2020 - 2024 Transportation Improvement Program
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Role and Responsibilities
The United States Department of Transportation requires every metropolitan area with a population over 50,000 to have a designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to qualify for receipt of federal highway and transit funds. The Governor of New York State designated the Genesee Transportation Council (GTC) as the MPO responsible for transportation planning in the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region, which includes Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates counties.
Because of the size of the nine-county region and per federal requirements and regulations pertaining to MPOs, the primary focus of GTC’s transportation planning efforts is the Rochester Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA). The Rochester MPA includes all of Monroe County plus the adjacent developed areas of Livingston, Ontario, and Wayne counties (See Exhibit 1).
The mission of GTC is to maximize the contribution of the transportation system to the social and economic vitality of the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region.
To maintain the certifiable transportation planning process required by the federal government as a precondition for receipt of federal transportation funding, GTC as the designated MPO for the region must at a minimum produce and manage three major products:
1. Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP)
This product provides a 20-year or more perspective of existing and projected transportation system capabilities, needs, and associated objectives, as well as recommendations to meet these objectives. This assessment is performed in the context of the eight major transportation planning factors contained in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), enacted in 2012, and continued in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation System (FAST) Act. It provides the framework for guiding federally-funded planning and investment decision making in the region. The LRTP must be updated at least every four years.
2. Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP)
This product programs federally-funded transportation planning activities that further develop the policies and actions contained in the LRTP into concept-level projects and programs. The UPWP allocates funding for both specific planning projects and on-going programmatic activities. The UPWP must be updated at least every two years.
3. Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)
This product identifies and schedules the specific transportation improvements in the region that will receive federal funding in the near term (3 to 5 years). Projects included in the TIP typically emerge from infrastructure needs identified by member agencies and recommendations identified in projects and programs in the UPWP. The TIP must be updated at least every four years.
In addition to these requirements, GTC responds to other government mandates and guidelines such as the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Americans with Disabilities Act, and environmental justice considerations.