| |
Annual Listing of Obligated Projects
Fiscal Year 2007
Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization
The Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization (TPO), as required by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible Transportation Equity Act- a Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), develops and regularly updates the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The TIP documents how federal funds will be expended on highway and public transportation improvements within the urban area. The projects included in this plan are within the Knoxville Regional TPO planning boundary which defined by the 2000 Census as the urbanized areas of Knox, Blount, Loudon and Sevier Counties. All the non-exempt projects in this TIP come from the 2030 Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) chooses and submits highway or state route improvements projects that are funded using various funding sources including National Highway System, High Priority Projects, Interstate Maintenance, etc. The TPO, in coordination with TDOT, has the authority to choose projects for inclusion into this plan using a determined amount of TPO Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds. Additionally, in April 2004 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) designated the counties of Anderson, Blount, Jefferson, Knox, Loudon, Sevier and a portion of Cocke County within the Great Smoky Mountains national park in non-attainment of the 8-hour standard for ground level ozone. As a result of the designation the Knoxville TPO has the authority to program Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program (CMAQ) funds in these counties. These funds are used in designated counties to fund transportation projects which reduce congestion and promote air quality improvements.
The SAFETEA-LU transportation act requires an annual listing of projects be published or otherwise made available by the cooperative effort of the State, transit operator and metropolitan planning organizations for public review. The report shall include a listing of projects of which Federal funds have been obligated in the preceding year, including investments in pedestrian walkways and bicycle transportation facilities.
The 2007 fiscal year annual listing of obligated projects is derived from projects in the 2006-2008 Transportation Improvement Program. This plan was developed and adopted by the Executive Board in the summer of 2005. The plan was developed cooperatively with the TIP Technical Committee and Executive Board as well as consultation with Tennessee Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.
Summary of Terms
Programmed funds: Funds that have been identified in the TIP for a particular project and phase.
Obligated funds: Funds that have been committed to the project phase by the Federal government.
Programming funds for a project is similar to writing a check from a banking account for the amount of the project phase listed in the TIP. The funds for a project phase are considered obligated when the check is cashed. Obligated funds for a project requires several steps at the state and federal government but the funds are officially declared obligated by the federal government. Therefore, due to delays in project development, project phases can have a check written for them but funds may never be “cashed” to the project. This project would remain programmed in the TIP but would not be obligated. The projects in this report refer to projects that have specific funds obligated for a particular phase of the project.
Summary of Programmed and Obligated Projects
Approximately $182 million dollars were programmed in fiscal year 2007. Of that amount the total federal dollars programmed is approximately $145 million. Of the $145 million federal funds programmed $94 million dollars were obligated. In other words approximately 65 percent of the funds programmed in fiscal year 2007 have been committed to the specific project phase by the Federal government. Table 1 shows the percentages of projects obligated by type of project.
Table 1 – Percentage of Funds Obligated by Type of Project
| Types of projects |
Percent |
| Highway/Roadway projects |
91.6 |
| Transit Projects/Activities |
6.7 |
| Pedestrian/Bicycle Improvements/Programs* |
1.7 |
| Total |
100 |
| *This amount does not account for the fact that many of the highway/roadway projects programmed in the TIP include provisions/improvements for sidewalks and bicycle facilities |
Table 2 displays all the fiscal year 2007 obligated projects from the Knoxville Regional TIP. Each project is listed by the TPO project number and contains information regarding its termini, funding type, phase, date of obligation, amount of federal funds obligated, TIP amount and the difference between federal funds obligated and the TIP amount. If there are funds listed in the “Amount of Federal Funds Obligated” column then those funds are dedicated to that project for the specific phase listed. If the dollar amount is enclosed by parentheses then the funds are credited toward the project phase.
|
