Introduction and Overview

 

 

Overview of the Capital District Transportation Committee

 

Next time include a statement about the project implementers being committed to the schedule.

The Capital District Transportation Committee (CDTC) is the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Capital District Transportation Management Area (TMA) which includes the metropolitan area of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties, with the exception of the Glens Falls urban area, which extends into northern Saratoga County. As the MPO, CDTC, in cooperation with the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA), is responsible for carrying out the continuing, comprehensive, coordinated transportation planning process for the Capital District region. Part of the planning responsibility is the maintenance of a long-range Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). CDTC's most recent RTP is called New Visions. Additionally, the Committee is responsible for maintaining short-range Transportation Improvement Programs (TIP's) for the metropolitan area's major highway and transit facilities.

 

The CDTC Policy Board is composed of representatives of local governments and transportation agencies. Its membership includes the chief elected officials of each of the region's eight cities and four counties and at large members representing the area's towns and villages. Representatives of NYSDOT, CDTA, the Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDRPC), the New York State Thruway Authority, the Albany County Airport Authority, and the Albany Port District Commission complete the roster. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) serve as advisory members to the Committee. Through this intergovernmental forum, local and regional transportation issues are discussed, and transportation policies and programs are developed. Further information concerning the organizational structure of CDTC, its responsibilities and the responsibilities of member organizations, is presented in A Policy-Maker's Guide to the CDTC published in April 1996.

 

 

Overview of the Transportation Improvement Program

 

One of the important responsibilities of CDTC is to program for the implementation of the products of the planning process through development of a staged multi-year program of transportation improvements (the Transportation Improvement Program or TIP). Federal regulations require that transit, highway and other transportation improvement projects within the Capital District metropolitan area be included in this TIP if these projects are to be eligible for federal capital or operating funding. The program should also include, for informational purposes, non-federally funded projects and New York State Thruway Authority projects located in the region. Sufficient information must be given in project listing to:

 

Appendix C contains a complete list of all funding programs required to be included in the TIP. All projects in the CDTC TIP are located within a defined metropolitan area boundary, for which the air quality designation is consistent throughout. Therefore, individual project listings do not specify location in terms of metropolitan versus non-metropolitan or attainment versus non-attainment designation.

 

In addition, the TIP should indicate present estimates of total TIP costs and revenues for the program period. The TIP must be constrained to estimates of federal-aid revenue attributable to the CDTC area by federal fiscal year (10/1 to 9/31). Meeting this requirement has necessitated adjustments to project schedules, and certain assumptions regarding the use of flexibility among federal-aid fund sources. Project Selection Procedures, presented on page *, provide flexibility necessary when CDTC's TIP is incorporated in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

 

The TIP must also meet the requirements established by the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act (42 USC Sections 7140 et seq.) regarding the conformity of transportation plans and programs. This Air Quality Conformity finding begins on page *. Federal regulations also require that the TIP be approved by CDTC as the MPO for the Capital District metropolitan area, undergo a minimum 30-day public comment period, and that a public meeting be held (23 CFR §450.324(c)).

 

Comments from the public were accepted from March 11 until May 3, 1999. A Summary of those comments and staff responses appear in Appendix F. Every person who commented on the draft TIP received a written response, and the Planning Committee and Policy Board endorsed the staff responses.