MATS Technical Meeting
January 19, 2022

A meeting of the MATS Technical Committee was held on Jan. 19, 2022 via the Zoom Virtual Meeting Platform. There were fourteen voting members present, thereby establishing a quorum. The minutes from the previous meeting were introduced and approved. A motion was made by Robert Ryals and seconded by Nigel Floyd to appoint Greg Boike as the new Vice-Chairman of the TCC. The motion was then approved by the Technical Committee members.

The first item on the agenda was the approval of the final UPWP for FY 2023. Mike Greenwald discussed the funding method for programs in the UPWP. He stated that the federal government funds projects at the 80% level and state & local sources fund the remaining 20%. The changes to the budget categories in the UPWP reflected a shift from the LRTP to anticipated TIP updates and the continued assistance to MTA with various tasks. It was recommended that the UPWP be approved and submitted to the Policy Committee at their next meeting. Subsequently, a motion was made by Nigel Floyd and seconded by Michel Wanna to adopt the final UPWP which was approved.

The next item presented was the 2050 Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP). Mike Greenwald stated that the draft is currently being developed by the staff. So far, the initial public outreach activities have been completed. In addition, the final roads and bridges project list has been completed. The completed draft MTP document is scheduled for Feb. 2, 2022 and the final document will be adopted in May 2022 The various chapters in the MTP document were then discussed. The current priority of projects consists of projects that are already underway in the TIP and the projects of interest from local officials, In regard to Inter-Agency Coordination, the existing CDR has been updated to reflect the new MTP and TIP. The next steps in the MTP involve the adoption of the draft document by the MATS Committees and review by both the public and government agencies. The final adoption of the MTP will be on May 3, 2022,

Adrianna Beavers from the Macon-Bibb Attorney’s Office then discussed a proposed new project. Macon-Bibb Co. has signed a nonbinding MOU with Georgia Mobility to study the feasibility of an overhead rail system from the downtown area to Mercer University. This will be a public/private partnership that will require Georgia DOT approval but will not involve any federal funding.

Under the project status report, Greg Brown reviewed the major changes to the road project list that was provided by Georgia DOT. There was no Old or New Business presented and the meeting was then adjourned.