# Transportation MPO - April 29, 2026 > Auto-transcribed civic record · April 29, 2026 - **Permalink**: https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/meeting/6760 - **Source video**: https://lfucg.granicus.com/player/clip/6760?view_id=14&redirect=true - **Date**: 2026-04-29 - **Last revised**: May 1, 2026 - **Length**: 4,469 words > ⚠️ **Auto-generated content.** Audio from the official Granicus video was auto-transcribed by OpenAI Whisper-1. Structured facts were extracted with GPT-4o; the narrative summary was written by Anthropic Claude Sonnet. Speaker labels and verbatim wording may contain errors. See [methodology](https://meetings.lexingtonky.news/about/methodology) or [report a correction](mailto:editor@lexingtonky.news). --- ## Meeting Overview The Transportation Policy Committee convened on April 29, 2026, in Nicholasville to conduct its regular business. The meeting included four agenda items, two of which resulted in formal votes and two of which were presented for informational purposes. The committee approved the minutes from a prior meeting and adopted the Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program, accounting for the two votes taken during the session. Members also received informational presentations on a proposed amendment to the Fiscal Year 2025–2028 Transportation Improvement Program and on the development timeline and proposed work priorities for the Fiscal Year 2027–2030 Transportation Improvement Program. One public comment was heard during the meeting. ## Votes and Decisions Two items were brought to a vote at the April 29, 2026 meeting, both passing unanimously. - **Approval of February 25, 2026 TPC Meeting Minutes** [timestamp: 0:37]: A motion was made to approve the minutes from the February 25, 2026 Transportation Policy Committee (TPC) meeting. The motion passed unanimously. No roll call vote was recorded. - **Resolution 2026-4 – Adoption of Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program** [timestamp: 9:26]: A motion was made to adopt Resolution 2026-4, approving the Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program. The motion passed unanimously. No roll call vote was recorded. ## Public Comment A public hearing was held regarding the adoption of the Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program. [timestamp: 08:51] No public comments were submitted during the hearing. ## Approval of Minutes [timestamp: 00:37] The meeting included consideration of the minutes from the February 25, 2026 TPC meeting. The item was brought forward for review and approval, and no key speakers or debate are recorded in connection with this agenda item. No concerns were raised during this portion of the meeting. The minutes were approved. ## Adoption of Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program **Resolution 2026-4** | [timestamp: 09:26] The board took up Resolution 2026-4, concerning the adoption of the Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP), which functions as the operating budget for the NPL for the upcoming fiscal year. Key speakers on this item included **Mr. Riddick** and **Mr. Abidi**, who led the presentation and discussion of the work program. The UPWP outlines the planned planning activities and associated funding for the fiscal year ahead, serving as the foundational budgetary document guiding the organization's work program priorities. The resolution was **approved** by the board. ## Proposed Amendment to Fiscal Year 2025-2028 Transportation Improvement Program [timestamp: 10:30] The meeting included a discussion regarding a proposed amendment to the Fiscal Year 2025-2028 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). Mr. Gooden presented the item, which centered on a right-of-way acquisition phase for roadway widening and reconstruction projects at two locations: Winchester Road and Polo Club Boulevard, and Haley Road. The item was presented as informational in nature, providing members with an overview of the proposed TIP amendment and the scope of the associated roadway improvements. Right-of-way acquisition represents a key early phase in the project development process, preceding construction and allowing the necessary land to be secured for the planned widening and reconstruction work along these corridors. No final action was taken on this item, as it was brought forward for discussion and informational purposes. ## Development Timeline and Proposed Work Priorities for Fiscal Year 2027-2030 Transportation Improvement Program [timestamp: 18:37] This agenda item was presented as an informational discussion focused on the development timeline and proposed work priorities for the upcoming Fiscal Year 2027-2030 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). **Key Speaker:** James Mill led the presentation and discussion on this item. The discussion centered on outlining the development timeline and identifying proposed work priorities that will shape the next Transportation Improvement Program cycle covering fiscal years 2027 through 2030. This item was informational in nature, meaning no formal action or vote was taken as a result of the discussion. No additional details regarding specific priorities, milestones, concerns raised, or debate outcomes are available in the source materials beyond what was presented above. --- ## Decisions - **Motion** — passed (0-0): Approval of the minutes from February 25, 2026 TPC meeting - **Resolution 2026-4** — passed (0-0): Adoption of Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program --- ## Full transcript Okay, great. All right, we'll get started. We'll call this meeting to order. The Transportation Policy Committee meeting April 29, 2026. Welcome everyone to Nicholasville. This is our home. All right, thank you for making the trip down. Moving to the action items. Approval of the minutes from February 25, 2026 TPC meeting. I'm open for a motion. So moved. