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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTIS 2021-01-25 Item 2C - Update - Draft Communication Plan Update for 42nd Avenue Bridge Replacement https://tukwilawa.sharepoint.com/sites/publicworks/engineering/PW Drop Box/01 TIC Agenda/2021 Agenda Items/01-25-21 TIC/42nd Ave S Bridge Replacement Project Update/InfoMemo_42nd Ave S Bridge Replacement Project Update_2021-01-22.docx INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM TO: Transportation and Infrastructure Services Committee FROM: Hari Ponnekanti, Interim Public Works Director BY: Adam Cox, Transportation Project Manager CC: Mayor Allan Ekberg DATE: January 22, 2021 SUBJECT: 42nd Ave South Bridge Replacement Project No. 91810404 Project Update ISSUE Provide an update on the status of the 42nd Ave South Bridge Replacement Project. BACKGROUND At the September 21, 2020 TIC meeting, the cost and scope of work were presented for 30% and 100% design of the 42nd Ave S Bridge Replacement Project. At the November 2, 2020 Regular Council meeting, Council approved proceeding with the 30% design. ANALYSIS The design process continues to move forward in an expressed timeline: 1. Notice to Proceed was issued to TranTech Engineering (TranTech) on November 17, 2020. 2. The project kick-off meeting was held on December 2, 2020 with City Staff, TranTech, and all the subconsultants. 3. Surveying crews have collected location information 4. Soil samples were obtained and TranTech is using that information to further progress the design and the Type, Size, and Location (TS&L) report. 5. City staff has attended community engagement strategy meetings with TranTech and their subconsultant Enviroissues, Inc (Enviroissues) to discuss the public outreach plans for the Allentown neighborhood and the major stakeholders that would be affected by the project. 6. Please see the attached draft Community Engagement Plan for your reference. The intention is to conduct multiple virtual workshops and surveys to engage the community and allow them to provide input for the project. Staff anticipates that outreach to Tukwila residents will begin in February, 2020. 7. City staff is working with the design consultant, TranTech, to complete the application for the 2021 Federal Local Bridge program through the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Local Bridge Program (formally known as BRAC). Electronic application submittals are due on Friday, February 19, 2021. 8. The Local Program Bridge Engineer is tentatively scheduled to visit the project site in June 2021 and the finals results of the grant will be announced in October 2021. 27 42nd Ave South Bridge Community Engagement January 22, 2021 Page 2 https://tukwilawa.sharepoint.com/sites/publicworks/engineering/PW Drop Box/01 TIC Agenda/2021 Agenda Items/01-25-21 TIC/42nd Ave S Bridge Replacement Project Update/InfoMemo_42nd Ave S Bridge Replacement Project Update_2021-01-22.docx NEXT STEPS 1. City staff will continue to work with TranTech and Enviroissues on the community engagement, 30% design, and the TS&L. 2. The City continues to research funding opportunities beyond the Local Bridge Program grant and is exploring other possible funding partners and ot her funding sources to accelerate the replacement of the 42nd Ave South Bridge. 3. The City will continue to meet with representatives from the Washington State Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board (FMSIB) and have maintained contacts at BNSF, both of whom have expressed eagerness to assist the City with transportation and freight movement grants. 4. In addition, the Mayor and City Administrator, with assistance from David Foster, the City’s state government lobbyist, will continue to meet with each of the members of the 11th District delegation, as well as other members in transportation leadership in both the State’s House and Senate. 5. City staff will engage in conversations with State and Federal grant funders. DISCUSSION ONLY. Attachment: Community Engagement Plan Draft 28 Page 1 of 6 Community Engagement Plan Draft: 01/15/21 Not for distribution Overview This plan outlines the City of Tukwila and project team’s commitment to engage and communicate with the community about the 42nd Avenue S Bridge Replacement Project from project initiation through selection of the preferred solution. This plan includes a background on the project, our community engagement goals, engagement tools to reach key stakeholders, equitable engagement strategies, key messages, and evaluation metrics. This plan is a living document and will be updated as needed based on strategy development, technical needs, and information and feedback from stakeholders. Stakeholder interviews during Phase 1 may influence outreach methods and additional key stakeholders. Outreach from final design through pre- construction and construction will be included in a separate community engagement plan and contract. Background The 42nd Avenue South Bridge is coming to the end of its serviceable life and will need to be replaced in the near future. The existing streel truss requires constant and costly maintenance. The cost to repair the bridge would exceed the cost of replacing the bridge and would not provide an improved level of service. Improving the level of service is important for this route that serves more than 10,000 vehicles per day with 30% of vehicle traffic related to trucking. The bridge is the only viable route for container trucks entering and leaving the Tukwila BNSF Intermodal Facility and Baker Commodities. It is currently load posted restricting the free movement of freight. The bridge serves pedestrians and cyclists as its southern end connects to the Green River Trail. It also provides a critical connection to the Tukwila Community Center and the Allentown neighborhood. The 42nd Avenue South Bridge is a major east-west corridor for the region as it one of the few routes to cross the Duwamish River. Potential challenges to the public to consider: • There are diverse