Agenda - Council - 03/25/2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

The Mississippi River Regional Trail project is eligible for Transportation Enhancement Program funds under qualifying activity #1 - Provision of facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists. The Mississippi River Regional Trail will provide much needed facilities for pedestrians and bicycles along U.S. Highway 10/169, a major highway corridor that currently has no biking and walking facilities. The proposed trail project is an opportunity to create a safe and pleasant transportation facility for biking and walking through in the vicinity of a high traffic highway corridor for both recreational and commuting purposes. 2. The funded activities must be accessible to the general public or targeted to a broad segment of the general public, and must be ADA compliant. RESPONSE: All of the City of Ramsey's trail projects are ADA compliant. This trail project will be designed to be ADA compliant and will be open to the general public, including the broad demographic of Anoka County residents as well as visitors to this regional and national trail. 3. Projects must relate to surface transportation. Project Linkage (from federal guidance) To comply with Federal guidelines for eligibility there are two basic considerations: • Is the proposed action one of the listed activities in the TE definition in SAFETEA-LU? • How does the proposed action relate to surface transportation? The applicant must provide a clear statement describing this linkage. The defmition of TE activities includes the phrase, "transportation enhancement activities means, with respect to any project or the area to be served by the project, any of the following activities, if such activity relates to surface transportation:..." The nature of a proposed TE project's relationship to surface transportation should be discussed in the project proposal that you submit. For example, where runoff from an existing highway contaminates an adjacent water resource and a transportation enhancement activity is proposed to mitigate the pollution caused by the run off a clear highway or transportation relationship exists. Another example might involve the acquisition of a scenic easement. The acquisition would be in connection with the preservation of a scenic vista related to travel along a specific route. Where a TE activity is for acquisition for scenic preservation purposes, and proposes to contribute to the visual experience of the traveler, but is a substantial distance away with respect to a highway or transportation project, the TE activity must be determined to make a substantial contribution to the scenic viewshed. Given the nature of the list of eligible activities, it is not necessary that each TE activity be associated with a specific surface transportation project to be eligible for funding. Examples which illustrate this include: the rehabilitation of a historic train structure, the provision of a bike or pedestrian path, or the establishment of a transportation museum. Proximity to a highway or transportation facility alone is not sufficient to establish a relationship to surface transportation. Additional discussion, beyond proximity, is needed in the TE project proposal to establish the relationship to transportation. For example, an historic barn that happened to be adjacent to a particular highway facility would not automatically be considered eligible for TE funds simply because of its location; visibility to the traveler in a way that substantially enhances the traveling experience could qualify. Specific documentation of the enhanced experience is required; 11