to the improvements we made to showing the the the decrease of accidents whatever. Um and if you'd start with just the slides if we could just flip through them quick >> they take from like five years in a group and go year to year to year. So
one year falls out every year. All right. >> There we go. >> All right. So, go ahead to the slides. That'll be just the the graphs, I guess. Go ahead. Keep going. Keep going. All right. So, right there.
So, so we get a drop in 2019 to 23 pretty significant to actually bring it down. What's what's the factor as far as what they think that happened there? Like did any intersection show more uh accidents or
was there is there something that made that happen to make that shift go? You know, with the 5-year roll on average, you don't get that. You just get a general, you know, high high view of everything, but it doesn't tell you what's really going on, what's working, what's not. any any details to what you know attributes that being going from
1.28 to 101 and then back up to 103. >> Were you able to hear the question, Mr. Funkhouser? >> Yes, sir. I thought that was direct. >> No, I'm Yeah, I'm talking to you. So for the the averages that we do pull this comes from directly from Florida
Department of Transportation uh and these are rolling up rolling your averages uh for this as far as individual contributions for year changes. Um I don't necessarily have the answer for you for that because it's coming straight from numbers from the
Florida Department of Transportation. Um if the MO staff has any other comments towards that I would defer to them for that. Any comments of staff? >> We would have to we would have to look at exactly where in that there was the actual dip in that five-year rolling
average and pinpoint what exactly was going on or where that was pulling from. >> Okay. All right. Let's let's make note of that, please, and come back with us. >> Yeah. And obviously if it's 2019 was e either really low or 2024 was really high to push that average like that. So
>> it could be a co thing dropping off too. So just just >> Yes. Exactly. And in CO, we saw a spike in fatalities, but as CO tapered off, it did go down. So that could be a mixture there, but I can get you. >> And it's weird because the vehicle
mileage travels in that year as well. So it's it's hard to see why there would be more access. But all right, next slide. >> Are you able to advance to the next slide? Are you not able to
>> go back? >> There you go. Okay. So, again, another drop there. Is it just purely CO or what's the situation there? What what changed that? And it's kind of like it it drops even from 2019 2020. But >> yeah, it'd be it'd be good to know that.
All right. Next next one. >> Commissioner Chair, real quick. Um, yeah. I would think that anytime you have a hot spot area, say it's an intersection and we do improvements, I would think that would be something they would look at as before and after what happened. I mean, I can't believe they
wouldn't do that. Why would they, you know, do the improvement and not check it? Um, so I mean, there's got to be someone that could tell us that. >> I hope I'll exactly have a pinpoint.
>> All right. And like a map like this is really I don't know why it is so vague. Like they don't want us to see what's going on where. Um you you can't see the roads clearly. You know the north south you pretty much see it is 19 but maybe part of it little road. I don't know. Um
you see on the other side it looks like 52 going across. There's some something in the middle. Might be at Hayes Road. Maybe Shadiel's road. Be good to know that as well. Um and I'd be curious to know if just the dot even up there I know we had some fatalities up on Shad Hills Road. Is it is that is that part
of it as well? Um down the 54 corridor. It'd be interesting to see what what's going on there as well. All right, next slide. >> Okay, so serious injuries drop. I mean, that's that's pretty impressive, but I'd like to get the details to what they
think is is driving that as well. >> Those are those >> serious injury going down with the technology of the cars. That is one big huge component of the serious injury actually going down. When you have all the bells and whistles in your car, you can see who's coming on your right, your
left, you have airbags and now in all these extra places you >> automatic bra the other cars coming on. That is also what's decreasing a huge decrease >> and then that could very well just attributed back at 2012 to 16 when technology started happen people get phones in the car too and more accidents
happen too. So >> as it goes up and down but it'd be good to like if we can dig into that a little bit. All right, next one. Again, a big big drop right there. Um, and again, we made some improvements. Did those improvements actually affect anything where those improvements were
made or is it just coincidental? That's another another huge drop. Great. All right. those non-motorized fatal and serious injury collisions. In one of the pieces of paper that we got here, uh it actually I think attributed to lowincome
areas being an effect. And I think in the study and what I got from my stuff, there was actually even some information about it showed alcohol was a factor in some of the drivers, etc. And I asked years ago about this along the 19
corridor that so many times you've got homeless people going out there crossing at 2:00 in the morning, 4:00 in the morning, maybe midnight, whatever, and getting hit. Not a factor of a bad driver, just people on drugs walking around. I asked if we were doing autopsies on those people, but it seems
to me if we're going to be doing studies on uh the drivers, we should be doing it on the people if they are pedestrians to what's going on there as well and tie that in. And is is there a camp next door? Is there something that's going on that's attributing this to driving up these fatal injuries? Something to be
looked at. That never got done and I think it's something we should bring up again. So, I'll bring it up now that I think we should be taking a look at that. Is that a factor with the fatal injuries from um the collisions? Were they pass were they bicyclist? Were they walking? What was what was the
situations? >> You were say something about autopsies. Can you go over that again? Well, if you have an accident and someone's dies, if if you do an autopsy on them, if someone's doing driving, um, and and you might even just do a drug test just like
you would with with a driver. Is there something that's happening there? Is a guy mentally impaired, drugs impaired, etc. What's causing these things to making across the street when cars are coming by? I do know with the police reports they
will put certain things in there like intoxication or but I don't know if we can access exactly for each individual based on medical >> above things of that nature but we will have the safety action plan update and
Katherine will be going over some of our hotspots and those >> but a but a HIPPA rule if you're going to be able to drug test somebody that's driving a car if it's a pedestrian I don't think HIPPA applies to that one either. So, I don't think that I don't think those those correlate together. I
think there's a if you can do it for one, you should be able to do it for the other as well. And again, it's it's data that could be helpful to find out what's really causing these things. Is it bad drivers or is it just people on drugs crossing the street? All right, next slides.
