433 West Van Buren Street  
Suite 450  
Chicago, IL 60607  
CMAQ, CRP & TAP-L PROJECT SELECTION  
COMMITTEE  
MEETING MINUTES - FINAL  
Thursday, May 14, 2026  
11:00 AM  
Cook County Conference Room  
433 West Van Buren Street, Suite 450  
Chicago, IL 60607  
1.0  
Call To Order  
The meeting was called to order by Chair Ferguson at 11:00 a.m.  
Present:  
Absent:  
Douglas Ferguson, Grant Davis, Mark Pitstick, Tom Rickert and Chris Schmidt  
Dave Brady and Gabe Desmond  
Non-Voting: Jon Paul Diipla  
Absent (NV): Mark Kane  
Staff Present: Victoria Barrett, Marielle Brown, Teri Dixon, Kama Dobbs, Phoebe Downey, Alyson  
Dressman, Jon Haadsma, Hayden Horton, Aimee Lee, Jen Miller, Richard Norwood, Russell Pietrowiak,  
George Rivera, Charlie Rotering, and Sarah Stolpe  
Others Present: Eric Czarnota, Rithvika Dara, Gretchen Klock, David Kovarik, Quinn Kasal, Brian  
Larson, Heidi Lichtenberger, Leslie Rauer, Chad Riddle, Michael Sewall  
2.0  
3.0  
Agenda Changes and Announcements  
Chair Ferguson announced Mark Pitstick's retirement and thanked him for his 27 years serving on the  
CMAQ/TAP-L Project Selection Committee.  
Approval of Minutes  
3.01 Draft Meeting Minutes from March 26, 2026  
26-125  
Attachments: PSC(DraftMinutes)03-26-26  
A motion was made by Mark Pitstick, seconded by Tom Rickert, to approve the draft minutes from the  
March 26, 2026 meeting. The motion carried by a voice vote.  
4.0  
Program Monitoring  
4.01 Project Programming Status Sheets  
26-126  
Attachments: CMAQ Program Summary_May2026  
CMAQ Deferred Program Summary_May2026  
TAP-L Program Summary_May2026  
CRP Program Summary_May2026  
Chair Ferguson provided a summary of the programming status sheets.  
4.02 CMAQ Programming Summary and Obligation Goal  
26-127  
26-128  
Attachments: FFY26 ob goal table_20260514  
Chair Ferguson provided a summary of the programming summary and obligations.  
5.0  
Project Changes  
5.01 Project Change Request Memo  
Attachments: Project Change Memo_Formal Requests_05072026  
Jon Haadsma provided an overview of the requested changes.  
Approval of the Group Vote  
A motion was made by Tom Rickert, seconded by Mark Pitstick, that the project change requests in  
items 5.01.1 and 5.01.2 be approved as requested. The motion carried by a voice vote.  
5.01.1 Bellwood - Metra Station and Pace Bus Access Improvements (04-24-0005)  
26-134  
Attachments: 04-24-0005 Cost Change Request  
PURPOSE & ACTION: The sponsor requests a transfer of $11,685 CMAQ from engineering 2 to  
construction and a cost increase of $25,601 CMAQ for construction and construction engineering in  
FFY 2026.  
ACTION REQUESTED: Approval  
5.01.2 Harvard - Access to Transit (11-25-0021)  
26-133  
Attachments: 11-25-0021_Schedule Change Request  
PURPOSE & ACTION: The sponsor requests a schedule advancement of engineering 2 from FFY 2028  
to FFY 2027 and of construction and construction engineering from FFY 2029 to FFY 2028.  
ACTION REQUESTED: Approval  
6.0  
FFY 2028-2032 CMAQ and TAP-L Program Development  
6.01 Highway Transportation Impact Criteria - Safety  
26-135  
Attachments: PSC(HwySafetyMemo_Safety)051426  
Alyson Dressman presented recommendations for changes to the safety scoring for the highway  
project's Transportation Impact Criteria (TIC) safety score. Highway projects are currently scored for  
safety using IDOT's SRI scores. Dressman recommended that safety scoring be replaced with whether  
the project is located on a High Injury Network, as defined by each of the County's Safety Action  
Plans, and whether the project location has identified systemic risk factors.  
Chair Ferguson then presented a proposal to shift 5 points from the Corridor/Transit Improvement  
category to the safety category under the Highway Transportation Impact Criteria.  
6.02 Direct Emission Reduction Transportation Impact Criteria  
26-136  
Attachments: PSC(DER-TIC_Memo)05-14-26  
In the last call for projects program cycle, the data used to score benefits to sensitive populations was  
removed from the EPAs website. As a result, staff were not able to score Direct Emissions Reduction  
projects for Transportation Impact Criteria and instead only scored projects using emission benefits  
and equity. Chair Ferguson asked committee members if they had ideas for potential alternatives that  
could be considered for the upcoming call for projects program cycle.  
7.0  
Other Business  
Chris Schmidt notified the Committee that transit projects looking to have an FTA transfer occur in  
federal fiscal year 2026, should send those requests to IDOT to be processed prior to the end of the  
year.  
Mark Pitstick announced that Peter Kirsten will be representing RTA/NITA at upcoming Project  
Selection Committee meetings.  
8.0  
9.0  
Public Comment  
There was no public comment.  
Next Meeting  
The next meeting is scheduled for July 16, 2026.  
10.0 Adjournment  
The meeting was adjourned at 11:44 a.m.  
A motion was made by Mark Pitstick, seconded by Tom Rickert, that the meeting be adjourned. The  
motion carried.  
Minutes prepared by Jon Haadsma