Dover/Kent County MPO

FY 2020-2023 TIP Now Open For Public Comment

Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization FY 2020-2023 TIP Now Open For Public Comment

The Dover/Kent County MPO is now publishing its FY 2020-2023 Transportation Improvement Plan on the MPO’s website (www.doverkentmpo.org) and is open for public comment between 3/29/19 and 5/1/19 when it will be voted on by the MPO Council for adoption.

The TIP is derived from the MPO’s long-range Metropolitan Transportation Plan. Projects in the TIP are ones for which the Delaware Department of Transportation wants to secure federal funding. The TIP also serves as a budgetary guide for how much money will be spent on each project.

The FY2020-2023 TIP is very similar to the TIP for the previous year with these exceptions:

• DE 14 at US 113 Intersection Improvements
• Improvements to the northernmost section, US13 to DE 12, of Canterbury Road/DE 15
• 3 Bridge Repair Projects – Irish Hill Rd, Fisher’s Bridge, and Quail Run
• Transit Facilities for South Frederica Park and Ride

In conjunction with the TIP, the MPO has also published its Air Quality Conformity Analysis Report. The Kent County Air Quality Conformity Analysis Report was required after a February 2018 a US Court of Appeals decision against the EPA regarding the EPA’s rule implementing the 2008 ozone (which was the standard used in determining our being “in-attainment”).  This decision basically reverted air conformity compliance back to the 1997 Ozone standards and as a result of this court decision, 82 identified MPO areas (the D/KC MPO is part of these 82 areas) were being considered “not in attainment” with the 1997 Ozone standard.  On October 1, 2018 the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued Interim Guidance on Conformity requirements for the 1997 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) which also “strongly encourages all impacted areas to make every effort to complete their 1997 ozone conformity determinations as soon as possible to prevent delays of transportation plans, programs, and non-exempt projects.”  Furthermore, the FHWA guidance indicated that conformity determinations for the 1997 Ozone NAAQS will be required on plan, TIP and project actions after February 15, 2019.  As such and in order to meet the FHWA Interim Guidance regarding the FY20-23 TIP, the MPO had an air conformity determination on three Regionally Significant Non-Exempt projects listed in our current FY20-23 TIP (US Route 13 Widening Phase 1; US Route 13 Widening Phase 2; and US Route 13 Connector Road (SR1, Scarborough Road C-D Roads).  The report documents the Air Quality modeling process used on the three Regionally Significant and Not Exempt Projects which resulted in demonstrated conformity with the 1997 NAAQS for Ozone.

Any comments or concerns that people have can be sent to Helen Wiles, Public Outreach Manager for the MPO. Ms. Wiles can be reached by phone at 302-387-6026 or email at helen.wiles@doverkentmpo.org.

The public participation process for the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) will also meet the public participation requirements for DTC’s Program of Projects (POP). The TIP also considers effects upon low income and minority residents.

The Dover/Kent County Metropolitan Planning Organization is a federally funded not-for-profit that works with local, state and federal governments along with local transportation organizations to ensure that transportation planning and projects are done in compliance with Federal mandates to include the Federal Clean Air Act and the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST).

The TIP and the Conformity Determination may be viewed or obtained from the Dover/Kent County MPO website. For more information on the Dover/Kent County MPO, please visit www.doverkentmpo.org or call Helen Wiles at 302-387-6026.