Okay, next slide. Okay. All right. That's all I got for comments. >> Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Mariano. Any other comments on this item? >> One followup what he's talking about with the drug testing. I mean, I would think that would even, you know, move into the whole insurance issues, too. I mean, if you got someone that's on drugs
and weaving in and out or, you know, on a bike or walking and gets hit, you know, usually it's the usually it's the driver that's in trouble for that for hitting the pedestrian, you know, unless it's just, you know, blatant. So, I mean, I would think that would help in that respect, too. Um, they do it for
drivers. I mean, I know there was I think we had that conversation a while back about it and there was some kind of legal thing to do with it, but I I don't I don't understand it either. I mean, I think that they should be testing everyone involved to see what happened.
other comments for that commissioner Mar that data I think is good and and one of one of the things maybe to look at I'll just highlight it is you know we look at let's look at 19 as well I want you to zone in on the bridge uh at at US 19 and
catches and go see if there is still accidents going on there either pedestrians is it car collisions and would it be helpful to you know strengthen the argument that bridge needs to get done Good. One question I had. Um, Miss Spidell
mentioned from the technical advisory committee about using the number of fatalities from the 2025 target. Is that what's being done with what we're approving today? >> She recommended that we don't increase >> don't increase >> the number um to to include like two I
think it was like to 93. Um, we should keep it where it's at. So that way we if we have any more fatalities or less fatalities, >> we're comfortable with that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So that's how this um this that's what we're approving today is as they recommended from the TAC. Okay. Very
good. >> That is something for you to review and then if you'd like to make that action, you can. >> Okay. Okay. So that would need to be um at the instruction of the NO then. Okay. >> Okay. What what's the feeling of the board regarding uh the technical advisory committee's recommendation
about the number of fatalities? Are we okay with that consensus? We okay with that? >> Repeat it again, please. >> Um Miss Spideyel when she was speaking from the technical advisory committee, she asked that uh they had voted uh that
we keep the or that this report have the number of fatalities from the 2025 target decrease those. Is that am I correct in what I'm saying? >> Correct. >> Okay. >> So, Mr. Chair, and I think they had reservation and increasing a target as
being higher fatalities, right? Right. So, yeah, I mean, I I have personally have no issue with using the the number from 2025. So, okay. >> 2126. >> Everybody okay with that? >> Okay. >> Okay. Okay. So, we would um request that that be part of this as we go in to
approve this item. This is an item for um for approval. Uh any further conversation on this item hearing? None. Do we have a motion to approve with the changes um suggested recommended by the technical advisory committee? >> So moved. >> We have a motion. We have a second. >> Second.
>> We have a motion. We have a second. All those in favor, please say I. I. Those opposed, nay. Thank you. Item number nine, proposed Tampa Bay Regional MO merger. I believe this is you, Miss um Gorman.
Sorry, I thought we skipped something. My apologies. >> Oh, good morning again, board. Uh, I'd like to provide a brief update on the uh regional MO merger discussions. On February 3rd, the Sun Coast League of Cities met to discuss municipal representation on the merged NO board.
The Sun Coast League of Cities agreed uh to bring to the TMA to establish one rotating municipal seat um on each of the uh NPOS uh on the merge board and form a city subcommittee to coordinate positions uh to uh positions and ensure
unified communications. Tomorrow, February 13th, the Tampa Bay TMA uh will be meet will meet and to discuss on the final vote of the governor's board structure and the small cities representation.
That will be at the Thea uh offices down in downtown Tampa. Our goal is again to finalize um to finalize the structure of the uh merged MO. We also want to present what we may be bringing to the
Tri County BOCC and also develop and defi de develop and further discuss um potentially our guiding document so we can move into phase two of our merger discussion um which will probably we will probably hope to get around phase
two in May and then ultimately a joint partnership agreement with the um with the discussions that we had about the governor's board, the committees and then hopefully the guiding documents. So, I just wanted to provide that update and get that on the record. As you all
are invited to come, we do have our TMA uh representatives from the MO board, uh Commissioner Starky, Commissioner Mariano, uh Councilman Murphy, and Commissioner Weightman, but the whole board is encouraged to attend. We like our voices. You guys have been doing an
amazing job of being a part of the discussions, and I just wanted to say thank you. It sounds like this would closely reflect what Metro Plan Orlando has done with the small cities subgroup and then having a member of that group serve on the MO board. >> Correct. Okay.