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor signify by raising your right hand. All opposed? Motion carries. Moving on, we have Resolution 2026-4 Adoption of Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program. That was pages 8 through 12 in our packets. This is a draft of the WPWP document provided separately. Mr. Riddick? Just a second here. There's a last minute thing we have to do. Okay, Unified Planning Work Program. So just as a reminder, the Unified Planning Work Program effectively serves as the operating budget for the NPL for the next fiscal year. It is one of those documents that is required to identify how the NPL intends to use federal planning dollars for the next fiscal year. We do follow the LFTCG fiscal year, which begins July 1st, and we have to identify not only the tasks that we intend to accomplish over that year, but also what resources we intend to use. This also includes planning activities that may be taking place in our area from our parks. So for instance, sometimes KYTC may have a study that's going on, or Westram may have a study that's going on, that those efforts, if they're using federal dollars, also have to be included in our program. Okay, so the new WPWP is divided up into six work elements, and if you look at a similar document for an NPL cross-country, you're going to see something very similar. The first element is Transportation System Data and Monitoring. Basically, these are the various databases and data sources that we work with, and making sure that they're up-to-date and current. It also includes any analysis that we may perform using that data. The second part is what we refer to as long-range planning. This is where our remote public transportation planning resides. The third one is short-range planning. This is basically in the next five years or so, this is where our transportation improvement program resides. Number four is our use in transportation impact. This is typically where our corridor studies reside. But there are several other tasks that are in there, such as any kind of small area plans that the NPO may be working on, housing plans, or any assistance with comprehensive plans for our communities. Number five, participation outreach. And number six is program administration, which is pretty much all the day-to-day activities that the NPO staff are working on. There's a number of items that occur on an annual basis, such as this process here that we're working on right now, producing the work program, the budget process. We will occasionally have amendments to our documents. Those occur, we usually have at least one or two for our transportation planning hand tip that we process on an annual basis. Any assistance we may provide in terms of subdivision, zoning ordinance regulations on behalf of our governments. And then, of course, we always have participation outreach activity over the course of the year for various studies and plans that we're working on. The priorities for this upcoming fiscal year, we now adopt a new transportation improvement program every two years. This is the year for that. We also have performance targets that we do every four years. And this is the year for those particular performance targets, setting goals for those areas, or in some cases deciding whether to support state or transit west transit targets for those. And those are pavement bridge condition and travel time reliability. And then, just as a reminder, we have two that we do on an annual basis. We're doing highway safety and transit asset condition. We are currently in the process of updating our congestion management process. This is one of those federally required processes that we do every five years. It is currently underway. We anticipate completing that effort in fiscal year 27. We also anticipate starting a, I wouldn't say a comprehensive review of our intelligent transportation system architecture. But it's been a few years since we've last taken a look at that and so we're on to an ongoing effort to kind of make sure that that's up to speed and current. And then, kind of the roadway safety education campaign and then updated the website. Those can be recurring activities for us. I think this next year we're looking at maybe having something a little more robust in terms of public education, especially with regards to road safety. And then, the effort for the UK website that we're required to do under a federal statute is a review of our website for ADA accessibility. And we