Board
of BikeAthens
Comment on the FY2008-2010
MACORTS Draft TIP
July 1, 2007
The following comments are submitted to
the MACORTS Policy Committee, Technical Coordinating
Committee, and staff as BikeAthens’ response
to the FY2008-2010 Draft Transportation Improvement Program.
Public Participation
As noted by MACORTS/ACC staff at a TCC meeting, the recent Public
Participation Plan for the MACORTS process represents only a
mandated approach to providing a bare-bones framework to solicit
public comment. While this may satisfy federal and state
requirements, it does not satisfy the MPO’s duty to administer
a responsive, inclusive planning process, nor does it help the
average citizen to understand or address transportation planning
in the Athens region.
Neither staff nor committees have suggested a protocol to adopt
changes to MACORTS’ draft documents based on public comment. Without
this step, the general public and organizations such as BikeAthens
become marginalized and wastes time and resources attempting to
change a process that currently works against, and not for, the
community. Current practices of using token, mandated measures
to solicit comments that will ultimately be ignored lack vision,
respect for the individuals and groups who submit input, and procedural
integrity. A governmental organization that does not respond
to public concerns serves no useful purpose.
BikeAthens asks, again, for the following changes to be made to
the public involvement process:
- Develop more comprehensive and creative advertising for input
opportunities
- Clearly locate draft documents online
- Present draft documents in a more user-friendly, interactive
format that will enable readers to locate important information
quickly
Additionally, the Board of Directors offers these new comments:
- Establish an explicit procedural framework of standard operating
procedures to solicit and present to the Committees public comment,
and recommend tangible changes based on this wealth of community
knowledge and sentiment
- Seek out populations currently underserved by and underrepresented
in the planning process
- Direct staff, or contract with outside groups, to undertake
region-wide comment solicitation efforts
Without wholesale changes to the methods and principles through
which public comment periods are approached, the community will
continue to be disenfranchised by the MACORTS public input process.
Individuals and groups are highly aware of the lack of credence
their concerns are given in Athens region’s transportation
planning.
Comment Opportunities
Once more, due to a series of meeting cancellations, there has
been no opportunity for spoken public input in front of the MACORTS
TCC between the initial draft TCC meeting (before the public
sees the document) and the day the final draft TIP is to be recommended
for approval. And sadly, the MACORTS Policy Committee never offers
an opportunity at their meetings to hear spoken public comment. Nor
will there be an opportunity for the public to comment in front
of the ACC Mayor and Commission (with both a live and TV audience)
as there has been in past years.
BikeAthens and the TCC
Our repeated requests over the past three years for a seat
on the MACORTS TCC deserve a serious consideration, but have yet
to receive any response. We have aided MACORTS for years,
raising public awareness of transportation issues and generating
public comment for transportation plans. Most important,
BikeAthens represents a user group with a clear active interest
in transportation issues, and is at least as deserving of being
a part Committee deliberations as are many current member organizations
such as the Athens Downtown Development Authority, the Athens Area
Chamber of Commerce, the Oconee Rivers Greenway Commission, the
U.S. Navy Supply School. The new nationally funded Safe Routes
to School program in the TIP underscores the value in participation
that BikeAthens could offer the TCC (see SR2S program comment below).
Public Transit Features
As an organization particularly interested in public transportation
activities, we are again disappointed to find the transit section
of the TIP unfathomable - full of confusing charts and tables
with little informative discussion. Although our organization
stays active in an Athens Transit user group and closely follows
and reports regularly on transit activities, we were unable to
glean any new information or even to interpret this portion of
the TIP for our constituency.
Bicycle/Pedestrian Features
Several projects are of special concern with regard to bike/ped
issues this year, although others are encouraging in their promised
additions to the multi-modal network. There are also a
couple of projects that are key features of the Bicycle Master
Plan and the Greenway Network Plan that might find readier funding
as singular projects in the TIP, and so should be very seriously
considered as additions to the 2007 plan.
