the bay city democrat · bay city urbanized area. currently, the bcats area includes the cities of...
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The Bay City DemocratAND THE BAY COUNTY LEGAL NEWS
~ Serving Bay County Since 1890 ~
Volume CXXIV Bay City, Michigan, Thursday, December 25, 2014 Number 52
Page 2 The Bay City Democrat and The Bay County Legal News Thursday, December 25, 2014
Page 3 The Bay City Democrat and The Bay County Legal News Thursday, December 25, 2014
2014 Annual Report of the Bay CityArea Transportation Study (BCATS)TRANSPORTATION PLANNINGFROM SAFETEA-LU TO MAP-21
On July 6, 2012, President Obama signed into law PL112-14, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century(MAP-21). This new transportation bill authorizes andfunds federal surface transportation programs for twoyears, taking effect on October 1, 2012 and expiring onSeptember 30, 2014. MAP-21 succeeds the expiredtransportation bill SAFETEA-LU (Safe, Accountable,Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: a Legacyfor Users).
MAP-21 re-authorizes the federal highway, public trans-portation, highway safety, and motor carrier safety pro-grams through Fiscal Year 2014. The Bay City AreaTransportation Study (BCATS) is designated to carry outthe transportation planning process required bySAFETEA-LU and now MAP-21 as the MetropolitanPlanning Organization (MPO). Establishment of thisprocess enables BCATS and other transportation agen-cies in the BCATS area to receive federal funding for avariety of transportation projects including reconstruc-tion and resurfacing of roads & bridges, purchase oftransit vehicles, highway & transit safety improvementsand non-motorized projects that will efficiently maximizethe mobility of people and goods within and through theBay City urbanized area.
Currently, the BCATS area includes the cities of BayCity and Essexville and the townships of Bangor,Kawkawlin, Monitor, Frankenlust, Portsmouth, andHampton. This is known as the urban transportationplanning area.
BCATS COMMITTEESThe Bay City Area Transportation Study (BCATS) iscomprised of two committees: the Policy Committeeand the Technical Committee. The Policy Committee ismade up of mostly elected officials from township, city,and county government. The Technical Committee ismade up of transportation planning and engineeringprofessionals from the community. Both committeesalso have representatives from the Michigan and U.S.Departments of Transportation. The Technical Commit-tee provides valuable expert advice to the Policy Com-mittee on various matters which it must address. ThePolicy Committee must give final local approval to allplans and projects in the Bay City urbanized area whichuse federal funding.
The Policy Committee usually meets on the thirdWednesday of every other month at the Bay CountyBuilding, 515 Center Avenue, Bay City, Michigan. TheTechnical Committee meets at the same location, usual-ly on the second Tuesday in the same months as thePolicy Committee.
Interested persons are always welcome to attend themeetings or call one of the following Technical Commit-tee members to discuss transportation issues of inter-est:
Jay Anderson, BCATS Director (989) 895-4245Bay County Transportation Planning Division
515 Center AvenueBay City MI, 48708
Eric Sprague, Manager (989) 894-2900Bay Metro Transportation Authority
Jack Hofweber (989) 671-1555Michigan Department of Transportation
Bay City TSC [email protected]
Jim Lillo, Engineer – Manager (989) 686-4610Bay County Road Commission
2600 East Beaver RoadKawkawlin, MI [email protected]
Daniel Hansford, Director (989) 893-6101City of Essexville Department of Public Works
1500 Pine StreetEssexville, MI 48732
The County of Bay will provide necessary and reason-able auxiliary aids and services, such as signers for thehearing impaired and audio tapes of printed materialsbeing considered at the meeting/hearing upon ten (10)days notice to the County of Bay. Individuals with dis-abilities requiring auxiliary aides or services should con-tact the County of Bay by writing or calling:
Tim Quinn, Personnel Relations Director515 Center Avenue – Suite 301
Bay City, MI 48708(989) 895-4098
(989) 895-4049 [email protected]
BCATS ASSET MANAGEMENTThe Michigan Asset Management Council was createdby Public Act 499 of 2002. To meet the requirements ofthe Act, the eleventh year of a statewide review of pavedfederal-aid roadways was conducted using resources ofthe Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) andother local agencies. This year, the state elected to col-lect data on the remaining half of the federal aid systemafter collecting half in 2013. In Bay County, BCATSteamed with the City of Bay City, MDOT and the BayCounty Road Commission to inventory the surface con-dition of 295 miles of streets and highways. Of theroads rated in the twelfth year, the data indicates that5% of the federal-aid roadways in Bay County wererated in good condition, 35% in fair condition, and 60%were rated in poor condition.
BCATS 4 YEAR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMThis year marked the first year of the BCATS Trans-portation Improvement Program (TIP) for the fiscalyears of 2014/15/16/17. The program includes ap-proximately $74 million in transportation and transitprojects that will be completed over the four year peri-od. It lists all of the federally funded transportationprojects within the Bay City Urbanized Area that willenhance the safety and efficiency of the transportationsystem, from I-75 reconstruction to Bay Metro TransitAuthority bus replacement to transportation alternativeprojects. The 2014/17 TIP was initially prepared byBCATS staff during 2013 with input from the local im-plementing agencies (Bay City, Bay County RoadCommission, Bay Metro Transportation Authority, andEssexville), MDOT, the Federal Highway Administra-tion (FHWA), and the public and has been amendedsince for the addition or adjustment to various projects.The proposed program of projects will become the finalprogram of projects unless modified and a final noticeis published. The TIP is available for viewing on theBay County Transportation Planning website or at theBCATS office.
