‘Alternative’ the 2009 word in Tompkins County transportation
by Stacy Shackford for the Ithaca Journal, December 29, 2009
Car may be king in Tompkins County, but maybe not for much longer.
Transportation planners spent much of 2009 trying to convince commuters to abandon their cars in favor of buses, bicycles and their own two feet, and 2010 promises more of the same.
“Rideshare” was a popular buzzword, with new car and vanpool services launched, and three new vehicles added to the Ithaca Car Share fleet.
Tompkins County adopted its own Green Fleet policy, and will be purchasing three hybrid vehicles in the new year. It also participated in a biofuels consortium, allowing municipalities and businesses to purchase alternative fuels.
For those who can’t bear to give up their ride, Andree Petroleum made B5 diodiesel available at the pump and Ithaca’s Pritchard Automotive started selling the area’s first electric vehicle, the Wheego Whip.
Ithaca-Tompkins Regional Airport attracted national attention when it became the first airport to start developing a green master plan, a 20-year development framework with environmental sustainability at its core.
Air passenger traffic reached great heights in 2009. The airport’s rise in boardings — up 20 percent over 2008 — was often the one bright spot in otherwise bleak county economic updates, and end-of-year passenger totals are expected to pass 100,000 for the first time in a decade.
Not only did the airport manage to maintain routes threatened by a withdrawal by operator Continental, it also gained a new US Airways service to Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C., which is hoped to launch within the next few months.
It was also an exciting year for Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit, which opened a new café and passenger waiting area at the busy Green Street transportation hub and ordered nearly a dozen new buses using $3.37 million in federal stimulus funding.
The start of 2010 will be just as bustling, with extensive route changes and a new fare system set to come into effect Jan. 17.
On the roads, the county highway department was kept busy with the federally funded Warren Road reconstruction.
The Town of Caroline saw some big projects too, with major road rehabilitation of White Church Road and Old 76 Road and bridge replacement at West Creek Road.
County highway manager William Sczesny said 2010 will probably see more of the same, although he has yet to finalize a schedule of work. Warren Road will remain at the top of the list, possibly followed by Hanshaw Road and the Forest Home bridge replacement. Other bridge projects that might be tackled include Game Farm Road and Newfield Depot Road.