Athens Perimeter Interchange at US 78/Lexington Road. The
project description has changed significantly, from a statement
that the new interchange "will include" connections to
the Rail-Trail project (as in previous years) to say that
the project "will not prec[lude]" those connections. The
reason for this change is puzzling given 1) GDOT policy of accommodating
transportation choices whenever feasible, 2) their commitment to
including bike/ped facilities in many other TIP projects, and 3)
the expressed desire and financial commitment of the Athens community
to the Rail-Trail project (which is also a Tier 1 TIP project). The
Rail-Trail must be wholly integrated into the design of the interchange
project up front, so that there is no excess burden on
ACC for costs to design the trail later within severe constraints
imposed by the interchange project. Explanations that the
funding for the interchange is coming from a motor vehicle fuel
tax source and can’t be used on trails is acceptable, but
there are other sources of funding that could be sought support
the RT inclusion in design. Transportation Enhancements awards
could be sought to provide construction funding. BikeAthens
thus supports the ACC Rails-to-Trails Committee in their resolution
to request that the TIP description for the Lexington Road interchange
be left as it was in past years.
College Station Road Bike Lanes. This project completes
much-needed CSR bike lanes between Research Road and Barnett Shoals
Road and has now been moved into a GDOT Work Program. We
encourage GDOT investment in this relatively inexpensive project,
and hope to see the ACC government take the initiative to invest
the required local matching funds by pre-designing this project,
to attract federal/state funds and speed construction to a nearer-term
time frame.
North Avenue Beautification & Lexington Road Bike
Lanes. Although not yet in the GDOT Work Program,
it is encouraging that GDOT has requested federal funding
for construction of these projects.
Safe Routes to School Lump Sum Project. In 2005,
BikeAthens organized a local SR2S program, Safe Routes Athens,
one of only two SR2S programs organized to date in the state of
Georgia. Safe Routes Athens has conducted numerous
local activities in its 18 months of existence, including the certification
of 9 local bicycle education instructors, the hosting of several
bicycle education classes for adults and children, the mapping
of sidewalks for ACC Transportation and Public Works, and the establishment
of a successful pilot SR2S program at Barrow Elementary School. Safe
Routes Athens has also been an active participant on the GDOT Advisory
Council that has established policy for application and distribution
of millions of dollars in funds that will be available for distribution
on a competitive basis in FY 08, ensuring that the Athens community
is well-positioned to compete for these funds. It will be
the role of ACC Planning staff and MACORTS to work with Safe
Routes Athens in seeking these funds, a role that would be more
sensible were BikeAthens (as the SR2S program sponsor) an official
organizational member of the TCC. With such limited local
dollars for bike/ped facilities (ACC general fund budget of $100K
for FY 08), this project is a critical funding resource for both
infrastructure and educational/outreach activities.
College Station Road Bridge Improvement. The construction
funds for this project have been moved back to 2010 in the TIP,
which is unfortunate. We hope to see this bridge project
coordinated with the completion of the College Station Road bike
lanes to Barnett Shoals Road.
Greenway Master Plan Projects. It is heartening
that several greenway projects are now funded through SPLOST
and congressional allocations, including the Rail-Trail project,
the Oconee-to-College Station segment of the North Oconee
River Greenway, and a few other potential trails and
rail-trails outlined in the Greenway Network Plan. We would
encourage MACORTS support and inclusion of similar future projects
in Tier 2 in the future.
Danielsville Road. An expensive road-widening project
does at least come with the consolation of sidewalks and a shared
off-road path for pedestrians and cyclists. The bike/ped
facilities would link very nicely with proposed North Avenue improvements
slated for 2010, but GDOT and MACORTS should give strong consideration
to bike/ped access to the bridge over the SR 10 Loop, and of on-street
bike lanes rather than an off-road path.
ACC Bicycle Facilities System Improvements. This
project concerns local government rather than the MACORTS, but
deserves comment. Bicycle facility improvements remain severely
under-funded in the ACC capital budget. There are no SPLOST
2005 funds for bicycle improvements, and the budget reflects a
$50,000 reduction in anticipated ACC capital funds over what had
been previously slated (itself minimal). Worse, ACC capital
funds are projected at only $100K per year for the next six years,
with no increases—that comes to less than one dollar per
person for each ACC resident. Yet local sources of funding
for bike projects are critical, as a 20% local “match” is
required to attract an 80% federal/state funded share for most
bike/ped projects. Without these local funds, it will be
difficult to attract federal/state funds, which are essential for
completion of almost any but the most simple and minimal improvement
projects.