have a little less than a year to meet a certain threshold of accessibility for those who are visually impaired. And so our staff is working hard to get that done and we anticipate meeting those standards by April of next year. There are two studies in the work program. Both are turning over from the previous year. We have the complete street design standards study. That was started about two years ago. It is mostly complete but there are still a few tasks left for the consultant to accomplish and most of the public outreach effort for that study is going to extend into fiscal year 2017. So we're carrying over a small amount of dollars into fiscal year 2017. And then the Winchester Road Corridor study, that officially kicked off in March. In case you're curious, WSP received the award for that contract. We are estimating that that effort will be complete by June of 2027. When we look at the sum total, if we just look at the basic elements, we're just short of $1.5 million for all the basic tasks that we identified. And then the carryover studies, you can see what the total is. You can see that we're mostly finished with the complete street design and we're only looking at a small amount of carrying over to the next fiscal year. With Winchester Road, we're just getting started. So about 80% of that effort is carrying over to the next fiscal year. So as with all of our processes, we do have a public comment process associated with the work program. We did conduct a 15-day public comment period. We did not receive any formal comments through that effort. And then for today, we do need to conduct a public hearing for anyone that wants to submit comments universally. So with that, we can begin the public hearing and then I'll be happy to address any questions that the policy committee may have. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Abidi. At this time, we're open to public hearing for comment or discussion regarding the adoption of the Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program. Do we have any members of the audience wishing to comment? Seeing none, no formal comments were submitted, correct, Mr. Abidi? That is correct. Okay. All right. At this time, we'll see no public comment and we'll close the public hearing. We'll open for consideration and action for the Unified Planning Work Program. Any questions, discussion? Okay. Okay. Thank you, Chair. Chris, we do plan at Lake Strain to launch a long-range transportation plan. Probably this year, more likely than not. So I just want to make that comment for everyone. And if that doesn't need to be included in here, we can talk more about that later. So let us know if that's something that's actually moving forward and what those dollars are. And we're probably going to have to get it amended to get that into the program. Okay. Thank you. That's good. Any other comments, questions for Mr. Abidi or staff? Okay. Seeing none, we'll open the table for a motion or consideration of the adoption of Fiscal Year 2027 Unified Planning Work Program. So moved. Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? All agree or all in favor signify by raising your right hand. All opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Moving on for information and discussion items. We have a review and discussion regarding a proposed amendment to Fiscal Year 2025 through Fiscal Year 2028. Transportation Improvement Program. This is considering the right-of-way acquisition phase for roadway widening and the reconstruction of the buried cedar section of Winchester Road and Polo Club Boulevard and Haley Road. All right. So this is something that has been questioned from District 7 of KYTC. And just a quick reminder of what the Transportation Improvement Program is. This is the implementation part of the transportation planning process. So the TIP covers a four-fiscal year period. The current one runs through Fiscal Year 2028. And as you'll see shortly, the new TIP actually overlaps with the current TIP. And there are reasons why we have that overlap. To be included, though, you do have to have the formal commitment of funding for the full cost of the phase four. That could be out of state highway planning. It could be some of the dollar federal dollars that come directly to the NPO. It could be discretionary grants. I'm thinking outside the box of the NPO funding page. So many of our projects do include multiple sources. We need to be able to identify or have a commitment from all of those sources before the phase four can actually move forward. To be the second part of this question, you have to have the project ready to move to the particular phase four. Design, pretty much the only thing you need to have is a line item in the number of public transportation plan. Right-of-way has to have the design phase pretty much complete. Utilities would like to have the right-of-way acquired before moving with that. And then construction, basically everything has to be complete before we're really ready to move to the construction phase. Transit's a little bit different because there's not a construction phase associated with acquiring buses. And that's true for a lot of new services that transit