>> Absolutely. >> What's the date on that for the >> for the TMA? Yeah. Tomorrow >> the 14th. And we sent out calendar invites as well. All right. >> And email. So if you do not you let me know if you did not get it. It is there. Um just trying to keep everybody a
breast. So I wanted to make sure. I'm sorry, the 13th. I'm thinking about Valentine's Day. That's Saturday. The 13th is Friday. Tomorrow. >> Tomorrow. Okay. Any questions for staff regarding this item? Any comments? Commissioner Mariano comment. Um I, you know, I think with this MO especially,
Pasco's, I think, different from the others as far as city representation. I think the cities are very well represented here, leadership positions, etc. So, even getting people to show to the TMAs, etc., I don't think we have a problem
balancing it out. Anybody who wants to go to these things is going to be able to go. So I don't think we even need to do a lot of work on our end of it. So I'll say as far as time is valuable as far as going to a one of those meetings with the small cities. I don't know if we've have the same situation that they're worried about like you know we
got Clear Water, St. Pete, the other smaller cities around Penelis 23 of them. >> Yeah. has issues with what they've got for representation seeing seeing it at we go to go to regional planning council meetings is like every everything's there small cities so I don't think we
have that issue so those of you who don't want to go or just whatever but I think we'll always balance it out and keep it that everybody's represented I I definitely want to see that plan similar to what metrop plan Orlando has because you know with uh in in terms of you know
we don't have any cities that would qualify in Pasco County for the larger cities and so that's where we're going to have um a seat at the table representing municipalities and of course um same much the same with Hillsboro County because all they have Temple Terrace and Plant City other than
the city of Tampa and then have all the uh you know smaller municipalities in Pineellis County and so we're you know we're going to be pitted against 23. I say pitted I don't mean that to sound adversarial but u we just we don't have as many Hillsboro and Pasco County don't have as many municipalities. So I think
it's important that we uh have a small cities group and that we be able to have at least a representative from that small cities group whether whichever through the three counties that they're part of that board. So I I very strongly feel that that needs to be part of how the composition of the board is. >> Absolutely.
>> Mr. Chair. >> Uh yes, Mr. Council Murphy. >> Yeah. and and at the meeting I I kind of made that point that you know we're so different from the other counties and we're fine in Pasco how whatever they want to do but um to manage Panelis and
and even Hillsboro is going to be you know it's going to be tough but we feel confident I mean we have you know the the cities here that each commit one one commissioner could take each one city you know and it wouldn't be that big of a deal for us but the other counties it'd be tough and and the majority of
the group was There was there was four options. One, two A, 2 B, and three. >> Um, and 2 A was the one that most people recommended, which is just having that one representative for all of them. So, I mean, like I said, like Commissioner Mariano said, we're I think we're fine
here in Pasco. It's the other ones that have to figure it out. >> Yes. With the with the small C's representation, the cities that are over 50,000, that is where the conversations come in. Our some our cities are not over 50,000 um as you know. However,
this that is a very big discussion with panelis in particular because they have five cities over 50,000. So that is why their discussion also just for your edification um Ford Penllis is tied into the regional planning council. So the
MOA board and the regional planning council is one of the same. So those are just some of the challenges they're encountering. So if we dissolve and merge and that would dissolve and merge the um regional planning council that they're housed under. So there's lots of different discussions right now. Um
there probably will be a prof a special like provision that the staff director Whit Biden will have to go to uh legislature and kind of have that conversation and re and recodify some of those things so that way we can have the he can still have the pe you know the
planning council act in a manner that is favorable on their side. Commissioner Mariano a few moments ago mentioned Tempe Regional Plane Council and they have a very good system of rotating the chairmanship among the member counties and I think that would be very important that we have
encouraged something like that a rotation with the small cities group for that board seat otherwise you'll have Pineellis County with 23 municipalities and you know it may be very seldom that Pasco and Hillsboro small cities come to the table so if we could have that you
know courtesy among ourselves that it rotate much as other um some of the other bodies do so that um you know from it if Pasco couldn't have a seat at the table from time to time >> right so that'll be part of the small cities discussion tomorrow like what
does the rotation look like is it a year is it two years we all know that once we get into a committee or board takes about two years to really get your footing and then you know you start going on your path so if we do a year it's kind of quick maybe it's two years and then the city the seat rot ates
right for each of the prospective counties on the merge NPO board. But these are some of the discussions that we'll be getting into tomorrow. So that's >> but I think that's important because we have four that are represented St. Cleo and San Antonio or not and then Hillsboro too and then you know 23 or
whatever in in Pineella so that you we just have that understanding that there's some rotation there and that >> absolutely >> on behalf of the other two counties. >> Absolutely Mr. >> Chair. Uh yes uh council member just just as an aside I I will not be able to attend tomorrow but I think we're on the same page so it's no big deal like
you're saying um and also we talked about was you know 10 years from now census changes we're going to be picking up seats while the other ones are going to be losing. Um so you know we we're'll be in a better seat as time goes on because we're growing so fast and and they know that so they want to play
nice. >> Absolutely. >> Commissioner Mariani. Uh I tell you I think you it's a a brilliant thing you just brought up because I haven't heard that conversation but I think it would be like they have it almost almost identical if you have like say let's say a a president a treasure president vice
president secretary treasure they kind of rotator in and around and you have every year if it's factored in that every year the county picks who they want for that represent them all the way through and so rotating all the way through I think it's seamless it's it gives definitive balance that everybody knows it's going to be balanced out of
one uh dominating all the way through. I think that would be a great thing to add in. I think having the flexibility to decide how we want to have our membership chosen, again, we're different from the other cities and whatever they want to do, I don't care. However they want to set it up, I don't care. But it's it's more of like give us
a flexibility because there may be a time coming up where, you know, we we've got a big thing coming up on 75 that's going to affect Tade Cities after just like State Road 56 years ago. You know, this board had great discussion about making sure that thing got built to the proper size right off the bat and we had to work with the state, but we made it
all happen. Uh there may be something coming up on 19 that working with Panellis coming through there's some special train or flyover thing or whatever is going to come that we want to be involved in too and the city representatives in Pasco may say I want to be in there, I want to be in here and
may shift over for that type of thing. So I think if we have that flexibility is good. I also want to add that I think the biggest meeting coming up is when we get the three counties and everybody else together. That's a meeting that everybody needs to go to. That's a new
that's that's the biggest thing to get the hype of getting everybody together. You can hear all the views and everything discussed because I think and it may may not even be done in one meeting. may take two, but just having these little silos here, there, this little conversations,
the counties can work it out individually how they set themselves up for representation once the broader scope is set up. But I think that bigger meeting will is a is a big deal coming up. >> Absolutely. That was discussed at the last TMA meeting about having the Tri
County BOCC. Um, and I think we're trying to get an item on the Tri County BOCC. I don't think the dates are finalized as of yet and not that I've heard. So that is a discussion topic as well. >> What might be helpful too if you pick what would be scheduled as the normal
next team meeting, skip that and make it that meeting if that helps with timing. >> We can look at that. I definitely can bring it back to the staff directors for sure. >> This is an item for information only. Any further comments before we close this item?
