THE TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT/TRANSIT DIVISION AND THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTIONS.
This item supports the Board's Vision and Values of "Cooperatively delivering an efficient and accessible regional intermodal transportation network".
Broward County Transit’s (BCT) Route 72 travels on Oakland Park Boulevard between A1A in Fort Lauderdale to the Sawgrass Mall in Sunrise. BCT's Route 72 is the busiest east-west transit route in the County, with over 6,700 riders boarding its buses every weekday. The route provides very frequent service - every 15 minutes in each direction for much of the day. With Traffic Levels of Service C, D, and F along many portions of the corridor, the existing traffic conditions on Oakland Park Blvd contribute to the poor on-time performance and service reliability of Route 72. With the expected increase in traffic, the route’s performance will continue to degrade. With so many transit riders in the corridor and the potential for additional people to use the service, the Florida Department of Transportation, in partnership with BCT and the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) initiated a study of the Oakland Park transit corridor in 2012 aimed at: Improving conditions for pedestrians and transit riders; Improving transit service reliability and travel time; and Encouraging transit oriented development.
Some of the study’s recommended short-term improvements include: transit shelters, transit signal priority (TSP), and traffic signal improvements. TSP is technology that allows transit vehicles to communicate with traffic lights through a device on the transit vehicle and in the corridor, so that the traffic light will either stay green longer or turn green faster as the transit vehicle approaches the intersection thereby improving transit schedule efficiency.
FDOT has agreed to install TSP along the Oakland Park transit corridor at seven intersections between the Sawgrass Mall and Nob Hill Road and requires the approval of a Resolution and execution of a Highway Maintenance of Memorandum of Agreement (HMMOA). The County's Public Works Department will retain maintenance responsibility after the TSP improvements along the corridor have been completed and once the equipment is activated. The equipment as initially installed won’t be activated until communication protocols are finalized. The HMMOA contains language that the County is responsible for additional Project costs determined to be Federal Aid Non-Participating; however, staff does not anticipate any such costs for the project.
This agreement has been reviewed as to form by the Office of the County Attorney.
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