NCRTD News:The North Central Regional Transit District (NCRTD) has been awarded $1.02 million dollars from the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) for its ADA Transition Plan under the Federal Highway Administration’s Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) to modify RTD bus stops and facilities to bring them into ADA compliance.
For completion of the plan, it was determined that the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2018 planning and design services costs would come in at $40,000. Final design of the twenty highest priority bus stops and/or facilities are estimated to cost $80,000. FFY 2019 and 2020 Construction (including construction management and capital purchases) is anticipated to cost $900,000.
The NCRTD applied for funding under the Transportation Alternatives Program through the Northern Pueblos Regional Planning Organization and the New Mexico Department of Transportation for federal fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020.
According to NCRTD Executive Director, Anthony Mortillaro, “This latest TAP funding award ensures that the District can achieve the fourth, and final, phase of the ADA Transition Plan and allows us to reach our ultimate goal to incorporate the ADA-compliance assessment of approximately 100-150 new bus stops as well as the Taos Dispatch Office and the Jim West Regional Transit Center in Española.”
In October of 2013, the NCRTD Board authorized staff to apply for FFY 2014 and FFY 2015 TAP funding to create an ADA Transition Plan and subsequently construct the necessary ADA modifications to bus stops based on the prioritization within the Plan. The NCRTD was awarded $87,500 ($74,760 Federal/$12,740 Local) in FFY 2014 for the creation of an ADA Transition Plan; FFY 2015 Phase II Construction award in the amount of $165,000 ($140,976 Federal/$24,024 Local); FFY 2016 Phase III Construction in the amount of $360,000 ($307,584 Federal/$52,416 Local). This latest grant brings total funding to date to $1.63 million which includes a 14.56% local match.
In Phase I, an ADA Transition Plan was created and identified ADA noncompliant bus stops and shelters and provided ADA compliant bus stop location templates that were used to guide modifications to bring the bus stops into ADA compliance. In Phase II and Phase III of the project, the ADA Transition Plan findings will be implemented to bring existing ADA noncompliant bus stops and shelters into compliance.
The first phase identified a series of nine bus stops on the RTD 100 Riverside route, along Riverside Drive in Española. Work then began on construction of bus stop infrastructure such as concrete pad work, sidewalk transition work and bus stop area backfill; installation of bus stop facilities; traffic and safety controls; and associated site improvements.
Albuquerque-based Wilson & Company, is the on-call engineering firm as well as the contractor that completed the original system-wide bus stop assessment and subsequent creation of the ADA Transition Plan.
