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MINUTES OF MEETING OF THE A/GFTC TAC December 19, 2012
Attendees Agency
Members and Participants
Brian Abare Village of South Glens Falls
Ed Bartholomew City of Glens Falls
Frank Bonafide NYSDOT
Michael Breault Washington County DPW
Ed Doughney Warren County DPW
Kevin Hajos Warren County DPW
Preston Jenkins Town of Moreau
Wayne LaMothe Warren County Planning
Scott Sopczyk GGFT
Scott Tracy Washington County DPW
Michael Valentine Saratoga County Planning
Staff
Aaron Frankenfeld A/GFTC
Kate Mance A/GFTC
Monika Bulman A/GFTC
Minutes of the Meeting
1. Welcome & Introductions – Aaron called the meeting to order at 1:35.
2. Visitor Issues – There were no visitor issues.
3. Administrative Items – Aaron – We have several items we wanted to put up for
auction with Warren County. This includes the Designjet plotter, which needs service,
and some furniture. Warren County is working on the logistics to allow us to utilize their
auction site.
4. UPWP
A. Completed/Ongoing Activities
1) Traffic engineering services, Aaron
a. Crandall/Orville Intersection – Aaron- This is an evaluation that was recently
conducted for the City. The findings from Chazen were presented to the Glens
Falls Board of Public Safety at their meeting in November. Chazen had done an
analysis of the nine accidents that had occurred at the intersection of
Crandall/Orville over a three year period. The consultant formulated two basic
recommendations: a one-way treatment for Orville (this was rejected) and stop
sign control on the Orville Street approaches (this was endorsed by the City).
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b. Street and subdivisions standards review – Kate – We have been working with
the Town of Warrensburg and the Chazen Companies to review the Town’s
street and subdivision standards and suggest revisions that are complementary
to Complete Streets policies. Chazen drew up some new plans and revised some
of the text of the Town’s Subdivision ordinance, which regulates the design and
layout of streets. Although the proposed changes are complete, there is still a
lot of work to do on this project, in terms of actually getting the local law
amended. The revisions were presented to their Planning Board in November.
They were receptive to the proposed changes. To move forward on this, SEQR
documents, town resolutions, public hearing notices, 239 referrals will be
forwarded to the Clerk. It is hoped that the document will be taken up for
approval in February.
2) Bicycle map – Kate – We have 15,000 of them. The printed output did not match
our draft, but the information in the map is not impacted.
3) Long Range Plan 2035 update – survey. Aaron – At the last meeting concern was
expressed regarding the outreach of the survey. We investigated doing a phone
survey as was suggested at a prior meeting, but the cost and reformatting of the
survey makes this prohibitive. We will fan the survey out using conventional mail
methods and getting it out to a broader representation of people. Kate – 130 people
started taking the survey, only 113 of them finished the survey. Issues have
resulted with the ranking of certain topics for respondents using the paper version
of the survey. It may be possible to tweak the paper version to minimize these
issues.
4) Countywide accident analyses – Kate reviewed the draft handouts depicting data
for Washington County with the TAC. A text document and more detailed maps (for
every municipality) will be part of this analysis. The handouts included the
export of every traffic accident between 2006 and 2011 from the State’s Accident
Location Information System database. All of the intersection data was stripped
out. GIS operations were performed to make the data points snap to the roadway
segment. Coupled with traffic volume data, this resulted an accident rate per
million vehicle miles. The analysis also included a density map of accidents, which is
useful to identify “hot spots” of crashes which may not be revealed through the
accident rate analysis. The goal of the analysis is to allow the counties the ability to
use this data for future Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funding
rounds. No analyses of the State system will be done. We are waiting for traffic
data from Warren County. Kevin Hajos indicated that counts are still underway and
may be available in the Spring. Mike Valentine requested an analysis for the Town
of Moreau and will send data to to Kate.
