Governing Board Action: November 12, 2004

At today’s NOACA Governing Board meeting, members approved an update to Northeast Ohio’s highway functional classification system. “Functional classification is an important tool for determining which roads and streets in the region are eligible for federal funding,” noted Executive Director Howard R. Maier. “This is one of the most critical activities that NOACA does.”

Staff updates the highway functional classification system every 10 years to coincide with new Census data that redefines the region’s urban areas as well as the important thoroughfares serving these urban areas. Additional details about the functional classification update and links to maps from all five counties are available on NOACA’s web site.

Board members adopted the Fiscal Year (FY) 2004 Overall Work Program closeout report, which describes the products and activities completed by NOACA staff during FY 2004 (July 2003 – June 2004). Staff produced a compact disk (CD) containing these products - including reports, technical memoranda, newsletters, maps and other publications - that was distributed at the meeting. A link to the CD will also be placed on the NOACA web site in the near future. Staff also created a newsletter summarizing the closeout report, which may be accessed on the NOACA web site, www.noaca.org, under the Publications menu.

In March, the NOACA Board authorized the purchase of computer hardware, software and consultant assistance for initiating a Regional Pavement Management (RPM) Program. The purpose of the RPM Program is to collect pavement condition data for federal-aid eligible routes in the five-county area. Today, the Board authorized NOACA Executive Director Howard R. Maier to negotiate and execute a contract with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB) for performing consultant services. NOACA’s Transportation Advisory Committee recommended VHB after a comprehensive Request for Proposals process.