CAPITAL DISTRICT TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
September 4, 2008
MEMBERS ATTENDING
John Cunningham. Town of Bethlehem
Mark Evers, Town of North Greenbush
Michael Franchini, representing Mike Breslin, Albany County
Charles Houghtaling, Albany County
Terry Hurley, Albany Port District Commission
Steve Iachetta, representing John O’Donnell, Albany County
Airport Authority
Mayor John T. McDonald III, City of Cohoes, Chairman
Ray Melleady, Capital District Transportation Authority
Thomas Richardson, representing Mayor Anthony Sylvester, City of
Mechanicville
William Roehr, representing Mayor Harry Tuntunjian, City of Troy
Brian Rowback, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Phil Serafino, representing William Rinaldi, NYS Thruway
Authority
Bernie Sisson, representing Mayor Brian Stratton, City of
Schenectady
Mike Stammel, Capital District Regional Planning Commission
Linda von der Heide, representing Kathleen Jimino, Rensselaer
County
Tom Werner, Saratoga County
STAFF AND OTHERS
Frank Bonafide, NYS Department of Transportation Region One
Joe Conners, Interested Citizen
Bob Hansen, NYS Department of Transportation Region 1
Dave Jukins, Capital District
Transportation Committee
Irwin Kessman, Systra
Consulting
Dennis O’Malley, Capital District
Transportation Committee
Chris O’Neill, Capital District
Transportation Committee
John Poorman, Capital District
Transportation Committee
Mike Schauer, Federal Highway Administration
Deb Stacey, Capital District
Transportation Committee
Don Wilson, Interested Citizen
Todd Westheis, NYS Department of Transportation Main Office
OPENING REMARKS
Chairman
McDonald opened the Capital District Transportation Committee meeting at
approximately 3:05 p.m. and welcomed those in
attendance to the CDTC offices. Members and attendees then introduced
themselves.
ADMINISTRATION
June
5, 2008 Meeting Minutes
Members
approved the June 5, 2008 meeting minutes as written.
Administrative & Financial Standing
Subcommittee
The
Administrative and Financial Standing Subcommittee is scheduled to meet in
early October. The draft audit report
will be reviewed at that time.
PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR
Don Wilson addressed the Board as a concerned citizen. Mr. Wilson is concerned about transportation, pollution and
the environment. Mr. Wilson has read in
recent articles that CDTA ridership is up.
He thinks it can increase even more if employers adopt policies to
encourage their employees to reduce single occupant vehicle use. Mr. Wilson believes that the Greyhound bus terminal
should be relocated to the Rensselaer Rail Station.
PRESENTATION ON THE
REGIONAL OPERATIONS INITIATIVE
Dennis O’Malley from Transportation Concepts
and John Poorman presented a PowerPoint on
the Regional Operations Initiative. This
initiative would involve regional coordination of operations and will be a
system that will respond when necessary, as opposed to a static on-line system.
CDTC’s New Visions Plan identifies 31 adopted
Planning and Investment Principles, many of which cannot go forward without
integration of operations between jurisdictions and modes. This initiative is
presently in the planning stage and has no funding behind it. Monies from CDTC’s Planning funds and from ITS (at a scale of about $1M/year) could be programmed if
CDTC’s Planning Committee and Policy Board want to move this forward. The
PowerPoint is on CDTC’s website.
2007-12 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
PROGRAM AMENDMENTS
SA104 Batchellerville Bridge
NYSDOT prepared a proposed
amendment to the 2007-12 TIP which would add $5.0M in HBRR funds to project SA104
as in anticipation of a high bid (due to the increased cost of steel). NYSDOT has deferred work on a few state
bridges to cover the anticipated increase in cost of SA104. This project will be let in November of this
year.
Members
approved the amendment to add $5.0M to project SA104 in the
2007-12 Transportation Improvement Program.
STATUS OF PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION
ACTIVITIES
Capital District Transportation
Authority
Ray
Melleady reported that CDTA has been
experiencing significant increases in ridership on both the fixed route and STAR systems. Although CDTA has witnessed a 19% increase in
ridership to date, budget shortfalls will force CDTA to make difficult
decisions regarding fare adjustments and service cuts.
Capital District Regional Planning
Commission
Mike Stammel reported that
employment projections are being finalized
for each of the 900 plus Traffic Analysis Zones in the region. CDRPC staff is continuing work on other
projects that have been reported on at this table at past meetings.
New York State Department of
Transportation
Brian Rowback reported that the NY 5 project is
moving along. Pedestrian treatments and
bus turnouts are being added in anticipation of the rollout of BRT in the
corridor. NYSDOT is also facing severe
budget shortfalls which could impact the size of their snow removal workforce
this winter.
Albany County Airport
Authority
Steve Iachetta noted that the ACAA is working with NYSDOT on the Northway
Exit 6 project and the ACAA is excited about the roundabout that will be
constructed at Old
Wolf Road
and Watervliet Shaker
Road.
Port of Albany
Terry Hurley reported that the Port has been
extremely busy. Dock and wharf repairs
are needed; bids are out for this repair work.
CDTC
Staff
The New Visions summary
document has just been printed and was distributed to the board members. The solicitation for the next round of
Linkage projects will be circulated sometime in October. The conversion of the Commuter Register to
the GIS based ridematching system (hosted by
GreenRide) is nearly complete. A press
event will be held to rollout the new product.
The Capital district Clean Communities coalition is co-hosting a Hybrid-Electric
truck and Bus seminar in Saratoga Springs on Wednesday September 24th. The seminar is free and those interested
should register for the event.
Town of Clifton Park
The
Town of Clifton Park recently created a Highway Safety Committee. This committee will get involved with the products
of the Linkage program.
ADJOURNMENT
The
next meeting is scheduled for 3:00 pm, Thursday
December 4, 2008 at the CDTC offices.
There
being no other business, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:30
pm.
Respectfully
submitted,
Brian
O. Rowback
Secretary