Friday, January 21, 2000, State Office Building Campus, Building 22 & 24

Attendance: Chungchin Chen, CDRPC; Michael Franchini, Albany County; Greg Knox, NYSDOT - Main Office; Ted Thompson, NYSDOT - Region 1; Katherine Forster, CDTC

Regrets: John Newman

• I-87 Rest Area Corridor Plan summary (NYSDOT)
• New York State Industrial Access Program Handbook (NYSDOT)
• Revised Approach to New Visions 2030 (CDTC)

Paul Cuerdon gave the Task Force a tour of the Transportation Management Center (TMC). This center is run by NYSDOT with the aid of the New York State Police. The TMC monitors the traffic flow along the major corridors - I-87, I-90, I-787 with the aid of cameras located along the highways and variable message signs. If there are any accidents or breakdowns the center can identify them and send out the appropriate help. The Center takes all the cellular 911 calls. Three new variable message signs will be added on bridges in the Capital District this year. The TMC will also be able to respond to traffic congestion along the Best Bus Corridor of Route 5 when that program is set up.

DOT – T. Thompson reported that CSXT is considering abandoning their line from Stuyvesant in Columbia County north to the West Albany yard.

The Plattsburgh North Country Chamber of Commerce organized a day trip to the Port of Montreal (this event was attended by T. Thompson). The day included presentations, a video and a bus tour of the facility. The Port of Montreal handles the largest volume of containers, over 720,000 annually, of any port on the east coast of North America.

Edwards and Kelcey has created a border facility design for the Champlain Border Station expansion. The final design will include six lanes for trucks (The layout option 3 that was shown at the Freight Task Force meeting includes eight lanes). The Champlain border facility is considered a bottleneck for trucks that are doing long-haul trips from Canada into the United States. It is in major need of expansion from its 1960 design.

Albany County - The final design and final Environmental Impact Statement for the Albany-Shaker Road will be submitted next month. There will be a jurisdiction transfer of roads where Albany-Shaker Road will become a state highway.

Albany International Airport - DOT reported that the airport will be constructing a new parking lot for about 800 vehicles. This parking lot will be located in the southeast corner with an entrance off Albany-Shaker Road. This will add to their parking spaces when Southwest Airline starts servicing the Capital District in the spring.

The Port of Albany - DOT reported that American President Lines will be complimenting existing break-bulk service from Albany to the Far East by offering landbridge service to the West Coast, with connecting container ship service direct to the Far East. This opportunity was created through Foster Wheeler's decision to consolidate all of their Far East cargo in Albany. This is a foot in the door for container operation.

CDRPC - The Schenectady County Airport Land Use Study has been approved by the Town Board. The Land Use Study states that there are opportunities for industrial commercial development. The Census 2000 will be conducted in April and will collect data on demographics and journey to work. The Capital District's old Traffic Analysis Zone's (TAZ's) structure has been updated. The region has been divided into over 900 TAZ's (up from 470). This will give the Region very detailed information regarding the 2000 Census data when the information is released by the Census.

Main Office - G. Knox presented to the Task Force some information on the Industrial Access Program (IAP). The IAP program has been around since 1985. To date, $85 million has been appropriated through the program which has helped keep people in New York state through job creation and helped add to state investment (in the billions). NYSDOT is marketing this program to IDA's so that businesses know that this program is available. New York State Development is working with them also. IAP funds are used for infrastructure based transportation improvements. Twenty-five million dollars per year are available with $10 million earmarked and the Governor has pledged to fund this program for 5 years at full funding.

For interested applicants the details are as follows: There is a $1 million dollar cap for projects. Applicants should allow for up to 6 months before the money is awarded. There is no funding cycle; applicants can apply at any time. For further information please contact the IAP coordinator for this area: John Ryan at Region 1 - DOT.

I-87 Rest Area Corridor Plan

The I-87 Rest Area Corridor plan was done to identify areas of improvement, which in turn would encourage tourism, improve rest areas and help with safety inspections. It identifies existing conditions, rest area needs, and details planned actions and anticipated results for the corridor. Please contact CDTC for a summary of the I-87 Rest Area Corridor Plan.

TCSP Project in South Troy - Transportation consultant interviews for the TCSP (Transportation and Community System Preservation Program) portion of this project were held. The consultant will be chosen quickly so that they can be on board and ready for an April community workshop. The consultant is being hired to analyze the existing conditions of South Troy in regards to transportation (truck traffic, street system, vehicle movement, bicycle and pedestrian facility conditions). Using this analysis the consultant will come up with some solutions to, among other goals, improve the efficiency of the transportation system and reduce the impacts of transportation on the environment. Reconstruction of the Troy-Menands Bridge, the possible closure of one of the streets through Sage College, a South Troy Amtrak station, and the Industrial Road will all be taken into account in this project.

New Visions 2030 - It has been decided that this work will be completed in two phases. The first phase will look at an update to the year 2020 and will be prepared for the end of this year. The second phase will extend to the year 2030. Four Task Forces will be consulted during this process. These Task Forces will include the two existing tasks forces (Freight and Bike/Pedestrian) and two new ones (Travel and Financing). The Freight Task Force will be involved in discussions regarding changing international trade and freight movement.

Results of Freight Task Force Survey - The response to this survey was great. The top five meeting topics/tours were: Port of Albany - 10 year Master Plan, DOT's Transportation Management Center, CP Rail's Expressway service, Airport Access Projects and Selkirk Yard Dispatch Facility. Other suggestions were: tour of the Airport Main Terminal and Cargo Facility, and presentations on the State Highway Facilities and Foreign Trade Zone Development Opportunities.

The Canal Corporation did a presentation at the December CDTC Planning Committee regarding their 2020 Vision Plan. The information on this plan was included in the mailout. If anyone wants to submit comments on the preliminary process and what the corporation should be considering they can submit them to Jill Ross-Schmelz. The email address for comments is 2020_vision@Thruway.state.ny.us.