5) Crossing guard location evaluation, Aaron – This is an evaluation we are doing for
the City of Glens Falls Police Department. Aaron, Kate and Glens Falls Hospital staff
have counted numerous staffed school crossings throughout the City looking for
locations where children are actually using the staffed crossings or crossing at other
locations. We have the counts but have not finalized or written up the results.
B. 2013-14 Program
1) Solicitation Results, Aaron – A solicitation went out for planning project candidates
with a deadline of December 17. The Warrensburg Town Supervisor contacted us
about a number of safety evaluations he would like conducted at a variety of
intersections throughout the Town. We also received a request from the Town of
Chester (handout). Wayne LaMothe explained that The Town has completed, under a
Department of State funded program, an analysis of Main Street and a streetscape
program. There are two key intersections identified for improvement; one in
Pottersville and one in Chestertown. These require further engineering or design
work. Because of increased pedestrian traffic, there are additional safety concerns
that need to be addressed and a traffic consultant is needed at this point Aaron
noted that we have renewed the on-call engineering assistance contracts for a
upcoming two year term. We have four firms: Chazen, RSG, Creighton Manning and
Clough Harbor. There is a cap of $20K for each individual contract.
The City sent us a project request today. They wish to pursue conceptual design for
pedestrian related improvements at the Fire Road location between Crandall Park
and the YMCA. (handout)
The Town of Moreau – Mike Valentine outlined a project request for the Exit 17 area
from the interchange to Route 197 along Route 9. There is mixed use retail
development in the area and sanitary sewer is being brought in. The last corridor
study was done in 2002 and the Town is ready for an update with design guidelines
and standards. A zoning review is going on right now. Aaron requested a letter that
articulates the specific elements of the conceptual project.
2) Schedule for Program Development, Aaron – We need an approved program to
the State by March 15. Prior we need a month of public comments and Policy
Committee Review before submission. A handout with proposed meeting schedule
was referred to at this time. A brief discussion of budget, set aside, and carry-over
took place.
5. Transit
A. GGFT Update: Scott – A new high in transit ridership was seen in 2012. ADA
FAME service fell off somewhat and that could be due to the fact that some of the
nursing homes provide their own transportation. Requires have been received regarding
a Warrensburg commuter type service next summer. SUNY Adirondack, once the dorms
are completed, wants hourly service and an expansion to Saturday service. Several
small buses will be replaced, maintenance work will be undertaken at the GGFT facility.
There will be benches available once the Beach Road project is completed, the bus
shelter at Rte 4 will be replaced. In 2012 there were about 345,000 riders.
B. Coordinated Human Services Transportation Committee, Kate – The second
meeting was held in December. The group is going strong, two new people have joined
the committee, and good information is exchanged during the meetings. The priority
expressed by the committee is a regional mobility management product (either a plan
that links resources to providers or hiring someone to actually perform the role of
mobility manager). This group will meet every other month.
C. 5316/17 solicitation, Aaron – There will be a State administered solicitation for
these two transit programs – Job Access and Reverse Commute (5316) and New
Freedoms (5317), the latter of which is intended to fund enhancements or upgrades to
existing ADA compliant transportation. Both of these programs have been eliminated in
MAP 21. The State will administer this solicitation. Approximately $180K will be
available.
Wayne LaMothe brought up the concern for public transit service to North Creek. They
do have a shuttle service for people getting off the train but Wayne wondered if GGFT
could provide some service. Scott stated that the concept has been discussed before.
Winter operations of transit vehicles on steep roads are a challenge. Scott said that he is
open to further discussion with the Town.
6. TIP
A. Amendments and Modifications – The public comment period for two TIP
amendments previously approved by this committee is ongoing. The public comment
period closes on the 27th of December and then Aaron will circulate a mail ballot vote to
the Policy Committee and get these amendments cleared the first week of January.
B. Make the Connection Program, Kate – We only received two applications and the total
value of both applications is $90,500. The projects are for the extension of sidewalks in
Washington County near the Municipal Center and sidewalk replacements in
Warrensburg on Hudson Street. Both of these are eligible. There was a discussion
whether it was necessary to put together a committee to review these applications.
