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Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council |
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This project was completed
in March, 2003. Transit Planning Project This web site will be used to present information on the Northeast Subarea Transportation Study Transit Planning Project (NTPP) to the general public. As a point of contact it offers the opportunity to communicate with the ITCTC via E-Mail as well as providing other contact information. **** What's New? Click on "Public Meetings, Notices, Articles" and "Project Reports" below **** The NTPP is a multi-jurisdictional study being advanced under the Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council’s Unified Planning Work Program. The project is funded 80% by Federal Surface Transportation Planning funds and 20% by local contributors. Participating entities providing local funding include: Tompkins County, City of Ithaca, Towns of Ithaca, Lansing and Dryden, Villages of Lansing and Cayuga Heights and Cornell University. The Transportation Policy Committee of the ITCTC has established a "Client Committee" (CC) to supervise implementation of the NTPP. Members of the CC include the eight local funding entities plus Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit and the NY State Department of Transportation.
There has been significant interest in identifying, quantifying and addressing transportation problems within what is commonly referred to as the "northeast subarea" (see the map below representing the general geographic area which will be studied under this project). This is generally the northeast section of the Ithaca Urban Area, loosely defined by Cornell to the south, SR-34B to the north, the SR-13/366 intersection to the east and Cayuga Lake and the City of Ithaca to the west. In the last decade, specific problems have been articulated by both the public and local leaders -- access to the Cornell campus, reduced traffic safety, adverse neighborhood impacts, increases in travel time, and negative environmental impacts. Several local planning studies at various levels of complexity have been conducted, most focusing on a single arterial roadway solution. The Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council (ITCTC) recognized that there was a need to conduct a comprehensive transportation study for the northeast subarea. In 1993, the Town of Ithaca and Tompkins County jointly submitted a proposal requesting the use of funds from the federal Surface Transportation Program to conduct the Northeast Subarea Transportation Study (NESTS). The NEST study was designed to identify specific and areawide transportation problems and offer a range of alternative solutions. The NEST study was initiated in January 1998, and completed in July 1999. The result of this effort was the NESTS Transportation Plan, which was developed by a Citizens Working Group in collaboration with a team of technical consultants. (Click here to view the NESTS Transportation Plan). The NESTS Transportation Plan includes nine recommendations that address the need for enhanced intergovernmental cooperation, land use policy changes, and various transportation project recommendations. Recommendation 2 of the NESTS Transportation Plan calls for the use of enhanced community based transit service to alleviate congestion in the study area (see Figure 3). The NESTS Transit Planning Project seeks to provide the data and analysis needed to determine the feasibility and design of a public transportation system to implement Recommendation 2 of the NESTS Transportation Plan.
The purpose of the NTPP is to design a public transportation system for the study area that will reduce current and expected congestion levels in the area roadways based on a thorough feasibility analysis. The proposed public transportation system will seek to implement Recommendation 2 of the NESTS Transportation Plan and, while supporting the Livability Principles described in that document. A long-term goal of this study is to reduce the need for roadway capacity expansion in future years through the implementation of public transportation strategies.
The objectives in this section are meant to guide the development of the NESTS Transit Planning Project. This study seeks to determine the feasibility of implementation of Recommendation #2 in the NESTS Transportation Plan: Provide Enhanced Community-Based Transit Service. This recommendation supports the design and implementation of an intensive public transportation service for the study area, which accomplishes the following: · Provides a service sufficiently attractive and cost-competitive to result in a significant reduction in use of personal vehicles. · Reduces vehicular traffic on neighborhood streets in the study area. · Provides an alternative to commuters moving through residential areas to employment centers and commercial areas on Triphammer Road, Cornell, downtown Ithaca and on Warren Road. · Reduces peak hour traffic by single occupancy vehicles on high traffic volume roads in the study area. · Minimizes adverse impacts on:
1. Consider various public transportation strategies to manage commuter flows through the study area and make a recommendation on a preferred strategy. The comparative analysis should describe systems that result in 3%, 5% and 10% private automobile to public transportation modal shifts. 2. Determine existing and potential ridership, as well as identify factors that will maximize the ridership for the proposed public transportation strategy. 3. Prepare an economic analysis, including a cost/benefit analysis, for the proposed public transportation system, including cost estimates and proposals for feasible financing strategies. 4. Design a public transportation system that will accomplish the following: a. Provide a competitive, affordable and convenient, alternative to the use of personal vehicles that will connect a variety of trip origins/destinations, i.e. residential, employment, retail, recreational, educational, etc. b. Provide the design for transit infrastructure and facilities in the study area to support operations and offer pedestrian/bicycle connections. c. Optimize ridership, consistent with other objectives of the study, by operating flexible, fixed-route, and paratransit modes applicable for time of day and demand. Design a phase-in plan for the service. d. Plan passenger facilities in the community with the goal of having a bus stop within reasonable walking distance of all residences and be connected with a pedestrian/bicycle network. e. Identify infrastructure and ancillary support services required of TCAT to operate proposed services (e.g. public information, fleet maintenance, supervision, etc.). f. Be coordinated with bicycle and pedestrian modes of transportation.
The Project Boundary Map delineates the study area for the NTPP. This boundary includes the ‘northeast area’, but it extends beyond in an attempt to capture the bulk of the trip movements through the area. In recognition of its importance as an origin/destination for a substantial number of trips originating, ending or crossing through the northeast area, the project boundary for the NESTS Transit Planning Project is also inclusive of the City of Ithaca. The study is designed as a subarea study, as generally defined in the Project Boundary Map, and is not expected to increase in its geographic scope.
The scope of work for this project will gather and analyze data as part of a feasibility analysis and to use this information to design a public transportation system that provides an affordable and convenient option to private vehicle use. The NTPP is includes a series of Tasks as described below. TASK 1 Design and conduct a market research study to identify potential public transportation demand in the study area with a focus on factors affecting the decision to use public transportation by individuals. (Click here for information on the telephone survey) TASK 2 Using the information gathered in Task 1 develop a set of public transportation strategies and options designed to achieve the objectives of this study. (Click here for Service and Facilities Strategies) TASK 3 Analysis of Policy Options TASK 4 Develop a preferred public transportation strategy designed to achieve the objectives of this study. The preferred strategy will be supported by the following:
TASK 5 Public Participation –
1. After Task 2, for review and comment on alternative strategies. c. Develop and maintain a web page for convenient access to project information and updates.
Click here to view most current Project SchedulePROJECT REPORTS
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Project Manager: Ithaca-Tompkins County Transportation Council 121 E. Court St. Ithaca, NY 14850 607-274-5570 itctc@tompkins-co.org
Consultant Team: Creighton Manning Engineering, Inc., Albany, NY Computer Assisted Survey Team, Ithaca, NY
TELEPHONE SURVEY
This page last updated: April 4, 2003 TLL |
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Home • About ITCTC • Committee Meetings • Public Participation • UPWP • TIP • LRP • Completed Projects and Reports • Links |
Project Background/Purpose
)
March 2003 NESTS Transit Planning
Project Final Reports:
click
here to view the February 2003: 
RECORD
OF PUBLIC MEETINGS