Technical Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, June 17, 2015 1:15 PM
Attendees Agency
Brian Abare Village of South Glens Falls DPW
Stu Baker Town of Queensbury Community Development
Audrey Burneson NYSDOT Region 1
Frank Bonafide NYSDOT Region 1
Rob Cherry NYSDOT Region 1
Tracy Conlon Trustee, Village of Fort Edward
Chris DeBolt Washington County Planning Department
Ed Doughney Warren County DPW
Ben Fischer FHWA
NY Division
Steve Haskins Washington County DPW
Fred Mastroianni Greenman ‐ Pedersen Inc.
Dan Rourke Barton and Loguidice
Greg Wichser NYSDOT Region 1
A/GFTC Staff
Aaron Frankenfeld
Kate Mance
1. Welcome and Introductions ‐ The meeting was called to order at 1:15.
2. Visitors Issues ‐ no visitors present.
3. UPWP
A. 2015‐16 Work Program activities
1) Dix Avenue reassessment (Aaron): 4 proposals received; proposal review resulted
in little score separation; interviews were conducted with Top 3; project has
been
awarded to The Chazen Companies; contract has been transmitted ‐ completion
requested 6 months from contract signature.
2) Exit 18 rezoning analysis (Aaron): The Town of Queensbury has requested an
analysis of trip generation impacts of proposed zoning changes at Exit 18; project
was circulated to our on‐call consultants and
awarded to CHA; initial traffic data
collection is complete and a meeting is scheduled for next week to confirm
development assumptions; project has been fast‐tracked at the Town’s request.
3) River Street Concept Plan (Kate): The draft final has been subjected to a public
review period and was presented
during a well‐attended meeting of the
Warrensburg Town Board. The Town has already endorsed the report. Per
Adirondack / Glens Falls Transportation Council
11 South Street, Suite 203
Glens Falls, NY 12801
p: (518) 223 – 0086 f: (518) 223 – 0584
info@agftc.org
www.agftc.org
A/GFTC’s Public Participation Plan, TAC approval is required in order to finalize
the document
A motion was made to approve the River Street Streetscape and Revitalization Plan.
Moved by: Stu Baker Seconded by: Chris DeBolt Motion carried.
4) Warren County Safety Analysis ‐ (Kate): The safety scan for Warren County is
complete. Warren County has communicated that there are no outstanding issues
with the report. Previous safety scans conducted by A/GFTC have been internal
documents, but our Public Participation Plan calls for public comment
opportunity and committee approval for all A/GFTC technical reports. Kate
reported that Warren County DPW had no
objection to releasing it for public
comment. Committee members present questioned the liability implications of
releasing a document that highlighted areas with known crash occurrences to the
public. Rob Cherry suggested that not approving the document as final may
prevent abuse of the data therein. Chris DeBolt asked Ed Doughney if
the
document had been circulated to the Warren County Attorney’s office for
opinion. Greg Wichser noted a NYSDOT disclaimer used in conjunction with crash
reporting may be applicable here. Staff noted that the intent of the document
was to inform further investigation and programming decisions; no
recommended mitigations are included.
Chris DeBolt stated that concerns over
liability should not dissuade staff from compiling this type of information. No
action was taken on the plan. An executive summary will be added to clarify the
intent of the report, the document will be shared with the County Attorney for
comment, and NYSDOT will
provide their disclaimer for illustration and possible
inclusion.
5) NCHRP Project ‐ Commercial Vehicles in Smart Growth Environments (Aaron): A
workshop was held on May 21 to discuss commercial vehicle operations in
downtown GF as a case study for a national research project; participation was
great, thanks in particular to the
Glens Falls Fire Department, ARCC, the Wood
Theater, Independent Drivers Association. Delivery of the report is expected by
the end of the year.
4. GGFT Update ‐ Scott Sopczyk provided a written summary to Aaron, noting the extension of
seasonal trolley services to Warrensburg and Thurman Station, recent delivery of new
trolley,
and ongoing work on the FFY 2016 grant application to the Federal Transit Administration.
5. TIP
A. Bridge Preservation analysis (Aaron): the draft reports for all three counties as well
as the regional roll‐up were delivered last week; those have been forwarded to the
counties asking for comments
back to me by June 26 (Saratoga County’s comments
have been received already).