incorporates. And so that's a little bit different process than a traditional highway. Now, for a project that has right-of-way utility or construction phases, before it concludes, the policy board directed us, NPO staff, and our TTC technical committee, to do a review of the design of those projects. And what we're looking for are complete street best practices. Are we providing for bicycles, pedestrians, public transportation, if appropriate? Are we looking at the implementation of a safe streets protocol? So primarily what we're interested in is are we reducing conflict points? Are we reducing speed? And this is directly related to our goal of Vision Zero, eliminating fatal and serious injury crashes by 2050. And so once staff completes their review, then we provide that recommendation to the technical committee, who will then perform a proper review and provide the policy committee a recommendation about whether we feel comfortable incorporating this particular work phase in the TIP. And you, the policy committee, have the final decision. And so you may feel comfortable with something that perhaps we in the technical committee are not as comfortable with, or vice versa. That's really your final decision as to whether that moves into the TIP or not. So the amendment that we can request through the process is for section U.S. 60, or Winchester Road, between Pueblo Club Boulevard and Haleybrook. The scope of work is to widen this section along the four lanes. There are a number of redesigned intersections that are part of this. And these are innovative intersection designs, like either R-cuts or roundabouts. And then the construction of a shared use path parallel to the facility, at least as far as Cleveland Road. The one area that we're going to be probably having a little bit of conversation about is what about the north side of the road, where we have a new expansion area that's just getting started. And what do bypass facilities look like on that side? And this study, the way the design work was started before the expansion area was really, that announcement, I think, was really a good way. So the proposal is that the state is ready to proceed with right-of-way acquisition for this roadway, starting at the end of fiscal year 26. So pretty soon. But before they can actually do that, we have to have this line item identified in our TIP. Now note, there is a forward straight going on from Winchester Road, going from 3rd Street all the way to Bahama Road, which is probably about the midpoint of this red line that you're seeing here on this map. We're not, that study isn't going to look into our details about the specific design of this road, but what we are interested in is how the roadways are going to connect to this part of Winchester Road, and also what kind of parallel facilities may be needed. For instance, the hammer connector is kind of a concept at the end of this, getting ready to move forward. But there may be other parallel back roads, if you will, that might be something we want to consider. And that's something that the consultant team will be looking at for this section of Winchester Road. So the next steps here, KYTC is in the process of providing the schematic designs to NPS staff for our review. We'll be doing that during the month of May. We will produce our recommendations and a report for public review in the end of June, and have a formal public comment period. We're required to have a 15-day comment period for amendments, and so that will apply through June 17. And the technical committee will meet on June 10th to consider this request and provide a recommendation. And then that will be forwarded to you for June 24th. So there's no action required today. We want you to be aware that this request is out there, and that there's going to be some activity, and public activity, or public review activity associated with this. And we want to give you the opportunity to ask us any questions before we begin this process. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Gooden. Member of the Transportation Policy Committee, any questions? With that, concerning the amendments of the TIP? No questions? Cool. All right. Thank you, Chris. Moving forward, we have other information and discussion items. Discussion regarding the development timeline and proposed work priorities for the fiscal year 2027 through 2030. Transportation Improvement Program. All right. So I mentioned to you that we now update the Transportation Improvement Program every two years. Fiscal year 27 is that timeline for a new TIP. And just in time, we have a new staff member who's going to be responsible for putting together that document and providing staff recommendations on what projects are included. That is James Mill. And he will go ahead and take over the presentation and kind of go through what we're going to be working on over the next several months when we get to this document. James? Okay. So this next information and improvement program will cover the fiscal years of 2027 through 2030. As Mr. Aguila mentioned, there's a two-year overlap with the current TIP. So this allows for us to have better coordination with the State Highway Plan and reassess