NYS DOT Suspends Development of TIP Due to Cuts
The Tri-State Transportation Campaign received a March 23 notice from the NY State Dept. of Transportation Region 8 (mid-Hudson) office announcing the suspension of development of the region's Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The TIP is a list of the capital projects planned for a metropolitan area for the coming five years. In downstate New York, three Transportation Coordinating Committees (Long Island, New York City and mid-Hudson South) produce five-year capital plans that add up to the TIP issued by the NY Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC). Reportedly, NYMTC's entire TIP development process has been suspended. The reason is that the 25% capital budget cut that Governor Pataki has proposed for the NY State Dept. of Transportation has sent state highway officials scrambling to figure out how to continue their construction projects. So far, DOT personnel will only say that the capital program will be "stretched out." The Tri-State Campaign is pressing Albany and downstate regional offices for details, while developing its own proposals for scrapping or downsizing highway expansion projects that were ill-considered to begin with.