Okay. Thank you very much everyone. Do we have a report um this morning from go Pasco? >> No updates or anything? >> Come forward and give us a few comments anyway. Yeah, thanks. >> Good morning, James Flity. Go Pasco. >> Thanks.
>> Uh we don't have a major update today. Uh we have been working with our IT system, which is our intelligent transportation system. We've had it in effect since June. So, we're able to now uh dig down to the stop level to make determinations on whether a stop should
be uh brought up to um maybe ADA standards or with a shelter or with a bench uh depending on ridership. And also, if people are requesting stops, we can or removal of stops, we can support it even better. I know we're working with Zephr Hills to uh add some shelters
and they're putting in the pads and we'll come back in the future and put in some shelters. So, we do have that going on. We were working with Ford Penelis at the US 19 RRT study which is a regional rapid transit study that's happening currently. So when you're talking about regionalism and NPOS we're working
together with them to to make some of these studies come to life. Uh that should be wrapping up phase one and starting phase two hopefully uh with their board approving it in the near future. So those are some of the things that we've been working regionally and throughout the county. >> Thank you Mr. Flity.
>> Are there any questions? >> Any questions for Mr. Flity? Go Pesco. Thank you, James. Appreciate it. Yes, sir. >> Okay. Um, this is information items, but we'll go into item 10, the safety action plan update. Miss Aila.
>> Thank you very much. Angela, Pasco MPO staff and project manager for the safety action plan. In April of last year, the Pasco MPO launched a countywide safety action plan to identify our most dangerous corridors and develop recommendations to improve safety at these locations. Since our last update
to the MO board in June, we've made significant progress. And today, Katherine Tles from Fair and Pierce, the consultant supporting the MO on this initiative, is here to provide you an update. Um, there will be an opportunity for questions at the end, but please feel free to stop at any time and any with any questions or input. Katherine,
>> with the sound of sirens in the background, we'll move into safe streets presentation. Yeah, >> welcome. >> All right. Good morning, commissioners. Thanks for having me here today. Excuse me. Um, so we were before you, it was
months ago now. Um, so we'll just kind of do a brief recap of what we talked about during that meeting and then kind of uh an overview of what we've really been working on for the last seven, eight months. So you can imagine we've put a lot of work in into the plan so
far and we're going to try and summarize all that work in about 105 minutes. So this is going to be pretty fast highle overview. I took some notes from your last presentation. So I'm going to try and address some of those to the extent that we have information. Um and then I've taken notes to do some additional
analysis so we can come back to you with with those answers as well. Um so our last presentation was really we had just sort of started scratching the surface. So we presented to you kind of a an overview of the plan, what we really hope to get out of it um and then um
what some of the crash trends were and then how we are really approaching safety. And I would say the the crux of the plan purpose is really to identify a host of strategies both engineering and non-engineering to help with the
reducing fatal and severe injury crashes and then tee up the county and local jurisdictions to get additional funding to start implementing some of these measures that kind of go above and beyond what's in your normal work program. Um, so on the the crash analysis side,
last time we went through just kind of the high level numbers. Since then, we've developed what we call the high injury network. So this is a collection of streets and roads where we see the highest levels of fatal and severe injury crashes. So the blue lines on
this map, those are the high injury network segments. And then we also identified sort of the the top um intersections. And so this analysis is based on data from 2020 to 2024. Um and so we do have some some locations where
improvements have been implemented. So we kind of took a closer look at some of those to you know we don't want to keep throwing resources at at corridors that have already had some improvements and I've got some examples of of how those are actually yielding lower fatal um >> can I stop you for a second m
>> Commissioner Mariano? So I'm a little concerned. I'm looking at um East Road coming down and there's been a few fa fatalities there. As much as you look at intersections, but if you get roadways, which I know some of the things we'll talk about coming up are going to show the roadway networks you're looking at,
but I don't know why there's no data to that. >> Well, that's just based on the the number the total number of fatal and severe injury crashes. And then we also did some waiting of um bicycle, pedestrian, and motorcycle crashes as
well. Um, so that that's just sort of how all of the math worked out. So happy to take a closer look at corridors that you you feel should be on the map >> and and and again the corridor part is the big thing because intersections are one thing, but when you get a long stretch of roadway that doesn't have any
sidewalks on it or now they got some and you got a lot of traffic coming from the north coming down and there's been accidents there, there's been deaths there and it's not even shown on the map is is concerning to me. >> Okay, we'll take a closer look at that. Matter of fact, Pastor Jen could probably help you later on with it.
