Orange County unveils new transportation plan

By Ilyssa Daly
Posted 6/26/19

It is no secret that public transportation or infrastructure may not be readily available, accessible, or up to code for residents throughout Orange County. But, lawmakers are seeking to improve …

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Orange County unveils new transportation plan

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It is no secret that public transportation or infrastructure may not be readily available, accessible, or up to code for residents throughout Orange County. But, lawmakers are seeking to improve this.

Every few years, the Orange County Transportation Council creates a five year plan complete with funding for the entire county. Called the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), every municipality is required to submit this plan in order to receive federal funding for various long-term transportation projects. After the proposal is created, the government allows for a period of 30 days for public comment. Though the Federal FY 2020-2024 Transportation Improvement Program was released in May, the public comment period began on June 24, 2019 and will end on July 23, 2019.

As every idea in this proposal is funded with federal highway or federal transit funds, they can be used to improve highways, bridges, bikeways, public transit, among other transportation projects. The Orange County Transportation Council additionally works with government officials on local and state levels, people involved in public transit, and other relevant members in order to create the five year plan.

The inception of the TIP program dates back to December of 2015, when President Barack Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, the FAST Act is “the first federal law in over a decade to provide long-term funding certainty for surface transportation infrastructure planning and investment.” It authorizes around $305 billion from the fiscal years 2016 through 2020 for “highway, motor vehicle safety, public transportation, motor carrier safety, hazardous materials safety, rail, and research, technology, and statistics programs.”

And, even after a five year TIP plan is cemented, the parameters of the proposal are flexible. Modifications can still be made to TIP in order to “reflect changes in cost, funding sources, scheduling, and priorities.”

The current transportation plan in Orange County, the Federal FY 2017-2021 TIP, was recently amended in order to allocate funds to revitalize certain parts of bus transit in Orange County. According to the update, funds totalling to $750,000 were allotted for the “construction of bus shelters, purchase of signs [and] related equipment for Orange County Transit.”

The upcoming proposal for the 2020-2024 TIP allows for infrastructure improvements for various roads, streets, bridges and highways throughout municipalities in Orange County. The plan also calls for multiple bus programs to be rolled out in the coming years, with the county purchasing different sets of buses that would run throughout the city and town of Newburgh. Called “intra-county” buses, the network of buses will also be in multiple other areas throughout Orange County.

The proposal for these buses will not begin immediately. The plan is to periodically roll them out, starting in 2021. After each year, more buses and stops will be added to the growing network.

For more information regarding the 2020-2024 TIP proposal please visit .orangecountygov.com.