Staff recommends the Planning Board approve the 2020-2024 TIP Amendment 2 and forward the recommendation to PCC through its designee, President Woods. The PCC is scheduled to meet on November 16 for action on this item.

Federal regulations require that Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) review and update their Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) periodically. Given timing and funding adjustments with several transportation projects, the current Billings 2020-24 TIP must be amended to maintain compliance with State and Federal requirements. The TIP is a short-range program of highway and transit projects in the Billings MPO area and is prepared by City-County Planning Division staff in cooperation with state and local agencies. The purpose of the TIP is to provide the mechanism for scheduling federal funds for surface transportation projects, indicate regional priorities, and demonstrate a short range transportation vision for the area. A secondary purpose of the TIP is to provide information about other transportation projects in the urbanized area that are exempt from the TIP approval process, such as projects that do not utilize federal funds. This TIP amendment is being presented to the Council for review due to timing and cost updates to several projects. Staff has included as an attachment a quick reference indicating what new projects are included. 

2020-2024 TIP Amendment #2 Highlights:

Billings Bypass - Updated project cost
Yellowstone River Bridges – Updated project cost
Numerous Safety Projects - Updated project cost
MET Transit Funds Added to the Program 

All monetary adjustments to the document are at the request of the Montana Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration.

The Planning Board held a public hearing for this item at its October 23rd meeting. Staff provided an overview of the TIP amendments and generally answered questions from the board. There was no public testimony received during the hearing. The Planning Board will take action on its recommendation at this meeting.

The current TIP includes updates of federal funding for several projects in the Billings area. The Planning Board may: Recommend approval to the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC) of the 2020-2024 TIP Amendment 2 as drafted in order to continue the implementation of federally funded transportation projects in the Billings MPO area. Recommend modifications to the proposed 2020-2024 TIP Amendment 2 and present these recommendations to the Policy Coordinating Committee for further consideration. Not approving the 2020-2024 TIP Amendment would cause the Billings MPO to be out of compliance with State and Federal requirements and could affect the schedule and completion of transportation projects in the Billings MPO area.

A range of federal funding sources is available to the Billings MPO area for the purposes of funding transportation system improvements. A list of those sources is shown in the TIP. There is no known direct impact to City or County funds in budgeting for these projects given the use of federal funding sources. Projects in the TIP that are not federally funded have already been identified in other programming documents, like the City's Capital Improvement Program.