>> Um, so of the roads that we just showed you, um, more than half of crashes resulting in fatal and severe injury crashes happen on those roads, and that's 2 and a half% of centerline miles. So, while it may seem like a pretty big problem, it really is limited
to a small number of roads. So, this helps us sort of have that that focus. Um, and then these are just the top 10 corridors. Um, and I just want to highlight that on the segments of US19, there have been a lot of improvements already made. So, I'm anticipating once
the data from 2020 2021 starts to fall off, those will start to come down in the list and then other roads might start to to pop. >> Can I stop for one second, >> Mr. Mariano? So just as a for instance when I look at the little road state road 52 to 5A that roadway has always
been looked how do we extend it all the way up and how do we how do we connect to US 19. So when you're coming from the south in 52 when you drive up to 5A there's a light that's there. They've experimented with green light flashing red light etc. And every time the change
was made to and speed up the traffic there's been some accidents. They've gone back and forth a couple of times. I'm wondering if it's how much is attributed to that specific thing which would detail okay is it a big problem right there or do we think it got pretty resolved they haven't seen many accidents lately so maybe that's been
pretty well resolved that it's people are used to it now and the problem is going to go away um and then here are the the top 10 intersections um and so we have some detailed technical memos that have a lot more details on on all of these Um, but
these are sort of the the focus areas where we're really looking to see what can be done and then um working with the local agencies to understand what has already been done um just to make sure we're not missing anything. Um and then we've put together what we call a high
injury network fact sheet. So this is just a you know a double-sided piece of paper that has sort of all of the different details, some of the statistics. So, we've been doing a lot of public engagement events. So, we bring this along to to share with folks and um ask for their feedback as well as
to where they're experiencing safety challenges. >> Commissioner Mariano. >> Yeah, sorry about that. Um so, for us to go look at the slide and I even put my readers on last night trying to read this stuff through. How could we expect be expected to read that chart the way it's set? That should be like one
individual piece of paper, not two combined together so you can actually look at it, see it, and know what those words mean because I can't read them. >> And you can't blow them up to see me, though. >> Um, well, I'm happy to send you a PDF of this so you can have have all of the details. >> This is what's distributed as a front and back. >> Yes.
>> And and and the documents I get printed up. It's like that's the sheet of paper you got. We're looking at and couldn't read it. >> Yeah. We've probably produced about 500 pages of information, so it's hard to know exactly what you all want to see and we don't want to overwhelm things. So, >> I want to see anything you're going to
send me that I can read. >> Okay. I will remember that for >> Thank you. next week. >> Get his readers out. >> Um, >> show your age there, Jack. By the way, even with my readers, I couldn't read it. >> I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it, too. >> I do have to pull out my flashlight at
restaurants sometimes to see the menu. So, I'm in the same boat. So, apologies. Um, in addition to understanding where crashes are already happening, so we know where we need to implement safety improvements, we've also developed what
we call the high risk network. So these are roads that have the characteristics of of the high injury network where we're already seeing crashes. Um, but crashes just aren't quite happening there yet to the the greatest extent. Um, so this is sort of part of the
proactive portion of safety where it allows us to think a little bit more holistically um, when new developments come in or perhaps there's a resurfacing to kind of take a closer look and see is there an opportunity for us to be proactive and implementing a safety
improvement sort of as part of an already planned project. So that way it doesn't cost um much additional funds or get a developer to put it in as part of their project since they'll be adding a lot more activities that could lead to future safety issues. So the plan is
reactive to where we we know the crashes are happening and then we're uh trying to be proactive as well so that way we can look at it from from both lenses. Um and then we've just done a whole host of crash analysis as well. Um, so using
a lot of data from crash databases, road network information, how many travel lanes, what's the posted speed, the traffic, the functional classification, um, and then looking at some of the contextual factors. So behaviors, environmental, road factors. Um, and so
we've crunched all this analysis to to come up with some sort of key overall trends. Um and so not surprisingly the as the number of travel lanes increases, volumes increase and speed increases, you start to see higher rates of fatal
and severe injury crashes. And most of those are concentrated on um the commercial suburban corridors, so the C3C designation um and principal arterials. So as we're we're looking at those roads, those are the ones where we're most likely to have fatal and
severe injury crashes. uh we're most likely to have um pretty high-speed vehicle traffic and then mixing that with multimodal activity, lots of driveways, we've got lots of conflicts. So um those are sort of some of those
key factors there. Um on the behavioral side, we note that speed, distraction, aggression, alcohol, um those types of crashes are more likely to result in a fatality. Um and then we also took a look at seat belt use and and helmet use. And so we noted that when people
are not wearing a seat belt, um that crash is more likely to result in a fatality. Um but I also want to note that we've done this analysis in many locations across the state. Um and people in Pasco County tend to wear seat belts more than people in other parts of
the state. So that's that's great. Um let's see. And then yeah, we looked at at road user behavior. So the blue lines are showing the fatal and severe injury crashes. So that's the abbreviation of KSI. And then the the yellow is all
crashes. So you can see that um for different factors that you know aggressive driving um that's those crashes that involve aggressive driving are more likely to result in a fatality or a severe injury. Um, so we looked at a host of factors and for for these we
