Consent 1.D.
Regular City Council Meeting
- Meeting Date:
- 03/08/2010
- TITLE
- 2010 TIP Amendment III
- PRESENTED BY:
- Candi Beaudry
- Department:
- Planning & Community Services
Presentation:
PROBLEM/ISSUE STATEMENT
Federal regulations require that Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) review and update their Transportation Improvement Programs (TIP) periodically. Due to changes in funding allocations and increases and decreases in various funding categories, the current 2007-11 TIP requires an amendment. The amendment includes changes to the Highway portion and the Transit portion. This amendment will be called the 2010 TIP Amendment III. A presentation on this TIP amendment was made to the City Council at its February 16, 2010, Work Session.
This TIP Amendment is being presented to Council for review of the current Highway and Transit projects and costs associated with them. Due to adjustments of project costs and funding, it was necessary to undertake this amendment at this time. The projects listed within the document have not changed. However, for the first time there is a rescission of funds affecting the Air Quality section of the TIP. The rescission will reduce the amount of Air Quality funds received by the Billings MPO by about $630,000. This is expected to have an impact on some project funding. The other updates to this TIP are positive in that ARRA funding is allowing several projects in the community to be completed sooner than under the regular funding process. The updates to the document are shown for Transit in attachment “A” and for Highway in attachment “B”. The City Council will review the TIP amendment and forward a recommendation on the amendment to the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC). The Planning Board and Board of County Commissioners also have reviewed the TIP amendment and are forwarding recommendations to the PCC to amend the TIP at its next meeting on March 16.
This TIP Amendment is being presented to Council for review of the current Highway and Transit projects and costs associated with them. Due to adjustments of project costs and funding, it was necessary to undertake this amendment at this time. The projects listed within the document have not changed. However, for the first time there is a rescission of funds affecting the Air Quality section of the TIP. The rescission will reduce the amount of Air Quality funds received by the Billings MPO by about $630,000. This is expected to have an impact on some project funding. The other updates to this TIP are positive in that ARRA funding is allowing several projects in the community to be completed sooner than under the regular funding process. The updates to the document are shown for Transit in attachment “A” and for Highway in attachment “B”. The City Council will review the TIP amendment and forward a recommendation on the amendment to the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC). The Planning Board and Board of County Commissioners also have reviewed the TIP amendment and are forwarding recommendations to the PCC to amend the TIP at its next meeting on March 16.
ALTERNATIVES ANALYZED
The current TIP amendments include updates of federal funding for highway as well as transit projects. The Council may:
- Vote to recommend approval of the 2010 TIP Amendment III to the PCC in order to continue the implementation of federally funded transportation projects as presented; or
- Vote to recommend modifications to the proposed program amendments that the Council PCC representative may present to the PCC for further consideration.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
A range of federal funding sources is available to the Billings Urban Area for the purposes of funding transportation system improvements and transit programs. In most cases, the City does not have to provide its own funding to complete the federally funded projects. A list of the federal funding sources is shown in the TIP document.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that Council forward a recommendation of approval of the 2010 TIP Amendment III to PCC via its PCC representative.