current project status and so project costs and what phase of work is begun. All projects identified in the TIP must be ready for some form at some stage of implementation under formal commitment funding. Typically, TIP projects are the highest priority in the entity. Yes. Correct. Each phase of work must have a formal commitment of funding from someone to be included in the TIP. So this would be the State Highway Plan. This would be NPO's sub-allocated dollars, discretionary grants, awards, total revenue, public-private partnerships. To note, there are no projects that are proposed using total revenue or PVPs. In addition, all federal funding projects must also require a source of required non-federal matching, which is usually 20%. So, some State Highway Plan notes. Fiscal Year 2027-2028 program represents real money, and 2029-2030 could represent a funding commitment. Unlike in past State Highway Plans, the current State Highway Plan by name is fiscally constrained, and the current State Highway Plan has actually been signed by the Governor on April 13, and that was House Bill 502. So, regarding the NPO sub-allocated funds, there are three sources, and that's the SLIS, which is the Surface Transportation and Block Group Program, which is directly allocated to the NPO. There's the Transportation Alternatives Program, which is directly allocated to the NPO, and is not the same as the State Highway Plan, which is awarded through KYTC. And then there's also the Carbon Reduction Program, which is likely to be ended in Fiscal Year 2026, although it could be extended if the IIHA is reauthorized. And the NPO may not be conducting any public projects, even if this was constrained to matching funds and staff and other safety structures. So, one main thing about choosing our projects is our proposed priorities. Right now, our priorities, with the fiscal constraints, are maintaining progress on projects that are in the design phase, and for new projects, three areas are going to exist. Projects assisting the end-users' goals, who reduce your dredge benefits, and addressing the state of those impaired. Other priorities are of secondary importance. So, looking at this next Transportation Improvement Program, for today, we have some concerns on typical priorities for the TTC. Whether there's going to be a future call for projects is still up in the air, so there's not really a date for that. Review of the Draft Project Workcase by the TTCC Technical Committee on August 12, Review of the Draft TIP by the TTC on August 26, and then the official release of the Draft TIP September 4, which will come inside the public comment period since September 4, through October 5. TTCC Review of the Recommendation of the Draft TIP on October 14, and then adoption by the TTC on October 20. Do we have any questions? Okay. Thank you, James. Any questions? Seeing none, we appreciate it. Thank you. Moving on, that wraps up our agenda. Do we have any members of the public wishing to comment or address the transportation policy? Seeing none, do we have a question? Yeah, just a question. I apologize, we're going a little out of order. Is there any projects in Jesuit County that are something to be thinking about for TIP funds in the future? I mean, obviously not ready now. Right, so normally we have a call for projects that goes out where we request folks to submit proposals, identify where the non-federal match is coming from, and then we basically have a vote on that for ourselves in Congress. This year, we've had some challenges with Lexington in particular with trying to come up with a non-federal match for big projects, and then our Division of Engineering is staff constrained, and so their ability to take on additional work is a bit limited. What that means is we've got some decisions that need to be made in terms of the money that is coming in, and we're going to have a lot of unobligated dollars to decide. So all I have to say is that there's a lot of opportunity. I think the challenge for Jesuit County is the Division of Engineering versus the non-federal match coming from, and often times ends up being state highways where the state is able to provide the 20% non-federal match. Now, if you need some help on that, I think our intent is to meet with each of Nicholsville and more of Jesuit County to identify what opportunities, probably over the next few months or so, so that we can get some idea of what might be interesting. I'd love to have a conversation maybe outside this meeting with other Jesuit County folks as far as where we identify specific need areas, whether or not for this year or for next year, just because we're talking about the next few years. So, and again, being new to this committee, I'm still learning the process, but want to be thinking about how can we develop this. So, in addition to identifying a source for non-federal match, there are two other things that you needed to look at. The project needs to be currently in our metropolitan transformation plan, or identified as a priority in the bicycle and pedestrian master plan, which also covers Jesuit County. If it's not in one of those two documents, then we have to do an amendment to one or the other