SPECIAL PROJECTS

Transportation Enhancements

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) included a $24 billion, 6-year authorization that created a new federal-aid highway program—the surface transportation program. This program included a requirement that states set aside at least 10 percent of the $24 billion exclusively for 10 categories of “transportation enhancements,” such as pedestrian walkways, bikeways, scenic easements, or historic preservation projects. Such enhancements are designed to strengthen the cultural, aesthetic, or environmental aspects of transportation or to encourage greater use of nonmotorized transportation.

To date, there have been four rounds of Transportation Enhancement Projects in Pennsylvania with projects being announced in 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2004. The latest round of approved projects, which was announced in May 2004, included the following projects for the NEPA RPO region:

Carbon County

• Palmerton Downtown Streetscape Improvement, Borough of Palmerton-$287,500

Monroe County

• Downtown Pedestrian Safety/Streetscape Improvement, East Stroudsburg Borough- $270,000
• Analomink Off-Premise Signs Removal Project, Stroud Township- $52,800

Pike County

• Downtown Streetscape Project, Milford Borough-$350,000
• Revitalization of PA Ave. Construction of Curbs & Sidewalks, Matamoras Borough- $198,784

Wayne County

• Train Station Restoration Project, Gouldsboro Area Foundation- $114,574
• D&H Gravity Railroad Depot & Museum Train Car Shed, Waymart Area Historical Society- $62,675

Schuylkill County

• Downtown Streetscape Revitalization Project, Frackville Borough-$139,504
• Main Street Streetscape Revitalization Project, Shenandoah Borough-$121,728
• Mary D. Streetscape Improvements, Tamaqua Area 2004 Project-$97,750
• Molly Maguire Memorial Park : Garden Gateway Walkway Improvement, Mahanoy City-$32,616
• Main Street Streetscape Project, Coaldale Borough-$11,569

Hometown Streets/Safe Routes to School

The Hometown Streets/Safe Routes to School Program is a new PennDOT program that utilizes Federal Transportation funds to promote two very specific initiatives outlined by Governor Ed Rendell: To encourage the reinvestment in and redevelopment of our downtowns; and To establish, where feasible, safe walking routes for our children to commute to school and to promote healthy living.

The NPRTPO Committee is responsible for evaluating and ranking the region’s eligible projects for funding consideration utilizing a one-time $2.627 million allocation for the RPO region which includes Carbon, Pike, Monroe, Schuylkill and Wayne counties.

The approved projects for 2005 are as follows:

Carbon County

• Old Mauch Chunk Streetscape, (Jim Thorpe) Carbon County - $500,000
• Downtown Streetscape Project, Borough of Lehighton-$303,255
• Weatherly Streetscape Revitalization Project, Borough of Weatherly-$151,120

Monroe County

• Gateway Safety/Streetscape Improvements, Borough of Stroudsburg - $396,423

Pike County

• Downtown Streetscape Project, Milford Borough-$350,000
• Revitalization of PA Ave. Streetscape, Matamoras Borough- $175,000

Schuylkill County

• Downtown Streetscape Revitalization Project, Frackville Borough -$146,881
• Main Street Streetscape Revitalization, Shenandoah Borough - $125,678
• Streetscape Improvements, Borough of Tamaqua -$219,650
• Downtown Streetscape Revitalization, Mahanoy City-$172,500
• Downtown Streetscape (Rt 61 & 54), Borough of Ashland - $122,951
• Safe Route To School Project Streetscape Improvements, Borough of Schuylkill Haven - $115,184

Wayne County

• Downtown Streetscape Enhancements, Hawley Borough - $525,000

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

Intelligent Transportation Systems are in use all over United States providing the public with real time information for related to transportation.

ITS – Definition: Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) - The system defined as the electronics, communications or information processing used singly or integrated to improve the efficiency or safety of surface transportation.

To learn more about ITS in Pennsylvania visit: http://www.paits.org/

To learn more about the National ITS Architecture visit: http://itsarch.iteris.com/itsarch/

Congested Corridor Improvement Program (CCIP)

The CCIP objective is to identify congested transportation corridors within the Commonwealth and, in conjunction with our planning partners, define and implement improvements. The program is geared toward improvements that can be implemented within a short time frame (0 to 3 years) and for a reasonable cost. Typical improvements can include traffic signal enhancements, minor geometric improvements, access management, multimodal initiatives, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), Transportation Demand Management (TDM), planning and zoning, and other multifaceted and appropriate efforts for a particular transportation corridor. These improvements can positively impact people and goods movement by reducing travel time and delay, improving air quality, reducing fuel consumption, improving safety, and other factors.

The goal of the CCIP is to obtain a 20% reduction in peak hour travel time on the transportation corridor with the implementation of the short-term improvements. PENNDOT developed a Standard Study Methodology (SSM) to provide a uniform approach in achieving this goal. This SSM identifies steps involved in an engineering study of improvement alternatives and focuses on the use of simulation models as an analysis tool to evaluate the operational impacts of improvement alternatives.

NEPA has applied for CCIP Program funds each of the last two rounds. Thus far, 3 corridors in the NEPA RPO region have been studied including:

2004 CCIP Projects:

U.S. Route 6 Milford to Matamoras

U.S. Route 6 Honesdale to Texas Township

2003 CCIP Projects: