A/GFTC TAC Minutes
December 8, 2015 10:00 AM
Warren County Municipal Center
Attendees Agency
Brian Abare Village of South Glens Falls DPW
Stu Baker Town of Queensbury Community Development
Ed Bartholomew EDC of Warren County
Frank Bonafide NYSDOT Region 1
Rob Cherry NYSDOT Region 1
Bryan Cross NYSDOT Region 1
Christina Doughney CHA
Ed Doughney Warren County DPW
Steve Godlewski CME
Steve Haskins Washington County
DPW
Dana Hogan Town of Kingsbury
Maiken Holmes Warren County DPW
Laura Oswald Washington County Planning
Owen Shevlin NYSDOT Region 1
Gary Tatro, Jr. NYS Canal Corporation
Mike Valentine Saratoga County Planning
Greg Wichser NYSDOT Region 1
Staff
Aaron Frankenfeld
Kate Mance
1. Welcome and Introductions ‐ the meeting began at 10:00.
2. Visitors Issues ‐ none
3. Administrative Items
A. Meeting participation ‐Aaron noted that throughout the past two years, attaining a
quorum has been difficult. Lack of substantial capital / transformative projects may
have something to
do with that. In the past, administrative remedies including
rolling quorums and executive committee models have been considered. Today’s
attendance is an exception; it was suggested that the morning start time may be
beneficial. It was agreed that staff will continue the practice of AM meetings during
2016.
4. UPWP
A. 2015‐16 Work Program activities
1) Dix Avenue reassessment ‐ (Kate) ‐ Data collection had been delayed on account
of conducting traffic counts during the school year. Data results were not
consistent with prior findings; a staff meeting was held to discuss those
discrepancies. Materials are scheduled to be distributed to
the study advisory
Adirondack / Glens Falls Transportation Council
11 South Street, Suite 203
Glens Falls, NY 12801
p: (518) 223 – 0086 f: (518) 223 – 0584
info@a
gftc.org www.agftc.org
committee on Friday, with a meeting of that committee scheduled for next
Wednesday (12/16).
2) CR 21 / CR 18 Intersection Analysis ‐(Kate) ‐ Analysis for a rural intersection in
Whitehall through the engineering assistance program. Field visit was
conducted with DPW and CME in November. CME is nearing release of the
draft
memo. Safety issues appear to be related to poor stop compliance.
3) Queensbury Title VI Audit / ADA Transition Plan ‐ (Kate) ‐ Staff has been assisting
the Town of Queensbury with data collection for its ADA Transition Plan. Stu
Baker provided background, stating that all municipal recipients of federal aid
will eventually be subjected to compliance audits. Stu estimated that the Town
is 85% complete with the Plan. Kate noted that although much effort was
expended on refining the methodology, the approach used for Queensbury may
not work for other communities with more infrastructure.
4) Warren County Safety Report ‐ (Kate) ‐ The
draft report is still under review by
Warren County DPW and the County Attorney’s office.
5) White Creek Watershed Infrastructure Assessment ‐ (Aaron) ‐ As discussed at
the last meeting, Washington County was seeking a UPWP amendment for
A/GFTC assistance to execute a flood vulnerability assessment and mitigation
plan for the White
Creek watershed in Salem. It was determined that the
activity was eligible within the existing work plan, and, with the consent of the
committee, A/GFTC refined the RFP and published it to the Contract Reporter in
late September with a 10/23 response date. Received 8 proposals; selection
committee interviewed three firms
and awarded the project to Fitzgerald
Environmental Associates, a firm with considerable experience working on the
VT side of White Creek. Contract was signed on 12/7 and the project is
underway, with a 5/1/16 completion date specified.
6) Exit 18 rezoning ‐ (Aaron) ‐Project to evaluate potential zoning changes near Exit
18 with respect to traffic operation. Since our last meeting, a Town Board
workshop was held with CHA on 11/18 to present findings, including:
full buildout allowed by revised zoning would likely result in
unacceptable delays and would require significant capital mitigation
40‐50% of full buildout traffic would
be manageable with access
improvements to Big Boom and Media Drive
proposed changes to the revised zoning were suggested to reduce the
potential for large‐scale retail development
development of a GEIS was identified as cost‐sharing measure
Findings were generally well‐received, but the town has
requested
additional info from CHA. Conference call with Town of Queensbury,
CHA and A/GFTC scheduled for 12/9.
7) Moreau trail concept ‐(Aaron) ‐ Staff met with officials from the Village of Fort
Edward and the Town of Moreau to discuss a trail development concept in and
around the Town of Moreau Recreation
Park and adjacent parcels. While noting
that A/GFTC wouldn’t have a role in the development of a recreational facility, it
became clear during that meeting that a regional transportation facility
involving use of the abandoned rail line in South Glens Falls (owned by Saratoga
County IDA) as well as the
existing trails already in the Park could emerge. Staff
indicated our limitations in advancing a design, but offered planning assistance
for concept development.