ACC Sidewalk Improvement Program. Another local
issue deserving comment. SPLOST 2005 and the ACC Capital
Budget are the source for sidewalk construction funds averaging
more than $500,000 for the next six years. Improved selection
criteria adopted by ACC will be helpful in making the tough choices
for sidewalk locations. Nevertheless, the high demand for
sidewalks would warrant an even greater local investment in the
future. Sidewalk are a segment of infrastructure that
will benefit greatly from BikeAthens and Safe Routes Athens applications
for GDOT statewide grant funds for SR2S projects.
Proposed Additions to 2008 TIP. There
are a number of bike/pedestrian projects that should be considered
for inclusion in the current TIP. Two standouts are
as follows.
Prince Avenue (Milledge to Pulaski) is possibly the best
example, particularly this locally-controlled section of Prince
Avenue that is desperately in need of traffic-calming features
and bike/pedestrian facilities. Already part of the Bicycle
Master Plan, this project could be readily inserted into the 2008-2010
TIP.
Milledge Avenue (East Campus to State Botanical Gardens) would
be a particularly attractive project that would provide a near-complete
bike/pedestrian path of 8-9 miles between Sandy Creek Nature Center
and the State Botanical Gardens. The south end of Milledge
between East Campus Road and Riverbend Road may be mostly amenable
to restriping, and the segment between Riverbend Road and the Botanical
Gardens is an ideal location for a shared bike/pedestrian off-road
path. Already part of the Greenway Network Plan, this project
could also be readily inserted into the TIP.
Road Projects. There remains a heavy focus
on the widening of roads in the rural parts of Athens-Clarke County,
while some major in-town roads deteriorate and desperately need
attention, particularly with regard to the addition of multi-modal
improvements and pavement quality.
Among the many road projects in the TIP, there are a number of
examples where traffic volumes would not seem to warrant the proposed
widening to a four-lane road. For example, Simonton
Bridge Road in Oconee County hosts only 6,530 vehicles per
day (and also has some vehement local opposition from residents
and planners who think it would be unwise to bring a four-lane
road into downtown Watkinsville). ACC’s Lexington
Road between Whit Davis and Smokey Road handles only 11,130
vehicles per day. Although construction for widening of Lexington
Road appears to have been pushed back at least a few years, to
some time beyond 2012, it is still an expensive proposition - at
least $15 M for what promises to be a corridor for more sprawl
development.
The estimated cost of many of the road projects seems to have
gone up significantly. The ROW acquisition alone for Oconee
County’s SR 53/Mars Hill Road widening project has
risen 75% since the 2006 TIP, from $3.5 M to $6.1 M in 2007 to
$9.1 M in 2008. The ROW acquisition for the Lexington Road
widening project has escalated approximately 40%, from $4.2 M to
$7.4 M (construction costs would add at least another $7.4 M).
The construction costs for the Danielsville Road widening
project have risen considerably in the past two years, from $4.4
M to $6.9 M to $7.6 M. Presumably, at least some part of
the escalating costs for construction for that project will be
borne by the local budget, from interest money earned on SPLOST
accounts (as with the Barnett Shoals Road widening project a few
years ago), taking away a potential source of funding for sidewalk
projects or for matching money for bicycle improvement projects.
MACORTS Representation
Another issue of process concerns the fact that Athens-Clarke County
residents continue to be under-represented in MACORTS activities. While
only a small portion of the populations of Madison and Oconee
counties are included in the MACORTS area, all of the population
of Athens-Clarke County is included. Thus, with two votes
for Madison County, two for Oconee, and two for Athens-Clarke
County, the 100K+ residents of ACC do not have their fair
share of voting clout for the transportation issues that
affect them. |