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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report_Fehr and Peers Traffi Model 20260728 KITTITAS COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA STAFF REPORT AGENDA DATE: August 4, 2026 ACTION REQUESTED: Request to Approve a Resolution Authorizing Chair Signature on Fehr and Peers Task Order No. 01 – Countywide Transportation Model BACKGROUND: Kittitas County authorized funds through the Distressed County Sales and Use Tax (Fund 108) to update the Countywide transportation model by Resolution 2025-186. The original transportation model was developed in 2013 with a major update in 2017. An update to the transportation model will establish a new base year and calibrate the model including updated road networks and land use categories. Public Works previously solicited proposals for on-call transportation modeling and planning services and selected Fehr and Peers as an on- call consultant. Public Works has requested a scope and fee from Fehr and Peers to update the countywide transportation model. The project includes expanding traffic forecasting capabilities in the upper county area. The task order amount proposed is $150,000.00 and Fehr and Peers would be under contract through the end of 2028. INTERACTION: Public Works RECOMMENDATION: Approve a Resolution Authorizing Chair Signature on Fehr and Peers Task Order No. 01 – Countywide Transportation Model. HANDLING: Return One original to Public Works ATTACHMENTS: Resolution, Task Order No. 01. LEAD STAFF: Josh Fredrickson Public Works Director BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COUNTY OF KITTITAS STATE OF WASHINGTON RESOLUTION NO. 2026 -_____ AUTHORIZING CHAIR SIGNATURE ON FEHR AND PEERS TASK ORDER NO. 01 – COUNTYWIDE TRANSPORTATION MODEL WHEREAS: The Department of Public Works procured on-call professional transportation model and planning services from Fehr and Peers consistent with state law and county code on July 2025; and WHEREAS: Fehr and Peers prepared a scope of work and fee proposal to provide an updated countywide transportation model; and WHEREAS: The value of Task Order No. 01 exceeds the contract authorization amount currently provided to the Public Works Director; and NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of County Commissioners, in the best interest of the public, does hereby authorize Chair signature on Fehr and Peers Task Order No. 01 – Countywide Transportation Model. DATED this 4th day of August 2026, in Ellensburg, Washington. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS KITTITAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON ________________________________ Chairman Attest: ☐ Clerk of the Board- Julie Kjorsvik ________________________________ Vice-Chairman ☐ Deputy Clerk of the Board- Mandy Buchholz _______________________________ ________________________________ Commissioner KITTITAS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS Formal Task Order Document Fehr and Peers. Task Order Number 01 Maximum Amount Payable $150,000.00 Completion Date 12/31/2028 The general provisions and clauses of the Master Professional Services Agreement for On- Call Civil Engineering executed on November 13, 2025, shall be in full force and effect for this Task Order. Location of Project: Kittitas County Project Title: Countywide Transportation Model Description of Work: See attached Exhibit A Fehr and Peers shall provide an updated countywide transportation model updated to run the latest version of the Visum software. Model shall incorporate updated traffic counts and account for current land use categories. Additional detail and forecasting capabilities in the upper county area are to be provided. Cost Breakdown: See Attached Exhibit A Completion Date: 12/31/2028 Agency Signature: Date: Consultant Signature: Date: 7/29/2026 Kittitas County Model Update | 1 Upper Kittitas County Model Update Fehr & Peers has prepared the following scope of work to update the Kittitas County travel demand model, which last underwent a major update in 2017. The model update would establish a new existing year and would be calibrated and validated using observed traffic counts. The model would also be updated to run with the latest version of the Visum software. As part of this effort, the model will be enhanced to provide more detail and expanded forecasting capabilities in the Upper County area. To better support planning in the Upper County, a secondary time period would be incorporated to reflect peak recreational travel separate from the traditional weekday PM peak hour time period currently in the model. In addition, the model would be enhanced to better estimate travel generated by Upper County vacation homes and secondary residences. The general area representing Upper Kittitas County within the countywide model is shown below. Scope of Work The tasks required to complete this project are described in more detail below. The traditional weekday PM peak hour scenario will be calibrated and validated to Winter 2026 conditions. The development of this model scenario will be completed before beginning work on a second time period representing peak summer recreational travel. This secondary period would be chosen through consultation with the County and cities to reflect visitor travel during Summer 2026 on a typical Friday or Sunday. The model would not reflect conditions on a summer holiday weekend when travel demand is highest. Upper County Kittitas County Model Update | 2 Task 1. Project Administration This task includes coordination with the County and cities throughout the project. At a minimum, monthly meetings are assumed, but more could be scheduled as necessary based on the specific needs of the project at a given time. This task also includes the preparation of monthly invoices and progress updates. Task 2. Data Collection To validate the volume estimates generated by the model, a database of existing traffic data is required. This data will be compiled through traffic count vendors and provided by the cities and County, as available. Fehr & Peers will organize and standardize the count data into a consistent format that can be used for model validation. The cost for this task assumes that 24-hour tube counts are collected at 80 locations, with approximately 75% collected across the county during Winter 2026 and 25% collected in the Upper County during Summer 2026. In addition, Fehr & Peers will purchase origin -destination travel data, from a data provider such as Streetlight, to provide information on travel behavior within the subarea for each of the validation time periods. This data will be used to calibrate the proportion of trips generated within the subarea and the proportion of trips coming from outside the subarea. Fehr & Peers will process and summarize the data for use in the travel model. Task 3. Existing Scenario Update As part of this task, Fehr & Peers would review the arterial and highway network for consistency with existing conditions throughout the entire county. This includes verifying characteristics such as the number of lanes, functional classifications, speed limits, and turning restrictions. The roadway network would also be updated to include more roadways to a level of detail consistent with the land use zone system in the model. In order to better estimate travel to and from the Upper County area, a new land use category would be added to the structure of the model for households that primarily function as second homes and vacation rentals. A separate trip purpose would also be added to the model to distinguish recreational travel from the other trip purposes currently in the model. Travel assumptions for the new land use category and trip purpose would be estimated using the travel data collected in Task 1. The Upper County area of the model includes a sufficient number of land use zones and the boundaries of these would not be substantially altered. The County and cities would be responsible for providing changes in households and jobs that have occurred since 2017 to be incorporated into the model. Fehr & Peers would be responsible for updating volume assumptions at each of the gateway locations in the subarea model. Task 4. Existing Scenario Calibration and Validation The model will be calibrated and validated to reflect travel conditions during a Winter 2026 weekday PM peak hour and Summer 2026 weekend peak hour. This will be accomplished by adjusting trip generation rates, the proportion of internal vs external trips, roadway network characteristics, and other parameters that affect travel behavior. The validation will compare existing traffic counts with model estimates for the peak hour for both the countywide model and Upper County subarea. Kittitas County Model Update | 3 Task 5. Horizon Scenario Development Fehr & Peers will coordinate the development of the future year scenario, assumed to be 20+ years beyond the existing year scenario. The county and cities will be responsible for providing a list of land use forecasts and roadway network improvement projects to be incorporated into the model. Fehr & Peers will be responsible for developing growth assumptions for travel outside of the model area. These changes will be coded into the model, but no scenario analysis will be performed as part of this scope of work. High level metrics will be summarized and compared against the existing scenarios. A final technical memorandum will be provided summarizing the update of the model including all tasks described herein. Schedule The estimated schedule for developing the model is assumed to occur between August 2026 and June 2027. Budget The estimated budget for this project is $149,987. The hourly breakdown by staff person and task is summarized below. Note that rates may change but the maximum amount will not be exceeded.