stakeholders potentially impacted by this project, including bridge users taking a variety of modes of travel, neighbors, businesses, BNSF, and other agencies. • The nearly 1,000 neighbors that live in the Allentown neighborhood will be impacted. • People walking, using a wheelchair, pushing a stroller and biking will be impacted by detours during construction. We will need to understand their needs and how they use the bridge and potentially look for alternative options. • Those living and working along the future detour route will experience increased traffic and delays and need to be made aware of the impacts and detour options. Identify ways to minimize truck traffic through the residential neighborhood. • Establishing appropriate routes for emergency responders will be key for general public safety and maintaining peace of mind for those living nearby. • Those attending events at the Tukwila Community Center will be best served by understanding detour routes ahead of events. Coordinating with groups and communicating the detour routes through the Community Center will be important. • Detour access to important businesses like BNSF and Baker Commodities has to be communicated well in advance. Community engagement goals The overall project goal is to design safe transportation infrastructure for the City and the community it serves. To support that overall goal, we’ve identified goals for community engagement: 29 DRAFT 42nd Avenue South Bridge Replacement: Community Engagement Plan Page 2 of 6 • Deliver an engagement process that is inclusive and contributes to an improved corridor design reflective of the community’s needs. • Engage vulnerable and marginalized populations in the project area to advance equitable engagement and reduce barriers to providing feedback. • Acknowledge the inconvenience and difficulty of project impacts, listen to community concerns and needs, provide information about potential mitigation measures, and provide feedback to the project team about what we are hearing from the community to inform better decisions. • Commit to share accurate and realistic information about project needs and limitations. • Generate community understanding of the need for the bridge replacement. • Build community support for detour and construction approach and buy-in on design elements, communicating how community input was or wasn’t used. • Gather input from the public and stakeholders to support bridge aesthetic design and construction options within budget, technical and timeline constraints. • Engage with BNSF, Baker Commodities, and other businesses that rely on the bridge and associated infrastructure to ensure concerns are addressed. Key stakeholders The Outreach Consultant team, EnviroIssues, will use a variety of strategies and tools to engage and inform the community. Community engagement will focus on building relationships with key stakeholders and the community, allowing them to share their needs and interests, learn about the project’s value and impacts, and provide feedback on technical options, tradeoffs, the preferred solution, and potential construction impacts. Below is a list of stakeholder groups that we will focus on building relationships with. A more detailed list of project area stakeholders is in Appendix A of this document. • Allentown residents, other neighbors • BNSF • Baker Commodities • Tukwila Community Center • Major employers • Community-based organizations that serve historically underrepresented communities and/or communities that speak a language other than English • Commuting/traveling public, including people walking and biking • Utility providers, schools and other area agencies • King County Sherriff’s office The Outreach Consultant team will lead coordination with the following key stakeholders, with support from technical consultants as needed: • City leadership, departments, and staff/subject-matter experts • Area Tribes, including the Duwamish People, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, others • Partner/area agencies, including King County, WSDOT • Emergency service providers, including Tukwila Fire and Police Departments • Local utility providers (PSE, King County) • Impacted parcels as it relates to right-of-way discussions Community characteristics Demographic analysis EnviroIssues examined demographic data for the project area which included a one-mile radius from the Tukwila Community Center. See map below. In this examined area: 30 DRAFT 42nd Avenue South Bridge Replacement: Community Engagement Plan Page 3 of 6 • There are just over 20,000 people living in Tukwila, 8,285 live in the project area and nearly 1,000 living in the Allentown neighborhood. • The project area is home to a population that breaks down to 32% White, 27% Asian, 20% Black, 8% Other races, 8% Two or more races, 1% Native American,12% Latino • Languages most spoken (over 5%) include, Spanish and Vietnamese • The City has identified Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese as standard languages requiring translation. Strategies • The demographic analysis suggests translating project materials to help engage more people in a more equitable way. Spanish and Vietnamese-speaking audiences exist in higher relative numbers within our project area and are also key priority languages for the City of Tukwila. Based on demographic data and City guidelines, Spanish, Somali, and Vietnamese are key priority languages for translation. Therefore, project fact sheets and other key pieces of outreach content will be translated into these three languages. • The City of Tukwila also translates some materials into Amharic, Burmese, and Nepali. These languages and other languages should be considered when translating content. • The community engagement team will coordinate translation and interpretation services. • Social media will be coordinated with the City’s communications team. Community engagement approaches and tools Phase 1: Early engagement and coordination (at project initiation) January – February 2021 Build