CITY COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM

Department:	Planning and Development Services		Commission Meeting Date:  September 6, 2016
Staff Contact:	Jessica Mortinger, Senior Transportation Planner
Recommendations/Options/Action Requested:
Authorize staff to issue a Request for Proposals for professional travel demand modeling technical assistance.
Executive Summary:		The Lawrence-Douglas County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is proposing to seek a qualified consulting firm to assist transportation planning staff with travel demand modeling services for a Travel Demand Model update and to perform on-call modeling work for a period of three years. The currently approved MPO 2016 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) includes a budget for this consultant work and future UPWPs will include budgets as well. These expenses are part of the MPO’s budgeted work and are paid 80% from Federal Consolidated Planning Grant funding. The 20% local match is part of the MPO’s annual match allocation budgeted for in the Planning budget. There are no added budget impacts. The MPO typically hires a modeling consultant to update the Travel Demand Model as part of the Update to the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, currently called Transportation 2040 (T2040). Per federal regulations, the MPO is required to update the Plan every five years. The current plan expires on March 21, 2018. The MPO is planning an 18-month planning process to engage the public in a plan update process. The process will begin this Fall and include community open houses throughout Douglas County.
Strategic Goal Area:		N/A
Fiscal Impact (Amount/Source):		The fiscal impact to the City is unknown, since the cost of work is yet to be identified. This item was in the 2016 & 2017 department budget and CIP as well as the MPO’s Unified Planning Work Program.
Attachments:		None