also mapped them out because we wanted to kind of understand where are they happening. So in one of our memos we have lots of different maps for this presentation just showing the alcoholrelated ones. So no surprise of they're concentrated on US19. Um, and
then we will dig into the data to kind of take a look to see for whom the alcohol was involved, whether it was the vehicle driver or um, somebody else that was involved in the crash. So, we can come back to you with some of that additional information. Unfortunately,
the data is not fully available for all of the crashes for all of the people involved, but it is available for some of them. So, we'll summarize what we're able to. >> I would think with the Mr. Commissioner Marian, >> you know, I would think with the advance of AI right now that AI could probably
take all those all that data and look to get someone to put it all together to be able to just go, let me go check on the number of alcohol, let me go check on the number of drugs, let me go check on rear end collisions, whatever. I would think there's got to be someone out there doing that type of work at this point. And I think we should dive into
it. If you'd have to go to every single report, it's not going to work. But the computers that are out there nowadays with AI, I think there's probably potential. I'd like you to look in that. >> Yeah. Um there are lots of people, including staff in my office, working on that. Um because, yeah, when you're looking at 500,000 crash records, you
can't read every single one of them. Um yeah, we're having the same challenge trying to understand e- micromobility involved crashes as well because those there's not a separate field coding those. you actually have to read the crash narrative, >> um, which is prohibitive sort of at a a
massive scale. Um, so there are people working on that. Um, but we can make note of that to make sure that's incorporated into future updates. >> If you have a recommendation for me, I'm going to Niko conference coming up. I s the transportation network. If you can get me something that would be helpful
to present to the group about making recommendations, um, I'm happy to do that. >> Sounds good. All right. So that was the crash analysis side. Then we also looked at the policy framework. So we wanted to understand sort of that policy
landscape, all the different plans that are prepared. Um what policies are already in place that can help amplify this effort and then what policies might be in place that could be a potential barrier. Um so we did a a benchmarking
process that was aligned with the safe system elements. Um so really looking at that data and analysis piece, safer vehicles, safer roads, safer speeds. Um and so we kind of went through a process where we developed some safety
benchmarks. Um we reviewed relevant plans. We had many discussions with agency staff. Um and now we're in the process of sort of finalizing those benchmarks to help us come up with a variety of different actions. Um so we
did a lot of reading um to kind of understand what is that overall policy framework that we're operating within. Um and then some of the highlights are that the 2050 LRTP has a great starting point um that we can really build on. Um
it looks like there's a been a sort of a datadriven process already incorporated. So again just kind of building on what's already been done. Um and then adoption of this plan that we're working on and a lot of the other strategies will kind of help fill some of the other gaps that
that we're seeing. Um we did identify a couple of different opportunities. So we've uh we established a safety task force that has been meeting routinely throughout the course of this process. And so we're we're trying to figure out how we can
maintain the momentum of that safety task force that brings together people with a variety of different backgrounds that are all involved in safety. So we've got some some first responders, some folks that work in the hospital setting, some planners, some engineers. So it's really sort of a that broad
perspective of folks that are all involved in a different aspect of improving safety. Um, we looked that there's some additional opportunities to conduct near mississ assessments in locations to kind of better understand the root causes of crashes. Um, those
near miss assessments can also be helpful in locations where you've just implemented a measure. And you don't want to wait five years for all the data to come in to see whether or not it's working. So, a near miss assessment kind of helps us understand is this working
as intended? Um, are we having fewer um conflicts, um how we reduce the speeds for different movements. Um we also noted an opportunity on um updating the transportation impact study guidelines for all the new development that's
coming in to incorporate safety. Um and then developing a pilot process to kind of test new strategies that that might be available. Um just to see if it works, just to see if it's appropriate before that gets, you know, um put
throughout the entire network. Um and then on the the countermeasure front, we're looking at things sort of on the engineering side, but then also the non-engineering side as well. Um, so on the engineering side, we're looking at strategies that can anticipate that
human error. Um, so somebody may be misjudging the speed of an oncoming vehicle. Um, and then we also know that we can't re eliminate all crashes. Um, but we really want to re eliminate those that cause a fatality or a severe
injury. Um, and to do that, we really need to manage vehicular speeds and then implement features that are are somewhat self- enforcing to to slow people down because we know that enforcement can't be out there 247. Um, and so when we
look at those counter measures in the safe system hierarchy, we've got the most effective ones. So that's removing the severe conflict. So perhaps there's a a trail crossing at an intersection where we constantly see those near misses or even crashes. Maybe we just
need to build a bike ped overcrossing, but we know those are very expensive. Um and we we can only do a few of those with with funding that's available. Um so other strategies might just be managing those conflicts in time. So maybe it's an improved signalization
strategy. Um, and then you know a measure to sort of implement enforcing features to slow traffic. Maybe that's as simple as a speed feedback sign. Um, it's not the most effective, but at least it's a step in the right direction. Um, and when combined with a lot of other different strategies, it
can can have a positive effect. Um, so for each of the top 10 corridors, we have developed sort of crash fact sheets um so we can better understand what's happening. Um so this is a segment of of US19.
