Enhancement Projects

 

 

TEA-21 Transportation Enhancements Program

 

On June 26, 2001, CDTC sent letters to local communities and other potential applicants under New York State's second round of the TEA-21 Transportation Enhancements Program.  Applications were due to NYSDOT by November 1, 2001.  CDTC evaluated all applications within CDTC's TIP area and identified a short list of high priority projects, which NYSDOT compared with submissions from across the state in selecting projects for funding.  Five CDTC area proposals were selected for Enhancements Program funding:

 

1.      Albany County’s Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail: Widening and Resurfacing and Amenities (A425)

2.      The Town of East Greenbush’s Sherwood Avenue Sidewalks (R229)

3.      Zim Smith Mid-County Trail (SA195)

4.      Saratoga County’s Historic Hadley Bow Bridge (SA196), and

5.      The Town of Glenville’s Glenville and Scotia Sidewalks (S161)

 

These projects were added to the TIP by amendment at the CDTC Planning Committee’s November 6, 2002 meeting.  CDTC’s evaluation procedure for these projects is in Appendix J.

 

 

"Second Chance" Enhancements Program

 

CDTC's commitment to bicycle, pedestrian, and canal projects goes beyond the federal Enhancement funds.  At its May 27, 1999 meeting, the CDTC Policy Committee voted to endorse the 1999-04 Transportation Improvement Program, which included as project RG83 a "second chance" program setting aside $1 million of STP-Flex funds for "high priority" Transportation Enhancements Program candidates not funded in Round One of the TEP.  Following the March 21, 2000 announcement of statewide selection of projects for Round One of the Transportation Enhancements Program, CDTC solicited the responsible agencies for the highest-ranked unsuccessful candidates to inquire as to whether they wished to submit their proposals for consideration under the CDTC program.  As the average total cost of initial proposals was over $850,000, and in the interest of getting as many strong projects implemented as possible, this solicitation included the requirement that candidates for the "Second Chance" program reflected a minimum 50 percent local match and/or a cap of $200,000 on the federal fund share of project cost.  Three additional proposals were selected for funding as a result of this process:  the City of Saratoga Springs' Spring Run Trail project (SA181), which was reduced in scope from the original proposal; Schenectady County's Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail project (S156), for which the local match was increased to 50%; and the Town of Malta's Ruhle Road Bridge project (SA182), which was not modified from the original proposal.

 

 

Enhancement-Type Projects Funded with Flexible Funds

 

CDTC has set aside additional funds (beginning with the 1997-02 TIP and continuing through the 2003-08 TIP) for bicycle, pedestrian, and canal projects.  The intention is to administer these projects as if they were Enhancement Program projects.  The significance of this is two-fold:

 

1.      The Enhancement program was administered as a grant program.  The federal contribution is fixed at the time of project programming at a maximum of 80% of project cost.  Any cost increases above 80% of the original project cost estimate are the responsibility of the project sponsor to absorb.  Any cost decreases cannot have the effect of increasing the federal share above 80%.

 

2.      An agreement is negotiated with the project sponsor for project implementation.  The project sponsor is the lead agency and builds the project on a reimbursement basis.

 

Since the original set of enhancement-type projects, others have been added.  In some cases, the local match exceeds 20%.  The TIP listings include a notation in the project descriptions for these projects that they will be administered as Enhancement projects (regardless of federal funding source) and that the federal contribution is capped at the specified percentage of the original total cost estimate.

 

 

Table 2

 

ENHANCEMENT Projects Funded With Flexible Funds

 

 

TIP#/PIN

SPONSOR

PROJECT

A377/1754.67

Voorheesville

Pedestrian Circulation

A406/1755.61

Albany (County)

Albany County Sign Management

A407/1755.62

Albany (City)

City of Albany Sign Management

A425

Albany County

Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail

A436

Guilderland

McKownville/Western Avenue Sidewalks

A437

Cohoes

Hudson-Mohawk Bike-Hike Bridge Rehabilitation

R178/1754.52

Troy

Troy-Menands Bridge Bicycle Access

R197/1754.69

Rensselaer (City)

Washington Avenue Sidewalks

R198/1754.70

North Greenbush

Brookside Avenue Sidewalks

R223/1755.66

Troy

Troy Pedestrian Bicycle Trail

R229

East Greenbush

Sherwood Avenue Sidewalks

SA136/1754.57

Saratoga Springs

Downtown Pedestrian Improvements

SA158/1754.71

NYSOPRHP

Peebles Island Bridge (Waterford)

SA160

Saratoga Springs

Pedestrian Improvements on Broadway

SA165

NYSTA

Rehabilitation of Lock C-5

SA181/1755.93

Saratoga Springs

Spring Run Trail Construction

SA182

Malta

Ruhle Road Pedestrian Bridge

SA195

Saratoga County

Zim Smith Mid-County Trail

SA196

Saratoga County

Historic Hadley Bow Bridge Preservation

SA200

Halfmoon

Canal Road Bike Path

S140/1754.63

Schenectady (City)

Mohawk-Hudson Bikepath Improvements

S141/1754.65

Schenectady (City)

Rail corridor bridge improvements

S142/1754.64

Schenectady (City)

Kings Road sidewalks

S143/1754.66

Glenville

Lock 8 Bicycle and Pedestrian Access

S146

Schenectady (City)

State Street Transportation Corridor Streetscape

S156

Schenectady County

Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail Connector

S161

Glenville

Glenville & Scotia Sidewalks

S165

NYSTA

Mohawk-Hudson Trail: Rotterdam Jct to Amsterdam