A motion was made not to form a selection committee and approve the above projects
pending State DOT review.
MOVED BY: Wayne LaMothe SECONDED BY: Mike Valentine MOTION CARRIED
C. Project updates – (new developments only)
1) Warren County, Ed Doughney – Beach Road work is slowing down and work
will start again in early March. Awaiting NEPA approval from Region 1 on
Hicks Road. Hope to have design approval mid January. Hicks is on schedule
and a Spring letting is expected. Crane Mtn. is several weeks behind Hicks.
Lanfear was put out to bid. There was confusion regarding what WC was
looking for and it will be put out to bid again. An RFP for design services went
out for Blair Rd.
2) Washington County, Scott – Rte 16 has preliminary plans and will be
meeting with consultant to go over public information material. County Rte
61 had the bid letting and the bids will be presented to the Supervisors.
Dewey Bridge is delayed until January 10. County Rte. 12 will have a
preconstruction meeting in January.
3) City of Glens Falls – no report
4) Town of Queensbury – no report
5) Saratoga County/Moreau/South Glens Falls – no report
6) NYSDOT, Frank – (handouts) The Route 9 project is on schedule for the
March letting. The 4/149 intersection project has design approval. NYSDOT
will be meeting with a neighboring property owner soon.
The Regional Director’s commitment to the Commissioner to deliver projects
(both State and Local) has been ongoing. All of this (handout material) is
based on a State fiscal year. Almost all the projects we had committed to
Commissioner to be delivered will be delivered within the State fiscal year.
The bad news, listed on the second page, is the local program. The first page
starts out strong. By the end of February the Commissioner has to be
provided with the next fiscal year’s list.
There is only one pot of money to work with now. If preservation wasn’t such
a strong focus late projects would probably be shelved and dealt with at a
later date. The consequences of delayed delivery are much stronger now.
Aaron asked if there was a role for staff to play in the project delivery process
and noted that he had not been copied on routine reports from consultants to
DOT despite a previous request.
C. 2014-19 TIP Development
1) Schedule, Aaron – CDTC is out in front of us again on TIP development. We
did not engage in a region-wide solicitation for new projects. Preliminary
information that has been shared by Region 1 with our office regarding the
setasides and preservation projects (handouts) should help with
understanding what our suballocations are. Compared with previous years,
regional funding proportions are not out of line. By June 29 we need a final
TIP approved by the Policy Committee. We plan on having a draft TIP out for
public review by April.
2) Programming Issues, Frank – The Program has to be in the database by
mid-February. There was some confusion where the numbers originated, how
money was doled out between the Regions. Along with the handouts, Frank
attempted to explain how the total amount of transportation funding available
to DOT was divided up for this programming cycle. The State gets about
$1.6B per year in both State and Federal funds to allocate out to the regions.
In the past a fund source formula was used taking into consideration
population, mileage, etc. DOT sub-allocated to the MPOs. This time, looking
at the chart, 60% of the total funds were given to the Regions based on each
Region’s preservation need as it was modeled by the main office. 10% was
given to each region based on their core needs or their beyond preservation
needs. The rest of the money was distributed with 5% going to the
Commissioner for reserve and the other 25% is for the competition that was
just conducted. Frank reviewed the 2nd page of handout. On January 4th
what will be funded should be announced. The targets that need to be met
for the preservation program (for the first 2 years) is $71 mil only on the
State’s construction program. This does not impact this MPO. As a region (8
counties, state and federal) we get $108 mil total. Of that amount, $90 mil
has to be spent on preservation (includes design, ROW, construction,
inspection). The last page of the handout covers the planning targets. Bridges
are another big complication with determining what funds can be used for
them. Preservation focus has made it more difficult to affect an MPO project
selection process. Frank suggested that the TIP, in addition to the specific
projects submitted to DOT, have blocks that can be solicited and as a group it
can be decided what is funded and what doesn’t get funded.
7. Other Items – A 2013 meeting schedule was distributed.
8. Next Meeting and Adjourn the meeting adjourned at 3:55 pm.