Conclusions and

Recommendations

 

“As stated in the certification Report, CDTC’s planning process is exemplary.  CDTC is commended on the cooperative planning process not only embraced by the central staff but by the committee members of the CDTC metropolitan planning organization. CDTC has several noteworthy practices, which are highlighted in the Report.”  FHWA/FTA 2001 Certification letter, October 4, 2001  

 

Text Box: B0

ased on our 2004 certification review, we again find that the CDTC transportation planning process complies with the requirements of Section 134 of Title 23, Section 8 of the Federal Transit Act, Sections 174 and 176(c) and (d) of the Clean Air Act, as well as the other sections of law mentioned in ' 450.334 (a).  We again congratulate the MPO for the cooperative nature of its process, the innovative approaches to fostering land use and transportation coordination, and the excellent technical capabilities of the central staff and of the member agencies.

 

 

CDTC “Best Practice” Activities

            As part of our certification reviews, we often highlight an MPO’s noteworthy activities in order to improve the MPO process nationwide.  It is unusual that an MPO would have as many as three such activities highlighted – we are highlighting ten for CDTC, which illustrates the truly exemplary character of their process.  We believe that the following areas are noteworthy practices from which other MPOS can benefit:

·    The New Visions plan development  (page 19)

·    The Community and Transportation Linkage program and other CDTC transportation/land use coordinating efforts  (page 29)

·    The Albany Airport GEIS mitigation activity (page 30)

·    CDTC’s public involvement practices  (page 33)

·    Transportation Improvement Program development process (page 39)

·    Reassessing the reasons why people travel (page 51)

·    Risk Assessment approach to capital investment (page 54)

·    Commuter Ca$h program (page 59)

·    Lead role in coordinating Clean Communities effort (page 74)

·    CDTC’s Title VI/EJ efforts (page 75)

 

The CDTC process demonstrates the value of gaining trust among the members.  We specifically commend Mr. John Poorman, CDTC Central Staff Director, for his leadership. 

 

        The area faces significant changes because of the potential development of the Luther Forest Technology Campus, the level of transportation funding in both the Federal and the State sources, the development of I-87 as a Trade Corridor, and the implementation of NYSDOT’s Transformation within the CDTC venue.  We fully expect that the CDTC will continue fulfilling its crucial role in shaping the area’s transportation system of the 21st Century for the economic benefit of the region and the quality of life of the entire Capital Region.  

 

 

Recommendations

We offer a number of recommendations on elements of the CDTC planning process in a partnering effort to further improve the process.  The respective sections of this report discuss these recommendations in further detail. 

 

Organization and Structure of the CDTC

·     CDTC should update its Prospectus as soon as future NYSDOT interaction with the MPO is better known and the new Federal legislation is available.

 

UPWP & Staffing

  • The CDTC is encouraged to continue its pursuit of using the 2-year UPWP format.

 

Transportation Improvement Program

·        CDTC should evaluate what impact the continued use of federal funding on routine infrastructure projects will have on the build out of the RTP.

 

·        CDTC should revisit the issue of how to evaluate TIP amendments that switch 100% non-federal projects to federally funded projects.

 

Long Range Transportation Plan

  • CDTC should continue with its interim update of the Plan to a 2025 horizon year, with the anticipated major update (2030 New Visions) in the latter part of 2005.
  • In order to support CDTC’s New Visions approach to developing consensus solutions, we recommend that CDTC evaluate how the Thruway’s Albany Corridor Study can best be folded into the overall CDTC philosophy of infrastructure and capacity investments.

 

Public Participation

  • CDTC should reevaluate the usefulness of publishing a newsletter.

·        The CDTC mailing list should be periodically revisited and refreshed as needed.

·        CDTC should consider revamping its website to a more visual format.  In doing this, two options on the website’s opening screen should be considered – the visually oriented presentation and a text only version

 

We wish to express our appreciation to CDTC staff for hosting the onsite review.