Um and we can see looking at the data. So we actually have 2019 through 2024. So 2019 through 20 and 2020 we had pretty high levels of fatal and severe injury crashes. And then around 2021ish time frame, that's when a lot of the
improvements started to be implemented. So you now have a number of pedestrian signals and a few other things that have been implemented over time. Um and we we now see that there has been a positive effect in terms of reducing those fatal and severe injury crashes. So they're
still happening. There's still some opportunities here for continued refinement. Um but it does demonstrate that the strategies that have been put in place are working and I know you have a question. Thank you. Um >> so you know I'm glad you mentioned the
five-year data. Tough to figure out what's going on at that moment. Now, when you get Hernando County building all sorts of homes up there, people are traveling down to the south as I talk about Shady Hills. So, those accidents don't show with a five-year data, but the spikes going recently would be
something to be looked at every year. So, much as the five-year data gives you a broader scope, I think we need to go back and let's look at the data. What's jumping out? What's h what's happening there? maybe Wesley Chapel, a new development comes in that hasn't put all their infrastructure improvements in
place that we want and we can't do it yet till the impact fees are collected. So, it might be better to take a look at that other other than waiting five years to figure out exactly where the numbers really stand up. Um, I think it's really probably hurting us to be able to react to these situations.
>> Yeah. And um for each of these top 10 corridors, as we're looking at counter measures, we're sort of filtering out those crashes that occurred before the improvements were put in place and sort of looking at those newer crashes. So we're trying not to fix problems that
have already been addressed, if you will. Um so that kind of ties in. So for each corridor, we've started to identify potential countermeasure strategies. This is just a draft. we've actually reformatted it to sort of highlight things that can be done in the near term
versus um longer term and then highlighting a little bit more clearly what's already been been done. Um so but yeah, lots of we've tried to also identify in that near-term sort of lowcost opportunities um including just going out there and
doing a road safety audit just kind of observing again how people are using the road and and coming up with strategies that way. So again, we're not being wasteful with resources. Commissioner Mariano. >> So, I want to say that when they did the channelization on 19, tremendous safety
improvements up and down, right? All of a sudden, those people trying to do U-turns and crossing over stopped and that that saved a lot of accidents, a lot of lives. Great improvement. I'd like to know how it worked with all the improvements they did with those crosswalks that they added along 19 as well. Do we see a drop down in those
numbers? They've been up for a year or two now. Instead of waiting five years to see the effect, let's go see what what happened in those intersections with those improvements that were done because that'll tell us if we did make those improvements and it did cut down on deaths, then that's something we can look at even more so for improvement.
>> Yes. So, those have been helping. There are some locations though where um still seeing people crossing outside of those new crossing locations. And so there's actually a project to install a median fence um by one of those crossing locations to encourage people to cross
um at the appropriate location. Um we're also looking at other strategies. So this is more on sort of the education enforcement um side of things looking at policies and standards. Um so those will all be documented as well in the safety
action plan. Um and then there's a lot of things that can be done and so we need a way to prioritize them. We also didn't want to reinvent the wheel. So, we kind of built on the LRTP prioritization criteria and
kind of narrowed the focus with really trying to identify where we have the biggest safety problems and then what projects have the biggest safety benefit. Um, also looking at multimodal connectivity as an important uh
criteria. Uh, project status meaning how quickly can we get something implemented? Um, if a project might take 10 or 20 years to implement because it requires right ofway or a lot of additional funding, we don't want to put that on the the top of the list because we know that's just going to take a
while to get through the system. Um, also looking and considering sort of security and resilience. So, this kind of factors into evacuation routes. We want to be careful about different countermeasure strategies we propose on those evacuation routes. um as well as
looking at freight priority because we know economic development is important and we want to be able to get freight vehicles in and out um safely. Um and then some some points going to existing congestion reduction. Um we often see
when you have excessive cues, it can cause some crashes in the the back of the queue and other sort of driver behaviors that can lead to to crashes. So, we want to take a close look at at some of those um types of improvements as well.
