The
Capital District Transportation Committee (CDTC) is the designated Metropolitan
Planning Organization (MPO) for the Capital District Transportation Management
Area (TMA) which includes the metropolitan area of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga
and Schenectady counties, with the exception of the Glens Falls urban area,
which extends into northern Saratoga County.
As the MPO, CDTC, in cooperation with the New York State Department of
Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Capital District Transportation Authority
(CDTA), is responsible for carrying out the continuing, comprehensive,
coordinated transportation planning process for the Capital District
region. Part of the planning
responsibility is the maintenance of a long-range Regional Transportation Plan
(RTP). CDTC's most recent RTP is called
New Visions. Additionally, the Committee is responsible
for maintaining short-range Transportation Improvement Programs (TIP's) for the
metropolitan area's major highway and transit facilities.
The CDTC Policy Board is
composed of representatives of local governments and transportation
agencies. Its membership includes the
chief elected officials of each of the region's eight cities and four counties
and at large members representing the area's towns and villages. Representatives of NYSDOT, CDTA, the Capital
District Regional Planning Commission (CDRPC), the New York State Thruway
Authority, the Albany County Airport Authority, and the Albany Port District
Commission complete the roster. The
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration
(FTA) serve as advisory members to the Committee. Through this intergovernmental forum, local and regional
transportation issues are discussed, and transportation policies and programs
are developed. Further information
concerning the organizational structure of CDTC, its responsibilities and the
responsibilities of member organizations, is presented in A Reference Guide to the CDTC published in April 1999.
One of the important
responsibilities of CDTC is to program for the implementation of the products
of the planning process through development of a staged multi-year program of
transportation improvements (the Transportation Improvement Program or
TIP). Federal regulations require that
transit, highway and other transportation improvement projects within the
Capital District metropolitan area be included in this TIP if these projects
are to be eligible for federal capital or operating funding. The program should also include, for
informational purposes, non-federally funded projects and New York State
Thruway Authority projects located in the region. Sufficient information must be given in project listing to:
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identify each project;
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estimate total costs and the amounts of federal, state,
and local funds proposed to be obligated by project phase during the program
period by federal fiscal year against those costs;
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designate the proposed type of federal funds to be used
by the project;
¨
identify the responsible party for project
implementation;
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note the exempt/non-exempt status for air quality
conformity purposes, and
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identify the planning reference from which each project
was derived (23 USC §134 (a)(h) or FTA §8(a)(h)).
Appendix C contains a complete
list of all funding programs required to be included in the TIP. All projects in the CDTC TIP are located
within a defined metropolitan area boundary, for which the air quality designation
is consistent throughout. Therefore,
individual project listings do not specify location in terms of metropolitan
versus non-metropolitan or attainment versus non-attainment designation.
In addition, the TIP should
indicate present estimates of total TIP costs and revenues for the program
period. The TIP must be constrained to
estimates of federal-aid revenue attributable to the CDTC area by federal
fiscal year (10/1 to 9/31). Meeting
this requirement has necessitated adjustments to project schedules, and certain
assumptions regarding the use of flexibility among federal-aid fund
sources. Project Selection Procedures,
presented on page 29,
provide flexibility necessary when CDTC's TIP is incorporated in the State
Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).
The TIP must also meet the
requirements established by the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act (42 USC
Sections 7140 et seq.) regarding the conformity of transportation plans
and programs. This Air Quality
Conformity finding begins on page 39. Federal regulations also require that the TIP be approved by CDTC
as the MPO for the Capital District metropolitan area, undergo a minimum 30-day
public comment period, and that a public meeting be held (23 CFR §450.324(c)).