7B Motion to Direct Staff to Apply for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Transportation Enhancements Funding

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The applicant must reference the appropriate comprehensive plan, CIP, corridor study document, or other plan or program and provide copies of the applicable pages. Because all communities in the seven-county Twin Cities region are currently in the process of updating their local comprehensive plans, applications in the 2009 Solicitation may be for projects included in the most recent local comprehensive plan that was found to be consistent with Metropolitan Council plans. It also must not conflict with the goals and policies in these adopted regional plans: the 2030 Transportation Policy Plan, the 2030 Regional Framework, and the 2030 Regional Parks Policy Plan. Trail projects that claim to be part of the regional trail network as defined in the 2030 Regional Parks Policy Plan must be identified in a Metropolitan Council-approved trail master plan. 5. Typically a transportation project involves mitigation, work in addition to immediate construction activities, that is negotiated with permitting agencies and local governments as a condition of obtaining permit approval. Activities that are normally part of the mitigation of a transportation project are not eligible. NOT ELIGIBLE - Work that is required as a condition of obtaining a permit or concurrence not eligible for a different transportation project is for enhancement funding. For example, a city may require a highway expansion project to include streetscape enhancements in order to gain municipal consent. In that case, streetscape work performed to satisfy the municipal consent requirement is not eligible for Transportation Enhancement funding. Federal permitting and authorizing agencies may include the U.S. Forest Service, U. S. Corps of Engineers, and others. State permitting agencies may include the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and the Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office. Regional agencies may include watershed districts and metropolitan planning organizations. Local agencies may include counties and cities. 6.The applicant must assure it will operate and maintain the property and facility of the project for the useful life of the improvement, and not change the use of any right-of-way acquired without prior approval from the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. The FHWA requires that states agree to operate and maintain facilities constructed with federal transportation funds for the useful life of the improvement, and not change the use of any right-of-way acquired without prior approval from the FHWA. TAB has determined that this requirement will be applied to the project applicant. FHWA considers most physical constructions and total reconstructions to have a useful design life of 10 years or more, depending on the nature of the project. Bridge constructions and total reconstructions are considered to have useful lives of 50 years. The useful life of the project will be defined in the inter-agency maintenance agreement that must be prepared and signed prior to the project letting. 7.Proposed designs for bikeways and for combined bike/pedestrian facilities must meet MN/DOT State Aid standards. Exceptions to the State Aid standards may be granted during , not final design if warranted based on social, economic or environmental alternatives through this solicitation process. Failure to meet the standards or justify exemptions will result in the loss of federal funds. 8.Projects must be coordinated with all affected communities and other levels and units of government. Coordination is defined as written communication from the applicant to all affected communities informing them of the project. The applicant must provide a copy of the written communication as proof of coordination.