Um we've done a lot of engagement activities and we've got a couple more um coming up. So, we had a project workshop. We have had a couple of popup events. Um we are invited to present at the Zephr Hills Economic Coalition um before the holidays. Got some great
feedback from from all of those groups. Um we have an online survey that's out right now. Um we've done a utility bill insert. So this went out to um a lot of people and the day that that got sent out we saw a spike of over 700 people
visiting the website providing feedback for us. Um we put together an elected officials guide. You all should have received a copy of that. So we just tried to kind of provide some some quick sound bites for you all and a little bit of information. Um, and then here's just
some some pictures at our various outreach events. So, my favorite picture is of Tania wearing the vision impairment goggles. So, this sort of >> simulates different levels of inebriation. So, you can kind of feel like sort of fully recognize like, oh, I
should not be driving after, you know, a certain number of of drinks. So, got a lot of great feedback from from the community. Um and then just some of the themes that we heard from people in the community is just an acknowledgement that safety on Pasco County roads is an
issue. Um heard a lot of concern about safety for people outside of vehicles. Um a lot of discussions around ebikes. Um a lot of folks blame safety or the safety issues on development and all the
other people moving in. Um, and then some folks also noted just a a large reliance on these, you know, arterials with high volumes, high speed. People will actually plan trips around avoiding those roads at certain times of day. Um, so just as new developments come in,
really looking to make sure there's a a network of local streets so that somebody who lives in the community can get their kids to school or go to the grocery store without necessarily having to to travel on the state highway system. Um, so we're in the process of kind of
wrapping everything up and putting it into an overall safety action plan. Um, we're going to have a lot of different things in this action plan. So, we'll have a a highle executive summary. So, if that's the only thing you read, you know, that will have everything that
you'll need to know in there. Um, and then sort of lots of different strategies that can be implemented, but also recognizing that resources are limited. So, we'll kind of bracket things out by, you know, what we we hope to accomplish within year one, year two,
um, and then what might be sort of a five plus year strategy. Um, because there's a a lot of work that we can do in the meantime. And then we'll identify some different ways to monitor the the safety improvements. So that might be doing more before and after studies of
different improvements. Um and then we do have our survey still open. So encourage you all if you um would like to provide additional feedback or if you have um specific locations you have ideas for um and please send this along to your networks as well. So happy to answer any
additional questions. >> Thank you Miss Telis. Any questions for Katherine? >> Um Mr. Chair ju just a a great amount of information just almost a information overload. It was it was it was very good. Um are you coordinating just for instance in Zephr Hills we have an
upcoming in 2029 2030 improvement to 301 which was shown as a segment. Do you coordinate our efforts on what needs to be done with DOT? >> Yes. So we actually have taken sort of a a look at that improvement and that looks like it's a pretty robust
improvement. Um so really our recommendations are on that one are you know if for whatever reason that project is delayed we have some sort of uh I guess quick build lowhanging fruit projects you might consider implementing in the near term
>> right and I mean the safety initiatives that come out of this are going to be incorporated into their plan correct >> okay thank you that's it >> thank you councilman any further questions comments on this item this is a a presentation only item
Thank you, Miss Talis. Appreciate your presentation today. Item 11, commencement of the inaugural active transportation plan, phase one. U Mr. Gorman, >> Mr. Chair, I' I've got to leave. I've got an appointment that I've got to be at, but um
>> thanks for being here today. >> Yes, sir. >> See, Lance. >> All right. Good morning again. Uh just wanted to bring to your attention um on this item. This item marks the launch of Pasco MO's first act of transportation
plan um in coordination with uh the PDG department. It reflects a countywide coordinated effort to advance active transportation planning. The planning the plan will focus on walking, biking, micromobility, and closing connectivity
gaps throughout Pasco County. Very sad Commissioner Starky couldn't be here today to hear this, but she will hear it. I think she's watching. Um, phase one will include data collection and network analysis, identification of safety gaps and priority corridors, um,
access considerations, and public and stakehorner engagement. This work supports our safety goals, enhances multimodal connectivity, and positions Pasco for future funding opportunities. Um, at this time, I'd like to introduce Rebecca Bogue, uh, the county project manager on this to offer a few remarks
as well. Thank you very much. If you could restate your name for the record and your title with the committee. Yeah, >> sure. Uh Rebecca Bogue with Pas Countyy's planning, development, and economic growth department. I'm the county's active transportation planner.
I'm really excited to be working with the NO on this initiative, the county's first ever active transportation plan. I think the county and its local jurisdictions have already made a lot of meaningful progress towards developing a multimodal network and I'm very optimistic that this plan will help us
continue to make meaningful progress in a more structured, coordinated and uh data driven fashion. So, thank you to the NO for your partnership and uh let's get ready to walk and roll. >> Very good. Thank you. Any questions on
this item? This is a presentation. Commissioner Mariano, >> just uh if you if you would, Rebecca, as you're taking a look, take a take a look at uh I know we got some developments coming up on Old Dixie Highway connecting to Sun West, other developments coming in. So, that's something that coordinating with them will be very helpful. Um also, County
Line Road, um years ago at Hicks Road, we had a a death on the road and we wanted to put a sidewalk in. So, we did. >> Okay. >> We went to I went to Hudson High School. We had a group of people from that the land owners that were up there and we talked to them about streamlining the
process of eminent domain and getting them to come to the table. We saved a million dollars probably five years time building the road. Still took us like six years to get it done. Um but I think there's an opportunity working with DOT. I talked to Justin Hall who's going to talk to um his team about working with
us because DOT's got rules and regulations. they can't do it, but we have things that we can do. And if that road is going to get done, there's going to be a trail coming in. So, I think it it can tie into what you're doing as well. >> Absolutely. And I'm always working with our uh county engineer and our MPD team
to implement uh active transportation connections wherever wherever we have the chance to. So, I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Thank you, Miss B. Any other questions for on this item? Miss TS, did you have anything to add? Okay. All right. I see. Okay. If there's nothing further on this
item, um, we've had great fun. Let's get back together and do it again a month from today, March 12th. We'll be in Newport Richie at 10 o'clock in the morning for this MO meeting. West Pesco Government Center. Any items for the good of the order before we adjourn this
morning. Staff board hearing none. Our meeting is adjourned. Thanks a lot, everyone. >> Well done, sir. >> Oh, thanks. Good to see you. All right. How you say?