Jan. 31 is Next MPO Regional Bike Plan Meeting
MPO Regional Bicycle Plan working group to meet in January
CAMDEN — A working group for the Dover/Kent County MPO’s Regional Bicycle Plan will meet from 10 a.m. to noon. on Tuesday, Jan. 31 in the council chambers of Camden Town Hall, 1783 Friends Way, Camden.
The meeting agenda includes the review and discussion of project prioritization for central Delaware as well as a review of maps that are a part of the Plan4Health campaign. Anthony Aglio of the Delaware Department of Transportation is set to discuss bicycle and pedestrian stress level criteria. The meeting’s agenda also includes recommendations for intersections, signs and sharrows, which are street markings to indicate areas where bicycles and cars are meant to share the road. If there is time in the meeting, the group is set to discuss Delaware’s Bicycle Route 1, one of the area’s designated bicycle routes.
The meeting is open to the public, which is encouraged to attend. For more information, call the Dover/Kent County MPO office at (302) 387-6030.
MPO Council Approves Three TIP Amendments
The council for the Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization recently approved three amendments to the MPO’s FY 2017-2020 Transportation Improvement Program.
Council approved the amendments at its Jan. 4 meeting, pending public comment. A comment period for the proposed amendments began on Dec. 7, 2016, and ended on Jan. 6, 2017.
Two of the amendments were for the purchase of battery electric DART buses and the installation of charging stations for the buses. The third amendment approved additional cost to the construction contract for the POW-MIA Parkway (formerly known as the West Dover Connector). Although these are Delaware Department of Transportation projects and purchases, they include federal funding and meet the financial criteria for amendments to the MPO’s Transportation Improvement Program.
The TIP amendment for the POW-MIA Parkway is due to a project cost adjustment from approximately $62 million to approximately $68 million. The extra cost is to add improvements to North Street, which is adjacent to one of the entrances to the Parkway. The improvements involve the patching of cracked or broken concrete sections, sealing smaller cracks, and finishing with an ultrathin hot-mix overlay on the existing pavement. The Parkway project is still on schedule and construction is expected to finish next year. A DelDOT representative the MPO Council meeting explained that adding the cost for the North Street improvements to the Parkway project would be less costly and take less time than treating the improvements as a separate project.
Another amendment approved the purchase of six, 35-foot zero-emission battery electric powered DART buses. The Delaware Transit Corporation was awarded a FY 16 Federal Transit Administration Low or No Emission Bus and Bus Facilities Grant. The purpose of buying the buses is to reduce emissions, and provide clean, quiet expanded service in Kent County. These zero-emissions buses will be used to expand fixed route services for Kent County in alignment with DTC’s business plan. Total cost for the purchase is approximately $5 million.
The third amendment is tied to the purchase of the battery-powered buses, as it approves the purchase of five charging stations for the new electric-powered buses. DTC would use money from the same federal grant for the bus purchases to buy three 500kW fast charging stations and two 50kW charging stations. Total cost for this project is approximately $1.9 million.
MPO Council approves Vision 2040 long-range plan
The long-range plan for the Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization is now approved.
On Jan. 4, the MPO Council approved the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, called Vision 2040. The plan will next go to the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration for approval.
The MTP is one of the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s core projects. The plan examines how central Delaware could take shape, transportation-wise, over the next 23 years and how transportation projects in central Delaware will be funded. In addition, the MTP provides measurable goals for the region’s transportation system. The U.S. Department of Transportation requires the MPO to update its plan every four years as a prerequisite for federal funding.
A copy of Vision 2040 is available to view on this website by going to the home page and looking under Resources, then Publications. For more information, contact Public Outreach Manager Kate Layton at kate.layton@doverkentmpo.org, or by calling the MPO office at (302) 387-6026 or (302) 387-6030.
