IV. IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING
TASK 4.07 ADA / Human
Service Agency Transportation Options/ Special Transportation
CDTC staff continues to work with the Access Transit staff and county agencies to assure success of the brokerage options. CDTC and CDTA staff will continue in 2001-02 to seek additional brokerage opportunities in other service areas.
CDTC continues to assist CDTA in its development of several related initiatives, including a the initiation of a regional program for state funds (Transportation Assistance to Needy Families) and the federal Jobs Access / Reverse Commute program. These efforts will continue.
TASK 4.17 Arterial Management Planning
CDTC staff presented
CDTC's arterial management approach at a TRB conference on access management in
August 2001. Other formal arterial
management efforts were modest during 2000-01.
Staff expects to revisit various CDTC arterial management guidelines in
2001-02, including 'standards' for arterial capacity and
levels-of-service. Additionally, work
will begin on an urban arterial version of the "level of
compatibility" indices developed in 1995 for suburban settings.
NYSDOT
and CDTC, along with CDTA, the NYSTA and other major players, will pursue the
development of a "regional architecture" for the Capital District ITS
deployment. A regional architecture
essentially describes the operational and data-sharing needs of the ITS system
in a "plug and play" style.
That is, what elements of inter-relationship among the various ITS
operators and data users are essential so that the development of the region's
ITS system provides for the ability to easily make those connections.
A major element of this architecture development from CDTC's
perspective is defining the methods for regular or continuous feedback from
operational data to the planning process.
One initial effort will be a CDTC staff effort to analyze frequency,
duration and cost of freeway incidents by type and relate this information to
traffic volumes. This will provide a
locally-calibrated, advanced algorithm for use in CDTC's STEP model.
Additionally, a key CDTC contribution will be outreach to other
stakeholders, including coordination with NYSDOT's Rural ITS initiative.
TASK 4.62 Transit
Operations Planning/ Transit Service Standards
Further development of best bus concepts will continue in 2001-02. The further articulation of an early implementation
"full build" scenario for Bus Rapid Transit in the NY5 corridor will
take place in 2001-02; an "incremental build" scenario is funded in
the 2001-06 TIP and will be progressed as well.
CDTA's activities for the Transit Service Standards study will be
conducted as part of this task.
TASK 4.67 Bikeway /
Pedestrian Facility Planning
The Bike and Pedestrian Transportation Task Force remained active during
2000-2001. Activities and products
included contribution to CDTC's Bike and Pedestrian Spot Improvement program
and CDTC's review of TEA-21 "Second Chance" Enhancement
proposals. Programming results included
$300,000 in spot improvements and $2,000,000 in "Second Chance"
enhancement projects.
Staff completed work on a revised Hudson-Mohawk Bikeway map and published
and distributed the updated map.
GIS-based development of a regional bike / trails facilities map. Interest in a regional logo was confirmed
and a competitive approach to designing the new logo initiated. CDTC intends a
public outreach effort (primarily to schools) to engage children in the design
of the regional bikeway logo. Funds are
included for professional graphics design work based on winning designs from
school kids.
Under this task heading, CDTC staff will continue to offer community
assistance related to bike and pedestrian planning issues, including the
broader category of "traffic calming" options. A series of “roadshows” on bike and
pedestrian planning and law enforcement issues started in 1997 in
Bethlehem. Work with an ongoing traffic
safety committee in the town may serve as a model for activity with other
towns. Additionally, CDTC has increased
its cooperative work with county traffic safety committees and the Governor's
Traffic Safety Board to coordinate attention on bike and pedestrian safety
issues.
TASK 4.83 Saratoga Springs Truck Circulation
Study (state funded, completed in 2000-01)
TASK 4.84 South Troy
Waterfront Study (TCSP funded, completed in 2000-01)
TASK 4.85 Staffing for the Transportation
Management Center (TIP funded)
NYSDOT opened the regional Transportation Management Center in July
1999. To provide for supplemental
staffing (weekends and holidays, for example), CDTA is serving as the employer
for part-time staff, being reimbursed through the CMAQ-funded TIP project
RG37. This task was added by amendment
to the 1998-99 UPWP because NYSDOT is using the existing NYSDOT-CDTA agreement
for MPO hosting as the contract vehicle.
(The contract references UPWP approval.) The effort is expected to continue in 2001-02 at the $20,000
annual level.
TASK 4.72 TIP Project Planning and
Development Work (TIP funded)
NYSDOT continues project planning and development work for a number of projects
on the CDTC TIP. This work will define
the range of feasible alternatives to be considered in preliminary engineering,
based on traffic operations, cost, and ROW impacts. Among the projects being studied are the Albany County Airport
area projects (I-87 Exit 3/4, Wolf Road/ASR intersections), I-90 reconstruction
projects and the Route 7 corridor projects in Rotterdam (I-890/I-90 Thruway
Exit 25 area, intersections at Route 146 and Five Corners, traffic operations
in the corridor). NYSDOT is also working to package corridor and project
information developed by CDTC staff (in past UPWPs) into documents acceptable
for use in NYSDOT's preliminary engineering process. This includes the Balltown Road, Route 50, and Everett Road
corridors. Significant progress in many
of these projects has been achieved, but work will continue in 2001-02.
TASK 4.74 Pinebush Environmental Study (TIP
funded, completed in 2000-01)
Follow-up
effort will occur both in the Pinebush update task and in further TIP-funded
scoping work.
TASK 4.97 TIP Development, Monitoring and Update
In
February 2001, CDTC placed the full TIP with project listings onto its web
site. Along with a clickable, GIS-based
map, the web site allows direct access to current TIP listings (including all
project amendments since the publication of the TIP document). Web access was enhanced in 2000-01 to
include preliminary listings of the 2001-06 TIP during its development process.
Release
of the draft 2001-06 TIP for public review is scheduled for March 2001. Adoption is set for May 2001 allowing
incorporation into a new State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Other activity during the year will include
monitoring and amendments and prioritization of submissions for the second
round of the TEA-21 Enhancement Program.