WESTFIELD – A shift in funding priority for the Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) may drain funding and could delay construction of the Columbia Greenway rail trail.
A pending amendment in the TIP budget would commit a substantial amount of federal funding under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program to the Union Station Redevelopment Project in Springfield.
The use of un-programmed Tip Funding for the Union Station project over the next three years means that approved projects, such as the Columbia Greenway, will have no access to contingency funding, or ability to “pump up” the appropriation of local projects with those uncommitted funds.
The current TIP commitment to the bike trail is $2.2 million, while the current engineering estimate to rehabilitate the former railroad bridge over the Westfield River is $2.8 million. The project can proceed under the $2.2 million or be delayed for three years until un-programmed funding becomes available.
The Friends of the Columbia Greenway are issuing a call to arms of local citizens to ensure that the north phase of the rail trail construction is funded. That phase will transform the former railroad bridge into the northern section of the Columbia Greenway, linking the bike trail to Women’s Temperance Park on the north bank of the Westfield River.
The Friends are asking residents to go to their website and download a letter to Richard A. Davey, Secretary of Transportation, seeking full funding for the bridge conversion project.
The letter states: ”CMAQ funds should be prioritized to cover the full phase estimate, unforeseen factors, and cost increases of this important project, before beginning new regional project “ and expresses concern that that “the Union Station Renovation amount adversely impacts the Columbia Greenway North by removing any allowance for variation.
“The Columbia Greenway project has been queued for many years and current users are limited by the wait for future phases. This project meets several objectives including: providing transportation mode shift; supporting healthy lifestyles; contributing to downtown
revitalization; strengthening regional connections; serving emergency response; and investing in environmental justice areas.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik said that there are two sides of the TIP funding issue, that the delay in construction while frustrating, but may also be beneficial.
“It’s disappointing. We’re not happy about it either,” Knapik said, “but it does give us more time to plan it out, make it a better project.”
“It does push construction of the (northern phase of the) project back by a year, then we’ll do the middle section a year after that, so it could all be done within three years,” Knapik said.
The CMAQ program was initiated under the federal Clean Air Act of 1990 to reduce vehicle emissions through a stronger, more rigorous link between transportation and air quality planning. Congress passed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act-the ISTEA of 1991.
That far-reaching legislation brought transportation into the multi-modal arena and also set the stage for an unprecedented focus on environmental programs. Part of this approach was the newly authorized Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program. The CMAQ program was implemented to support surface transportation projects and other related efforts that contribute air quality improvements and provide congestion relief.
Congress approved $2.2 billion in CMAQ funding in the federal fiscal years 2013 and 2014. While project eligibility remains basically the same, the legislation places considerable emphasis on diesel engine retrofits and other efforts that underscore the priority on reducing fine particle pollution.
