Public Comment & Hearing - R-03639A-25-0162 - Union Pacific Railroad Company Audio/Video lost due to technical issue for opening 5 mintues

meeting

Arizona Corporation Commission 25 min 8 agenda items transcribed 2 days ago official recording ↗

▲ 0

Transcript

jump: agenda · find in transcript

Transcript

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What improvements are proposed for the Bilby Road corridor?

Mr. Hartley 0:03

at the Nogales subdivision line. So these are the improvements we're proposing, which include the sidewalks, the new raised median, and the bike lanes. And this was submitted at the 60% submittal stage, but this is the improvements that we are moving forward with.

Ms. Sensen 0:18

And does the crossing still look this way, or these are the still, has there been any modifications to the modifications?

Mr. Hartley 0:25

There have not.

Ms. Sensen 0:25

No, okay. if you would move to exhibit a5 identify what that exhibit is and give us background on it

Mr. Hartley 0:34

exhibit a5 is the bilby road modernization project lane conversion feasibility study and the intention of this was to do a traffic analysis to understand where the dominant turning movements were occurring as well as what the traffic volumes are on the corridor we were primarily focused between nogales highway to 12th avenue and the intent of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of eliminating a center turn lane from that section west of Nogales. But I think it's relevant to this hearing today because we did pick up traffic volumes at the Nogales intersection, Nogales Highway intersection, which is about 100 feet to the west of the crossing and is affected by the configuration of the crossing.

Ms. Sensen 1:14

Were you a part of the feasibility study?

Mr. Hartley 1:17

I was. It was developed by Kimley Horne and Associates, but as the project manager, I reviewed and directed it.

Ms. Sensen 1:23

And when was that feasibility study conducted?

Mr. Hartley 1:26

In May of 2023.

Ms. Sensen 1:29

And have there been any modifications to that study?

Mr. Hartley 1:32

There have not.

Ms. Sensen 1:32

There have not, okay. I think we are, if you would move to Exhibit A6.

Ms. Sensen 1:50

And if you could identify the exhibit.

Mr. Hartley 1:54

Exhibit A6 is the design submittal at the 60% stage for the entirety of the Bilby Road modernization project covering 12th Avenue to Country Club Road, the entire three miles. The intention...

Ms. Sensen 2:09

No, no, I wanted you to tell me what the 60% stage is for those of us who aren't into transportation. Can you explain

Mr. Hartley 2:17

it? So typically our design submittals are iterative as we develop design over a couple of years on a project. Oftentimes we have a 15, 30, 60, 90, and 100% submittal. So 60 is when we're really starting to get into the details of design and laying out both the kind of vertical horizontal alignment of the corridor and making sure that we are. you know, establishing that project footprint and actually doing more detailed design on the specific design features of it, of the corridor, of the project improvements.

Ms. Sensen 2:46

And were you a part of developing this?

Mr. Hartley 2:50

I did

Ms. Sensen 2:50

not. 60%?

Mr. Hartley 2:51

I did not create it. Again, it was created by Kimley Horn and Associates, but as the project manager, I oversaw, provided guidance, directed, and reviewed the 60% submittal.

Ms. Sensen 3:00

So you have personal knowledge about this particular document?

Mr. Hartley 3:02

Correct.

Ms. Sensen 3:03

Okay. And has there been any changes or modifications to this document since it was submitted?

Mr. Hartley 3:08

They have. So subsequently we've had the 90 and the 100% submittals. However, we did not make any changes to the area directly impacted by this crossing. Most of those changes were outside or all of those changes were outside of the crossing footprint and it was part of the iteration of subsequent designs.

Ms. Sensen 3:25

Okay. And when you say outside of the footprint, can you explain a little bit about what that means?

Mr. Hartley 3:31

So everything that was on the crossing exhibit was maintained as is within that Union Pacific right-of-way, basically from First Avenue to New Gallus Highway.

Ms. Sensen 3:42

Okay. So this exhibit isn't modified based on the 90% and 100% changes to the outside of the Bilby Road project. Is that my understanding?

Ms. Layton 3:52

Correct.

Ms. Sensen 3:53

Okay. Thank you. So I think we are on Exhibit A7. Can you tell the court what that exhibit is?

How was the Bilby Road feasibility study conducted and what were its findings?

Mr. Hartley 4:01

Exhibit A7 is the crossing inventory provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the intention with this was just to have the underlying data and a shared understanding of what the activity at the crossing is. This is where we pulled information regarding the number of trains per day, as well as the school buses and some of the underlying information that was necessary for the application.

Ms. Sensen 4:24

And were you a part of developing this particular study?