Meeting convened at 8:00 pm by Robert Juravich.

Question: Referring to equity goals, what is the time window for various purposes?

Response: Varies between 1.5 and 3 hours.

Question: Malone-lots of talk about improving Main St., very busy and unsafe for pedestrians and children. How might a bypass work for Malone?

Response: Will need to evaluate bypasses of some of busier downtowns in order to make a highway corridor work. Each case will need to be examined on its own merits individually.

Question: Could we build a bypass now and do the rest later?

Response: Yes. Just need to follow the corridor.

Question: Is Southern Tier Expressway a model for us?

Response: Yes, at least in terms of what it took to get it done (e.g., a champion).

Question: What level of per capita transportation funding range is expected?

Response: A formula approach probably would not get us enough money; need to use earmarking approach, make argument from equity perspective.

Question: How long will it take to create jobs associated with project?

Response: Over the life of the project. But income associated with those jobs would result in benefits greater than cost of project. The report goes into detail on this analysis.

Question: What about traffic jam impacts over 20 years of construction and impact on businesses and travelers?

Response: Valid point.

Question: Could phasing plan start with two-lane bypasses?

Response: Valid point, would have to evaluate each situation individually.

Question: Phased approach could result in parochial infighting about priorities among towns in corridor?

Response: More analysis needed to determine what phasing makes most sense.

Question: Who decides what happens first?

Response: Answer lies in where we get funding/funding sources.

Question: How can Rt. 11 be widened without destroying a lot of homes.

Response: Rt. 11 is successful because it has a lot of population along it. This is an issue that the next part of the study will look at. There are also EIS, NYS permitting and agricultural land preservation rules that come into play.

Question: What about Rt. 3 as an alternate corridor?

Response: Rt. 3 was examined and it is too environmentally sensitive and geometrically difficult.

Question: How likely is this project to happen?

Response: Work closely with NYSDOT and Congressional delegation, but "9-11" changed things greatly, at least for the near term.

Question: Is this to be an interstate someday? And how could it go through villages?

Response: Bypasses are important in order to pursue an interstate-type freeway project in order to achieve full access control.

Question: Need a two-lane highway from Ellenberg to the Interstate to take care of truck traffic on Rt. 11. (?)

Response: Concept worth examining.

Question: Animal migration routes important to consider and accommodate in any new high-speed highway.

Response: There are technologies for dealing with this.

Question: Any thought about moving trucks on the 401 in Canada off of Rt. 11 (NAFTA)?

Response: Probably lower benefits for North Country than any of the other alternatives?

Question: Is there one organization that will be monitoring local planning so that incompatible local plans aren’t developed?

Response: We’re trying to think about that. We do currently have a Study Advisory Committee from throughout the region; maybe the logical group to manage additional work.

Question: Does focus on highway investment put us at risk for economic impacts of fuel price spikes, etc? We should be focusing on most efficient mode of transportation and seek to reduce truck traffic. The study also does not address equity issues effectively by proposing auto-dependent improvements in an impoverished region. Need to pursue efficiency improvements and spend our money more wisely.

Response: This plan would simply bring our region up to the same level of investment as the rest of NYS. Our lack of density also does not make mass transit modes very viable. But we do want to get more specifics of your ideas to help us understand if we missed something.

Question: (Manufacturer of health products) Transportation issues are a real problem; have considered leaving NC due to them. Getting products in and out is very time-consuming. Must have this project to stay in NC.

Question: Need to have bypass and work to preserve downtown Malone. This project is needed now.

Question: Just get this project done; we need it now. This is the missing link in NYS’s interstate network. It will create jobs.

Question: What about a regional commission covering the northeast (a la Delta Regional Commission)?

Response: We are looking at this in 2 ways: join ARC or create a new commission.