relationships with key stakeholders, share initial information about the project need and timeline, and gather feedback on local avenues for project communications, community needs and concerns, and how they would like to stay informed throughout the project. During this period, the following activities utilizing associated tools will take place: 31 DRAFT 42nd Avenue South Bridge Replacement: Community Engagement Plan Page 4 of 6 Activity Audience Tool(s) Stakeholder interviews with key community organizations and groups to provide an early overview of the project and further understand stakeholder interests, concerns and priorities. • Allentown residents • Tukwila Community Center • BNSF • Baker Commodities • Major employers • Community-based organizations • Preliminary fact sheet • Webpage Outreach summary of the conversations with stakeholders and their feedback. • City staff • Tukwila City Council • Outreach summary report Phase 2: Technical options and tradeoffs (with draft TS&L/pre 30% design) May – June 2021 Conduct broad public engagement to gather feedback on a construction concept(s) for design aesthetics and construction approach within project constraints (i.e., budget, timeline, etc.). Initial surveying and analyses will determine feasible options; we will only ask for public input on options that are feasible within project constraints and the City will consider public feedback to the extent possible within the project constraints. We will also focus on driving interested members of the public to sign up for an email list to stay informed as the project progresses. During this period, the following activities utilizing associated tools will take place: Activity Audience Tool(s) Stakeholder briefing presentations with community organizations and groups we built relationships in Phase 1 to share technical options and tradeoffs and gather feedback. • Allentown residents • Tukwila Community Center • BNSF • Baker Commodities • Major employers • Community-based organizations • Full fact sheet/FAQ • Presentation • Webpage Broad public notification to invite the public to participate in virtual community engagement events* and build general awareness about the project. • Commuters, including people walking and biking • Green River Trail users • Nearby neighbors • Postcard • Display ads • Email updates • Yard/roadway sign to notify for online engagement • Social media Virtual public event and online engagement to present information about project need and technical options and gather feedback from the public to influence the preferred solution. • Commuters, including people walking and biking • Nearby neighbors • Green River Trail users • Participate.online site • Presentation Outreach summary of the conversations with stakeholders and the general public, outlining their feedback • City staff • Tukwila City Councils • Outreach summary report *public events will be planned over virtual mediums due to COVID-19. In-person community engagement will be dependent on COVID-19 safety measures. Evaluation metrics The following metrics will be a starting point to evaluate effectiveness of the community engagement process over time: 32 DRAFT 42nd Avenue South Bridge Replacement: Community Engagement Plan Page 5 of 6 Quantitative • Participation by the numbers (in-person and online) • Number of key stakeholders engaged and their reach (e.g., email list serves, daily visitors) • Time spent on online engagement opportunities (i.e., Google analytics) • Representative engagement assessed through: o Number of translated materials distributed and/or requested • Notification efficacy assessed through participants sharing how they heard about public events and online opportunities Qualitative • Satisfaction of engagement assessed through discussions with stakeholders at stakeholder interviews, briefings, and public events 33 DRAFT 42nd Avenue South Bridge Replacement: Community Engagement Plan Page 6 of 6 Appendix A: Key stakeholders Audiences to Consider Examples Adjacent property owners and tenants, including businesses and residents • BNSF, Baker Commodities, Gateway Corporate Center, King County Metro South Base, Sabey Data Centers • Allentown Residents Typical users of project area Pedestrians, cyclists, freight, drivers, commuters Community groups and neighborhood organizations Duwamish Valley Youth Corps, Duwamish Alive, Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition, Green Tukwila Partnership, Bhutanese Community Resource Center Cultural and religious organizations Abubakr Islamic Center of WA, Mien Evangelical, St. Thomas, United Church of Christ, Bhutanese Nepali Christian Community Church, India Pentecostal Church of Seattle, Riverton Park United Methodist, Hmong Seattle Alliance Church, Djibouti Community of America, Tukwila Fellowship Chambers of commerce and local business organizations Seattle Southside Chamber of Commerce City of Tukwila Departments Parks and Recreation Other agencies King County Executive Office, King County Council, King County Metro Transit, Duwamish Tribe, Muckleshoot Tribe, King County Water District 125 Public facilities Tukwila Community Center Schools and childcare facilities Foster High, Cascade View Elementary, Tukwila School District 406, Teri’s Daycare, AbuBakr Academy Hospitals HealthPoint Tukwila, Cascade Behavioral Health Hospital Social service organizations and facilities (including those serving people with disabilities) Tukwila Pantry, Tukwila Children’s Foundation, They Journey Project, American Legion Post 235 Bicycle and pedestrian advocacy groups Wabi Burien, West Seattle Bike Connections, Cascade City of Tukwila Advisory Boards Bicycle, Pedestrian, Freight, Transit Railroads BNSF Freight Baker Commodities, YRC Freight, Western Cascade Truck Media Outlets Tukwila Blog, SeaTac Blog, B-town Blog, Tukwila Reporter, Kent Reporter, Seattle Times, The Urbanist Populations that may need targeted outreach to due to cultural barriers, language differences, etc. Immigrant communities (ex. Hmong, Bhutanese, Indian, Mien) 34