8) Rural mobility RFP ‐ (Aaron) ‐ Concurrence on summary of RFP obtained from
GGFT. Staff hopes to have workable draft ready for NYSDOT review within the
next week.
9) Pavement scoring ‐ (Aaron) ‐ CME has completed the data collection for the
annual pavement condition report.
10) 2016 / 2017 program solicitation ‐ (Aaron)‐ Program solicitation has been
developed and is presented here for your review . Funding is level from the last
few years. Program areas are largely unchanged from last
year; additional
activities have been added under Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning in order to
help municipalities advance concepts. Schedule would be to present a draft
program to the TAC for approval for public comment in late January, approval in
by PC in early March. Staff was directed to issue the
program solicitation.
5. Transit
A. GGFT Update ‐ none provided.
6. FAST Act (Aaron) ‐ signed by President Obama on 12/4, first multi‐year bill in 10 years. Some
details include:
$305B over 5 years, 9.7% increase in highways and 11.7% increase in transit according to
NYPTA
new
freight program that may help with NHPP eligible projects
continues the set‐aside for off‐system bridges and expands funding available for on‐
system bridges located off the National Highway System
converts the Surface Transportation Program (STP) to a block grant program; increases
STP suballocation to local governments from
50 to 55 percent
Rolls the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) into STP
Reinstates a competitive grant program for bus and bus facilities funds with a 10 percent
set‐aside for rural projects
FTA 5340 restored
Initial reaction from NYSDOT Main Office, shared at a meeting of NYS
MPO Directors during a
meeting on 12/4, was that while funding has increased, the increase is modest. No revisions to
the Regional planning targets are to be expected for the ongoing TIP /STIP update.
7. TIP
A. Amendments and Modifications ‐ none
B. Project updates from sponsors ‐
Warren County (Ed
Doughney) ‐ Valley Road / Combs Road is open; A
tentative consultant designation has been made for the Blair Road, with a
Spring 2016 construction initiation scheduled; PE is underway for Palisades
Road. MTC projects: asphalt multi‐se path is complete at 149 / outlets,
sidewalk to be completed in Spring 2016;
new bikeway connections at
Cameron and Lawton Avenues are complete. CR 44 and CR 31/13 painting
projects on schedule for March lettings. Pavement preservation projects are
progressing.
Washington County ‐ (Steve Haskins) ‐ Design for CR 13 is progressing;
additional archeological work was required. CR 10 is being led by the
State
of Vermont; no update was available. Consultant selection is underway for
the Center Fall Road / Lower Turnpike painting projects.
Saratoga County ‐ no active projects. Greg Wichser noted that a kickoff
meeting was held for the CR 31 pavement preservation project.
City of Glens Falls ‐ Ed Bartholomew noted the recently completed Hudson
Avenue project and the opening of the new parking garage.
Town of Queensbury ‐ Stu Baker reported
that the Aviation / Dixon / Farr
project was nearly closed out.
NYSDOT ‐ Frank Bonafide reported on the program delivery update, and
noted progress on several NYSDOT projects (handout).
C. Unprogrammed setasides ‐ HSIP and MTC ‐ Aaron noted that there are
unprogrammed funds in two program categories in our TIP ‐
Highway Safety
Improvement Program and the Make the Connection bike/ped program. After
discussion, it was decided to roll the remaining HSIP funds into the new TIP and
conduct a project solicitation for MTC.
D. TIP Development Update ‐ (Aaron) ‐ A discussion on programming for the next TIP
was anticipated for this meeting,
but the MPOs have received word from NYSDOT
Main Office that additional local programming flexibility may be announced soon.
Such an announcement would have a substantial impact upon relative levels of
bridge and highway programming requested, so it was decided to hold off on
determining program splits until additional details
were made available. Summary
allocations were presented by Frank Bonafide. It was decided to conduct a targeted
project solicitation for preservation and system renewal needs among our project
sponsors in order to inform the planning process.
1) Carryover projects ‐ covered above, no additional discussion.
2) Programming emphasis areas and program transfers
‐covered above, no
additional discussion
8. Other Items ‐ Frank Bonafide reported on a new management structure at NYSDOT, where
four new Assistant Commissioners throughout NYS have been appointed. Also, NYSDOT
Region 1 Director Sam Zhou is currently serving as the Region 2 Director as well, splitting his
time between the
two Regions.
9. Next meeting / adjourn ‐ The next meeting will be scheduled for January 13 at 10:00 AM. A
motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 11:52.
Moved by: Steve Haskins Seconded by: Stu Baker Motion carried