B. Amendments and Modifications ‐ no amendments are requested today, but please
convey any needed changes prior to the middle of July as Aaron will be away and
eSTIP modifications will be a challenge from outside of the office.
C. Project updates from sponsors
Warren County ‐ Ed Doughney reported on
a number of ongoing federal aid
projects (update attached)
Washington County ‐ Steve Haskins reported that CR 16 is complete, design
work continues on CR 113, and CR 10 has received federal authorization with
approval on the interstate agreement with Vermont expected by June 19.
Saratoga County / Town of
Moreau ‐ no report
Glens Falls ‐ no report
Queensbury ‐Stu Baker noted that a Title VI audit is underway for the
Aviation / Dixon / Farr Lane project.
Fort Edward ‐ no report
NYSDOT ‐ Frank Bonafide noted:
o the letting of approximately 31 lane miles of repaving, including
sections of NYS 32 in Queensbury and Kingsbury, NYS 254 in
Queensbury, NYS 8 in Thurman and Johnsburg, NYS 40 in Easton, and
an additional 5 lane miles of NYS 22 in Granville.
o three bridges to be replaced under Governor Cuomo’s Bridge Scour
program ‐ NYS 28 over the Hudson River,
NYS 196 over the Feeder
Canal and US Route 4 over the Feeder Canal.
o the Route 9 Gateway Project contract was still being reviewed by the
Comptroller’s office.
D. Program solicitation updates
1) Bridge and Pavement Preservation programs ‐ based upon discussion at the last
meeting and follow‐up with
the Counties to affirm priorities, staff has identified a
funding proposal that would allow for the programming of pavement
preservation projects for Bay Road and West Mountain Road in Queensbury and
Fortsville Road in Moreau, as well as bridge painting projects for Center Falls Road
and Lower Turnpike (see attached).
This addresses top preservation program
priorities from all three counties; all remaining STP Flex bridge preservation
setasides would be converted to STP Off System Bridge funds.
A motion was made to approve the programming changes.
Moved by: Stu Baker Seconded by: Steve Haskins Motion carried.
2) FTA 5310 (Kate): Application
deadline was June 8. Review committee is in place,
although participants have not been contacted by NYSDOT (pending). It is unclear
how many applications were generated within the area; only two are known at
this point. The compressed timeline may necessitate committee balloting for
project approvals to prevent lapsing of
FFY 2013 funds.
3) Proposed revisions to the Make the Connection program solicitation (Aaron): The
revised Make the Connection solicitation was distributed at the last meeting for
committee comment. No comments have been received. The project minimum
for construction has been raised to $75,000 ($60,000 federal share). Staff would
like to make one more
attempt at a program solicitation prior to the TIP update.
The committee had no objection. Staff will time the new project solicitation to
coincide with the onset of the next federal fiscal year.
E. State transportation budget (Aaron): ‐ current federal program extension through
7/31, (33 such extension to date) ‐ 6
year bill sought by administration, $100B
funding gap; Congress looking at repatriation of offshore taxable revenue.
Uncertainty at federal level impacts TIP update and State capital programming. Frank
noted that level funding appears to be the operating assumption moving forward, but
a significant amount of local program projects let during
the last few years will have a
negative impact on future program balances.
6. Other Items ‐ Chris DeBolt raised three issues:
Concern among members of the Board of Supervisors regarding the long‐term plans for
the redundant structures bridging US Route 4 over the Champlain Canal to Galusha
Island
and the relationship to the Champlain Canalway trail.
The desire for bicycle and pedestrian improvements to be incorporated as part of the
CR 113 over the Batten Kill bridge replacement project; discussion ensued; Frank
Bonafide noted that the issue was not necessarily the responsibility of Region 1; while
cost is
always a consideration, the decision on what facilities are to be included in the
final design is a function of the locally‐administered design process; Aaron noted that it
has been A/GFTC’s philosophy to programmatically support ongoing major projects to
the extent that it can ‐ this doesn’t guarantee that funds
will be available, but there is
preference to get the best possible project from ongoing initiatives.
The mechanisms for CFA project support letters were discussed. Aaron noted that staff
letters of support for were easily done and have been done in the past. Articulating
committee support is more challenging, as
the State participants would have to
abstain, but those too can be done if warranted.
7. Adjourn ‐ The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 16.
A motion was made to adjourn the meeting at 2:20 PM.
Moved by: Frank Bonafide Seconded by: Steve Haskins Meeting adjourned.