The NOACA Governing Board today approved the addition of four design-build bridge replacement projects to the State Fiscal Year 2002-2005 Transportation Improvement Program. The projects are:

• Cuyahoga County: Spafford Road Bridge over the East Branch of the Rocky River in Olmsted Township and Brook Park - $1.65 million
   
• Lake County: three projects totaling $1.7 million

§ Cunningham Road over Arcola Creek in Madison Township
§ Painesville-Ravenna Road over Kellogg Creek in Concord Twp.
§ Pinehill Road over Ellison Creek in Concord Township

These four bridge replacement projects are the result of House Bill 73, which authorizes county engineers to combine the design and construction elements of bridge projects in order to expedite the projects' implementation. The projects' construction cost will be funded 100 percent by County Engineers Association of Ohio bridge replacement funding. House Bill 73 also requires that these projects be completed during the year 2002, and a report detailing the design-build process and contract be submitted to the General Assembly. Additional details about the projects are available on the NOACA web site, www.noaca.org; NOACA encourages the public to review the projects and leave comments.

In other business, NOACA staff presented findings from a study of "Time-Series" data for the past 40 years.

Study findings include:

• The region's population has remained reasonably constant over the past 40 years but the number of households has steadily increased.
• The region's total wage income decreased significantly after 1978 and during the 1980s but began to steadily climb again during the 1990s; total wage income for the year 2000 closely mirrors total wage income for 1978.
• Freeway lane miles increased significantly between 1960 and 1970; by 1973, two-thirds of the region's freeway system had been built. Today, 85 percent of the region's freeway network is over 20 years old.
• Vehicle accidents and fatalities are declining; over the past decade, there has been a five percent decrease in the number of traffic accidents over the previous decade. The number of fatal accidents in the year 2000 (148 fatalities) is the lowest number recorded since 1992.
• Transit agencies achieved peak ridership in 1980 – approximately 120,000,000 riders used transit that year. Since then transit ridership has steadily declined (due to significant increases in transit fare).