Projects that were constructed in 2014 utilizing federalfunds (but not limited to): Michigan Department of Transportation
• Preliminary Engineering for US-10 Bridge Re-placement over I-75
• Electrical repairs on Veterans Memorial Bridge
Bay County Road Commission• North Union Road Rehabilitation from Two Mile
Road to Euclid Avenue
City of Bay City• Reconstruction of Saginaw Street from 6th Street
to 10th Street
City of Essexville• Woodside Avenue Resurfacing from Scheur-
mann Street to Pine Street
Bay Metro Transit Authority• Continue bus and vehicle replacement program
Upcoming 2015 Projects:Michigan Department of Transportation
• US-10 Bridge Replacement over I-75
• Preliminary Engineering for I-75 Resurfacingfrom M-13 Connector to Beaver Road
• M-25 Resurfacing from Pine Road to Tuscola/Bay County Line
City of Bay City• Center Avenue Resurfacing from Water Street to
Madison Avenue
Bay County Road Commission• Salzburg Road Rehabilitation from Four Mile
Road to Mackinaw Road
• Old Beaver/Russell Street Road Bridge Preven-tative Maintenance (near Kawkawlin)
Bay Metro Transit Authority• Continue bus and vehicle replacement program
A complete listing of FY 2014 obligated projects andthe full version of the approved 2014/17 TIP can beviewed on the BCATS website.
North Union Road
NORTH UNION ROADRECONSTRUCTION
North Union Road received a much needed upgradeduring the 2014 construction season. This project in-cluded reconstruction of North Union Road, Euclid Av-enue (M-13) to Two Mile Road in Bangor Township.The scope of the project included new storm sewer in-stallation, intersection upgrades, asphalt roadway withsix foot paved shoulders, safety improvements, sign-ing and pavement markings. The six foot paved shoul-der portion of this project completed a long range goalset in 2006 which began with the installation of thesidewalks and a bike lane on Kiesel Road and TwoMile Road respectively. These non-motorized facilitieswere constructed through a Safe Routes to SchoolProgram grant specifically for students attending JohnGlenn High School and Christa McAuliffe MiddleSchool. They provide a dedicated path for studentswalking or biking to and from these schools. The sixfoot shoulders installed as part of the North Union Re-construction Project now allow access for those livingalong North Union Road or the subdivisions that ac-cess it, to connect the Two Mile Road and Kiesel Roadfacilities. The shoulders also allow non-motorized traf-fic to access Euclid Avenue and the City of Bay City.BCATS provided $720,000 for this project with the BayCounty Road Commission contributing the requiredlocal match portion of $280,000.
Woodside Avenue
At a cost of $161,076 from the General Fund and aFederal participation of 85%, the City of Essexville in-stalled asphalt paving and new ADA compliant side-walk ramps along Woodside Avenue from Pine Streetto Scheurmann Street. BCATS provided the initialfunding of $8,500 for the engineering by Rowe and As-sociates. The construction engineer was HRC Inc.and the Prime Contractor was A.J. Rehmus & Son.The project began the second week of June 2014 andwas completed the end of August 2014.
BAY METROPOLITANTRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY
(BMTA)
In 2014, fixed route bus service was provided to64,000 seniors, 256,000 passengers with disabilities,and 240,000 full and student fare passengers for anoverall ridership of 570,000. Ridership for Dial-A-Ride Transportation (DART), demand-responseservice for seniors and disabled, was 51,000 in 2014.Bay Metro Transit operated over 1.475 million serv-ice miles during the year. Since service began in1974, Bay Metro has transported over 28 million pas-sengers.
BMTA also subcontracted 21,000 additional rides tolocal, private carriers. Local, private carriers assistBMTA DART service in daytime “overflow” situations,as well as providing transportation to area agenciesrepresenting senior and disabled passengers. BMTAreceives funding from the State under the Special-ized Services Program to offset a portion of the ex-pense of reimbursing the local carriers for their serv-ice. Since the end of 2007, BMTA has supplement-ed funding and expanded service to individuals inneed of transportation to work before and after BMTAservice hours under the State’s Job Access/ReverseCommute (JARC) Program. In 2014, the local carri-er provided over 10,000 JARC rides.
Bay Metro Transit began upgrades to the CentralBus Station in 2013 using MDOT Intercity Programfunds. Upgrades include ADA compliant restroomimprovements, energy efficient lighting, security fea-tures, and new signage. Bay Metro also securedState and Federal grants in 2013 for the replacementof some of their aging buses and vans.
BCATS WEBSITE UPDATES
BCATS has recently updated their website. Availablefor download on the website are the most recent2014-15-16-17 Transportation Improvement Programand 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, the Pub-lic Participation Plan, the Non-Motorized Transporta-tion Plan, Title VI Non-Discrimination Plan and com-plaint form, Technical and Policy Committee meetingminutes & agendas, traffic counts, various maps, andassorted transportation relatedlinks.
The direct web page is avail-able at: http://www.baycounty-mi.gov/transportation.
BCATS PUBLIC PARTICIPATIONPLAN COMPLETED
In 2014, BCATS completed a Public ParticpationPlan. The Public Participation Plan shall dictate themethods of the publication for the Transportation Im-provement Program, Transportation Plan, and PublicParticipation Plan to make it readily available for pub-lic review and comment. The Public ParticipationPlan will be monitored and reviewed periodically toevaluate its effectiveness.
WOODSIDE AVENUERESURFACING