HIGHLIGHTS

CDTC's New Visions plan has already positively changed the Capital District. Since its adoption in March 1997, the actions of many parties to incorporate the plan's principles and strategies into programs and projects has produced commendable results. By early 2000, CDTC's review determined that 38 of the short-range recommendations in the New Visions plan had been implemented in part or in whole. CDTC's Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) efforts in 1997 and 1999 followed the budget guidance and priorities set in the New Visions plan, assigning nearly $100 M in funds to new projects that create a healthy project balance and implement the policies of the plan. Planning, programming and project development efforts in the past three years have continually refined and reaffirmed the concepts of the New Visions plan.

Today, it is widely accepted across the Capital District that transportation investments can add significantly to community quality of life; that transit, bike, pedestrian, goods movement and aesthetic features are equally as important as motor vehicle accommodation in highway design; that technology can be used to assist the traveler; and that ensuring economic and environmental health is an important objective of the transportation system. In 1997, these were bold assertions by the members of CDTC.

The growth in the base of support for the tenets of the New Visions plan provides a strong foundation upon which to pursue a new regional transportation plan. The updated plan, now extended to cover the period to 2021, reaffirms the original New Visions approach. In the past three years, not only has plan implementation proceeded at a healthy pace but federal and state funding commitments have grown at a rate consistent with the plan's recommendations. In 2000, the Capital District is able to adopt a plan that goes further than the 1997 plan in committing to, and budgeting for, desired improvements.

As with the 1997 plan, full implementation of the new plan means steady progress with physical and technological improvements to the region's transportation system, coupled with significant land use and demand management actions that dampen the rate of travel growth by one-third to one-half that anticipated as the trend growth in the mid-1990's. The plan focuses on managing and redesigning existing facilities, services and ways of doing business more than on physically expanding the system. When linked to national, state and industry actions that produce safer, cleaner, more intelligent and more fuel-efficient vehicles, the plan will fully achieve CDTC's broad goals. Specifically, the updated New Visions 2021 Plan will:

· Reduce the percent deficient bridges by over one-half from levels of the mid 1990's.

· Eliminate all poor pavements on the Interstate system, nearly all poor pavements on the National Highway System, and improve other pavement conditions.

· Continually refine design practices to routinely incorporate pedestrian, bicycle and goods movement features; driveway and signal spacing and signal control; economic vitality; context-sensitive design; and environmental enhancement; whenever roads are reconstructed and when sites are developed.

· Reconstruct over 500 lane-miles of priority non-state streets and highways, many within city borders, to appropriate design, in addition to continued improvement of State highway design.

· Complete bike and pedestrian accommodations on the highest priority 300 centerline miles of highways and on much of the rest of a 1,100 mile priority network as well as continued progress with stand-alone bike and pedestrian projects.

· Implement region-wide incident management, traveler information, intelligent traffic signal control and other technological improvements known as Intelligent Transportation System components.

· Test commuter rail, implement "Bus Rapid Transit" in the NY 5 corridor and complete the re-design the transit system to meet 21^st Century needs.

· Maintain an environmentally-sensitive modern fleet of low-floor transit buses and expand the bus fleet modestly, mostly with smaller feeder buses.

· Integrate special transportation services into the regional system.

· Increase the percentage of trips that have an attractive transit option.

· Engage employers in demand management.

· Eliminate at-grade crossings on the high-speed Amtrak system and eliminate 25% of grade crossings on freight main lines.

· Redesign of suburban arterials in the region to improve access design, consolidate driveways, accommodate deliveries better, and improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists.

· Double the annual investment in spot safety actions from 1995 levels and raise the investment in accident reduction efforts on local roads to the level on state highways.

· Fully coordinate land development and transportation planning processes throughout the region, including completion of comprehensive community master plans, corridor plans and an update to the "Regional Development Plan."

· Complete major improvements to surface access to the Albany International Airport.

· Complete redevelopment of the Albany International Airport, the Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak station and upgrades of all intermodal facilities in the region.

· "Creatively" complete Congestion Management System actions to address critical congestion along NY 50 (Glenville), Balltown Rd. (Niskayuna and Clifton Park), NY 85 (Bethlehem) and similar locations. Demand management, appropriate private contributions and designs that are compatible with the surrounding community and environment are critical to successful implementation.

· Complete a limited number of strategic "Economic Development and Community Compatibility" actions, such as the Selkirk Bypass, I-90 Exit 8 Phase 2, downtown projects, and canal corridor projects. These projects are driven not by congestion but rather by desires for community development and transportation / community compatibility.

· Reduce exposure to congestion, increase access to alternative modes and improve dependability of the transportation service compared to 1996 levels.

· Preserve the Northway's vital function, once alternatives are fully examined -- without major expansion of the roadway over at least the next decade.