before we can consider including it. Considering the time frame we're on here, that means that we probably don't have time to actually accomplish that for this year. Especially if it meets the other criteria of already having a final design, and being pretty close to it. Well, we can fund a design phase. So, if it's in the MTP, we don't have any kind of design, maybe only a conceptual idea, that can be funded through the TIP and through our self-allocated dollars. And in fact, that is our recommendation, is to get some of these design phases going so that as discretionary programs become available, we're in a much better position to help out who else is at the state or federal level for the subsequent work with right-of-way, utility relocation, and such. Is that all? Alright, yeah. We'll convene. We'll meet with the judge and myself, and one or more representatives, and obviously NPO staff. How can you explain the budget constraints? And how, more broadly, those are going to affect you all and the state moving forward? So, it's basically the non-federal part of this equation that we have to get some idea on. And talking with the Division of Engineering during the budget process, and so there's already been several conversations there, they're anticipating that LFECD is going to have a limited amount of dollars for any big construction projects this next fiscal year, and maybe even the fiscal year after that. Probably the bigger constraint is going to be the ability of the Division of Engineering to actually oversee that work. There's quite a bit of effort for federal projects to make sure that everyone is doing what they're supposed to be doing under the federal program. And so, I think Doug has three vacancies currently, and so that puts him in a difficult position where basically we're trying to make sure that what's already under way keeps moving forward, but he's not sure that he can take on additional work at this time. I hope that's helpful. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, any other questions, comments? Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Chair. Mr. Aviglia, I'm wondering, do you have a pulse on how the projects that we were seeking to get funded, council districts 1, 2, and 6 in Lexington, fared in the state budget? I was doing some tracking up until the last minute and then I had to start working on Lexington's budget. So, do you know if we were successful or not? So, we are scheduling the district 7 to go over what was in the Palm Street Highway Plan. I can tell you that Georgetown Road is under construction, but it's... Phase 1 and 2 are what? Phase 1. I think Phase 2 is... I think there's still some preliminary work that needs to be done, but Casey... Yeah, we could... You're talking about the southern section We actually do have funding to get into the next phase, the right-of-way phase within the biennium. That actually had STPF, it's a federal-funded program, so it is allowing us to move forward. Now, the northern section, obviously that's a priority section. That's always going to be ahead from the second, but at least we're still going to have some movement on both sections. That's great. That's great. Awesome. Any other updates? Anything in 1 or 6? Again, we'll be reviewing those with District 7, and once we have an idea of what we're working with, that's actually going to be a big part of the next tip, what's going on behind the next tip. Okay, sounds good. Thank you so much. Thank you. Alright, any other questions, comments from the committee? Okay, seeing none, Mr. Good, do you have anything? Just a reminder, the next meeting is Wednesday, June 24th. We're moving back to the LF&C Phoenix building for the formal conference room. And then, in case you weren't aware, the Lexington Area MPO was able to post our camera parts from across the country, 235 camera parts from across the country, last week, which is part of the reason we're meeting today, not last week. As part of the Association of MPOs National Planning Tools and Training Symposium, and that was a smashing success, and we received a lot of kudos, not just from what the MPO is working on, but also just from what the city of Lexington has accomplished. And, you know, as planners, whenever we visit any place, we make mental notes of places on things that they're doing well, maybe not doing so well on, and the feedback I received from a lot of my colleagues from across the country is that Lexington is doing a really good job. I know there's a lot more work that's left to be done, but I want you to know that you all are an important part of this, and we've done a really good job, at least in the last couple of years, so I want to forward that to you. Absolutely, that's great to hear. Thank you, Mr. Avelia, and the MPO staff, we really appreciate all your hard work. Yeah, I'm sorry that I'm unable to make it last week, that was a little under the weather, but yeah, it was good to hear that that was a success right here in our region of Lexington. Any other comments, questions? Okay, open the table for a motion for adjournment. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor, signify by raising your hand. All opposed? Thank you.