Impact
WARD: Citywide
COMMITTEE: Community Development
$ IMPACT: $100,000
Title
Submission of Application to the Atlanta Regional Commission seeking funding through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for a Smyrna Transit Analysis and Feasibility Study
Body
ISSUE: Approval of Submission of Application to the Atlanta Regional Commission for the purpose of conducting an analysis and feasibility study for transit in the City of Smyrna.
BACKGROUND: The Atlanta Regional Commission has recently issued a call for applications for funding of studies and other non-capital projects. The application deadline is May 17, 2017. A DRAFT project list would be made public in late Summer or early Fall of 2017. Once the project list is established it will be reviewed by the ARC Transportation Coordinating Committee (TCC), the ARC Transportation and Air Quality Control Committee (TAQC), the ARC Board and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) Board. If the project application is approved it will be made a part of the Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) which is scheduled to be adopted in January 2018. At that time the funding would be made available and the City would begin the process of executing contracst and agreements necessary to proceed with the study.
The purpose of the analysis/study is to conduct a comprehensive updated analysis of transit needs for the City of Smyrna and its environs. The analysis will take into consideration the transit services currently being provided and seek to identify where those and other transit services can be established, enhanced or improved to better serve the community and its current and future transit users. The study initiative will actively engage with Cobb County, CobbLINC, GRTA, GDOT, MARTA, ARC, other relevant governmental organizations, entities and agencies, the private transportation providers, and others as required to complete the process.
If the application is successful and funding is awarded, the City will be required to provide a 20% match which, in this case would be $100,000. This would give the City a total of $500,000 ($400,000 FHWA + $100,000 City of Smyrna) to conduct the corridor study. If the funding award is less than $500,000 the match could be reduced accordingly. The $100,000 match is currently in the proposed FY 2018 Community Development Budget.
RECOMMENDATION/REQUESTED ACTION: It is recommended that Mayor and Council approve the submission of an application to the Atlanta Regional Commission under the Studies and Non Capital Funding Category of the FHWA to conduct a transit analysis and feasibility study for the City of Smyrna.