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Calhoun County Transit Study Wants Your Input

There is an important initiative happening in our community - the CALHOUN COUNTY TRANSIT STUDY. The Study is being led by the County government with the support of many community partners. The Plan will create a future for public transportation in Calhoun County.

Right now, the County is asking people who live or work in the County to provide feedback about their transportation needs and priorities by completing a survey. The survey takes 5-10 minutes and can be found at calhouncountytransit.com or the link that says Survey above. Your participation is vital in helping the study team understand your transportation needs. The survey will be open until late May. If you are interested in staying involved, you can also sign-up on the project website to receive periodic project updates.

BCATS Announces Next Steps for

FY 2020-2023

Transportation Improvement Program

BCATS is pleased to provide its SECOND newsletter describing the process underway for development of the next 4-year transportation project programming document, the Transportation Improvement Program or TIP, for the BCATS area.

Click HERE or on the image below to view a pdf of the April newsletter.

THE DETAILED DRAFT FY20-23 TIP PROJECT LIST CAN BE VIEWED HERE.

FY 2017-2020 TIP

(Transportation Improvement Program)

Amendment #B15/J6

BCATS' Technical & Policy Committees reviewed & approved Am#B15 at their March 2019 meetings, with official Policy Committee approval 3/27/19. The amendment was transmitted to MDOT for review then on to the Federal Highway Administration for final approval, granted 4/18/19. All the TIP projects as amended may now proceed towards implementation. The Am#B15 changes were outlined in a public notice, as displayed below, published in the Battle Creek Enquirer on Sunday, 3/10/19, page B4. The text of the notice may be more easily read here.

Note the first item listed in the notice, "Updating the narrative Section 3 Performance-Based Planning of the FY17-20 TIP document, ...". Click here to review the draft revision of the 14-page TIP chapter.

The previous Amendment #B14/J5 was approved by BCATS Policy Committee on 1/23/19 and by the Federal Highway Administration 2/4/19.

REQUEST FOR COMMENTS ON TRANSPORTATION CONFORMITY ANALYSIS

THE BATTLE CREEK AREA TRANSPORTATION STUDY (BCATS) HEREBY GIVES NOTICE of opportunity for public involvement relative to the 1997 Ozone NAAQS Transportation Conformity Analysis for the BCATS 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan and the 2017-2020 Transportation Improvement Program. Per a court decision termed “South Coast II,” the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) must now require transportation conformity determinations for the 1997 ozone ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for those areas that were maintenance areas for ozone when the 1997 ozone NAAQS was revoked and then were attainment for the 2008 and 2015 NAAQS. Kalamazoo County, Calhoun County, and Van Buren County fall into this designation and are termed the Kalamazoo-Battle Creek MI Conformity Area for the purposes of this requirement. For the BCATS area, this means that the BCATS 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan and the 2017-2020 Transportation Improvement Program were analyzed in accordance with 40 CFR 51 for air quality conformity. The results of the conformity analysis conducted by the Michigan Dept. of Transportation demonstrates that the forecasted volatile organic compound (VOC) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions for all analysis years are below the State Implementation Plan (SIP) budgets for these emissions. This reflects the determination for the entire Kalamazoo-Battle Creek MI Conformity Area.

The Kalamazoo Area Transportation Study (KATS) is separately conducting public involvement outreach relative to this Air Quality Conformity Analysis. BCATS is posting the Air Quality Conformity Analysis document (which is for the entire Kalamazoo-Battle Creek MI Conformity area) on the homepage of its website at https://www.bcatsmpo.org where it can be reviewed. A copy of the document is also available for review at the BCATS staff office. Discussion & action regarding the Air Quality Conformity Analysis will be conducted at the regular meetings of BCATS’ Technical Committee (Wednesday 2/13/19) and Policy Committee (Wednesday 2/27/19), beginning at 1:30 pm in the Council Chambers of Springfield City Hall at 601 Avenue A. Public comment is encouraged before or at those meetings; BCATS' regular meetings are open to the public. Comments will be accepted up to Policy Committee action on 2/27/19. Direct questions and/or comments to: BCATS, 601 Avenue A, Springfield, MI 49037; ph 269/963-1158, fax 269/963-4951, e-mail bcats@bcatsmpo.org.

To review the Air Quality Conformity Analysis document - Click Here

Annual Listing of Obligated Projects Published by BCATS

Annual listing of Obligated Projects Report 2018 [Click here to view full size picture]

BCATS is pleased to announce the availability of the annual listing of federally funded transportation projects in the BCATS area that were obligated in fiscal year 2018. View the document by clicking HERE.

FY 2017-2020 TIP

(Transportation Improvement Program)

Amendment #B14/J5

BCATS' FY17-20 TIP was amended in January with changes outlined in a public notice published in the Battle Creek Enquirer on 1/3/19, page A9. The text of that notice can be viewed here. Amendment #B14/J5 was approved by BCATS Policy Committee on 1/23/19 and by the Federal Highway Administration 2/4/19. As no transit projects were amended, no Federal Transit Administration approval was required.

Amendment #B13/J4

BCATS' FY17-20 TIP was amended in November with changes outlined in a public notice published in the Battle Creek Enquirer on Sunday 11/11/18, page B2. The text of that notice can be viewed here. Amendment #B13/J4 was approved by BCATS Policy Committee on 11/28/18 and by the Federal Highway Administration & Federal Transit Administration on 12/18/18.

Amendment #12B

BCATS' FY17-20 TIP was amended in September with changes outlined in a public notice in the Battle Creek Enquirer of 9/7/18. The text of that notice can be viewed here. Amendment #12B was approved by BCATS Policy Committee on 9/26/18 and by the Federal Highway Administration & Federal Transit Administration on 10/11/18.

FY 2019

UNIFIED WORK PROGRAM

The BCATS Unified Work Program (UWP) for fiscal year 2019, October 1, 2018 - September 30, 2019, has been completed & approved by federal funding sources. The document can be seen at this link UWP 2019.

BCATS Announces Updated Performance-Based Planning

Chapter for FY 2017-2020 TIP

In order to address the federal requirements regarding Performance-Based Planning and target setting for states and metropolitan planning agencies, BCATS has updated the chapter in its current TIP that addresses performance-based planning. This is considered an Amendment to the current TIP. The updated chapter can be viewed HERE.

The BCATS Policy Committee approved the updated chapter for the current TIP on April 25, 2018 at its regular meeting. The amended material will now be submitted to the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration for review. Thank you to those who provided comments to BCATS.

Annual Listing of Obligated Projects

Published by BCATS

BCATS is pleased to announce the availability of the annual listing of federally funded projects that were obligated in fiscal year 2017. View the document by clicking HERE or on the image above.

FY 2017-2020 TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (TIP)

Complete Document -- Original Project List

The FY17-20 TIP was approved by BCATS Policy Committee at its June 22, 2016 meeting, and subsequently approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) & the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in late September 2016, as incorporated by reference in Michigan's Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Battle Creek Area Transportation Study is pleased to announce that the update of its Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) to a horizon year of 2040 has been completed. The BCATS' Policy Committee acted on the 2040 MTP at its 11/30/16 meeting. Material for the MTP document is posted by chapter on this website here, under "Activities"--"Transportation Planning". Click here for the list of "Recommended Improvements." The full document can be accessed by clicking the title hyperlink above or the document cover image below.

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Direct questions and/or comments to:

BCATS, 601 Avenue A, Springfield, MI 49037

ph 269-963-1158, fax 269-963-4951

e-mail bcats@bcatsmpo.org.

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This page last updated on 4/18/2019.