ISTEA and its successor, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century (TEA-21), has enhanced the credibility of the LRTP. Today, LRTPs in urbanized areas must be fiscally constrained due to requirements included in the Federal legislation. Even though the Federal government does not mandate it, the West Virginia Department of Transportation included this requirement for this Plan to enhance the overall integrity of the document. This requires that a determination be made as to the likely availability of funds for the planning area.

Funding projections for the Fairmont/Marion County area were developed based on historical spending levels on completed projects in the County during the period from 1988 to 1998. A total of nearly $98 million was spent in Marion County during this period. When adjusted using a 2% annual inflationary factor, the present value total is nearly $108 million. It should be noted that maintenance projects such as resurfacing, slide corrections, and installation or replacement of guardrails were removed to gauge the amount that was actually spent on reconstruction or new construction. The result was an average annualized expenditure of $5.125 million when adjusted for inflation.

To project future funding, the $5.125 million was adjusted at the 6% increase per year, the average amount that inflationary-adjusted State revenues have increased over the last nine years. The results project a total of about $204 million for reconstruction or construction improvements in Marion County over the planning period, if funding levels remain consistent.

During the short-term (first five years), it is estimated that approximately $31 million would be available. The mid-range (next seven years) would provide nearly $62 million. The long-range projection (the last eight years) would be approximately $111 million.

This estimate reflects the normal flow of transportation funds into Marion County. It does not take into consideration amounts that have been set aside for Marion County as "High Priority" or "Demonstration" projects in Federal legislation. U. S. Representative Alan Mollohan has been instrumental in earmarking Federal funds for a connection from downtown Fairmont to I-79.

In ISTEA, $9 million was dedicated to the I-79 Connector. With the recent passage of TEA-21, an additional $27 million was written into the legislation for the I-79 Connector. Some of these funds have already been obligated to engineering and environmental studies as well as the reconstruction of the Jefferson Street Bridge. The remaining amount is $29 million. These funds can only be used for an I-79/Downtown Connector and are not available for use on other projects.

It should be noted that as plans are updated, fiscal constraint provisions may require that certain projects to be dropped out of the LRTP as others are added. In some instances, there may be a need to designate projects as "Unfunded Needs" within a LRTP. This designation is used to identify deficiencies for which no forecasted funding will be available within the Plan’s time frame.

The projects recommended in this Plan will require a significant investment of public funds. Table 7 lists the estimated costs of the new construction and upgrade projects recommended in this Plan. The amount budgeted for upgrade to existing routes falls $37,206,000 short of the estimated costs. At this time these must be considered as unfunded needs within this Plan.

Ultimately, it must be recognized that Marion County will need to compete with other parts of the State for limited transportation dollars. To the extent that government and civic groups within the County are able to organize persistent efforts to secure funding for needed improvements, the likelihood of success will increase. The greatest value of an adopted transportation plan such as this is that it allows the County to speak with a unified and consistent voice in pressing for consideration of its wishes.

Other Implementation Considerations

The investment made by the public in building a transportation infrastructure is very substantial. Accordingly, it is only prudent to protect that investment by giving appropriate attention to the factors that may degrade that investment. This is done by regulating and coordinating access to the public roadway, and by making wise decisions regarding the type and placement of land uses that the transportation system must serve.

Throughout the United States, this purpose is accomplished by the use of planning, zoning and subdivision regulations to coordinate land uses and protect, among other things, the integrity of the public roadway system. Properly written and administered subdivision regulations allow local jurisdictions to ensure that adequate right-of-way is preserved as development progresses. Planning and zoning ordinances allow a development approval process that may include careful scrutiny of the placement, frequency, and operation of driveways.

Many localities also make use of access management regulations to aid in accomplishing this purpose. Poorly coordinated access points can diminish traffic-carrying capacity of the public roadway system faster than any other single factor. Unfortunately, in much of Marion County, these tools are unavailable to local officials. Careful consideration should be given to implementing these tools in the County in the future.

Next Section: Conclusion