The Rhode Island State Planning Council will hold public hearings this Thursday to accept comments on the draft Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) – a multi-year state program that schedules more than $400 million in federal and state transportation investments between Oct. 1, 2000 and Sept. 30, 2002. The hearings will be held at the Department of Administration building at One Capitol Hill, across from the State House. The first hearing will run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., in Conference Room C on the second floor. The second hearing will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in Conference Room A on the second floor.
Historically, transportation agencies throughout the country have been cool to the idea of public input, said William Ankner, director of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. But, he said, that attitude is changing.
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”D.O.T.s have taken the position that the public didn’t need to get involved,” said Ankner. “But over time, they have realized that the public is not the enemy — and involving the public becomes second-nature.”
In Rhode Island, Ankner said the size and scope of transportation projects make it only logical that the public would be afforded some input.
”It is a considerable amount of the public’s money,” he said. “They should be engaged in the process.”
Projects included in the TIP are highway and road construction, re-construction and resurfacing, bicycle and pedestrian projects, transit projects and programs, and transportation projects designed to improve air quality and reduce congestion, improve traffic flow or safety, and improve the transportation system’s relationship to the environment.
Ankner describes the TIP as the “front door to the transportation investments in the state.” If a project is going to get done, said Ankner, it needs to first appear as part of the TIP program.
The current TIP lists a wide range of projects. They include road construction such as: Kingston/URI Circulation Improvement; Apponaug Circulator Bypass, Greenwich Avenue to Centerville Road; R.I. 78/U.S. 1 Interchange, Westerly; 1-195 Relocation, Hurricane Barrier Alignment; R.I. 2 Sockanosset Crossroad Intersection; U.S. 6 Cucumber Hill Road Intersection; Logee Street, Parke Avenue to Lydia Avenue in Woonsocket; and Downtown (Providence) Circulation Improvements.
The TIP also includes paving projects all over the state, bridge work, bicycle path projects and much more. There are also numerous projects involving the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, including money for the new commuter ferry service.
The draft TIP may be reviewed at the Rhode Island Statewide Planning Program office, One Capitol Hill, fourth floor, between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. The document can also be viewed at www.planning.state.ri.us or a copy can be obtained by calling 222-1220.
The current draft TIP is the seventeenth in a series of TIPs for the state, prepared by Statewide Planning for adoption by the State Planning Council. It was prepared through the efforts of the council’s Transportation Advisory Committee.
The TIP planning process begins with the development of long-range plans. The State Planning Council adopts a ground transportation plan, a state airport system plan, and a freight rail plan as elements of the of the State Guide Plan.
The transportation plan and the TIP make the state eligible for funding from the federal highway and transit programs. To receive such funding, a project must appear in the TIP.
Rhode Island, because of its size, is unique in its organizational structure for transportation planning. Planning activities are carried out on a statewide basis rather than at both state and regional levels, as in most other states.
Federal regulations call for the governor to designate a Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) as being responsible, along with the state transportation agency, for meeting requirements for highway and transit projects funded by the federal Department of Transportation. In Rhode Island, the MPO is the State Planning Council, whose staff is the Statewide Planning Program within the state Department of Administration. The council is established by state law and has fifteen members, from state executive agencies, the legislature, local government and the public.
The TIP is prepared according to State Planning Council Rule IX, “Transportation Planning and Public Involvement Procedures.” A Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), appointed by the council, works with staff in developing a draft TIP.
Local city and town officials received a letter in December 1999 asking them to submit transportation project priorities. That letter included a list of current TIP projects. Numerous other organizations and citizens’ groups received a similar letter from the state, inviting them to be a part of the TIP process.
