IV. IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING

TASK 4.07 ADA / Human Service Agency Transportation Options/ Welfare-to-Work / Special Transportation

CDTC staff continues to work with the Access Transit staff and county agencies to assure success of the brokerage. CDTC and CDTA staff will continue in 2002-03 to seek additional brokerage opportunities in other service areas.

CDTC continues to assist CDTA in its development of several related initiatives, including the initiation of a regional program using 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 2001-02. Staff expects to revisit various CDTC arterial management guidelines in 2002-03, 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.

TASK 4.18 ITS Architecture and Integration (new task)

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. RPI currently has the lead in the technical work.

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 VISUM-based model.

Additionally, a key element of the task will be outreach to other stakeholders, including coordination with NYSDOT's Rural ITS initiative.

TASK 4.62 Transit Operations Planning

Further development of best bus concepts will continue in 2002-03. The further articulation of an early implementation "full build" scenario for Bus Rapid Transit in the NY5 corridor will take place in 2002-03; an "incremental build" scenario is funded in the 2001-06 TIP and will be progressed as well.

CDTA's activities for the Transit Service Design Guidelines 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 2001-02. Activities and products included contribution to a GIS-based development of a regional bike/trails facilities map. 10,000 copies will be printed by March 31, 2002. Interest in a regional logo will be reassessed.

CDTC continues to be actively involved in the NYSDOH "Healthy Heart" program in Schenectady and in the town of Bethlehem's bike and pedestrian work.

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. Additionally, CDTC will continue 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 4.85 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. The effort is expected to continue in 2002-03 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), 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. Work will continue in 2002-03.

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 2001-02 to include preliminary listings of the 2001-06 TIP during its development process.

The 2001-06 TIP was adopted in May 2001 allowing incorporation into a new State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Work will begin in the fall of 2002 toward development of a 2003-08 TIP. The draft will be released by March 2003.