By B’ Spokes
Recreational Trails Program Typical projects, awarded FY2013
| Howard County Conservancy Accessible Trail Improvements | 24,750 |
| Brunswick Trailside Amenities | 10,100 |
| Boardwalks for Upper Rock Creek Trail | 32,800 |
| DNR Algonquin Cross Country trail | 25,000 |
| DNR Potomac Garrett State Forest Trail Guides | 26,000 |
| TOTAL ONGOING AWARDS | 4,410,000 |
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BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN RELATED PROJECTS in the Consolidted Transportation Program FY 2014 – 2019
I’ve talked about the Federal Recreational Trails Program before and I don’t get why Maryland caps the grant amount to $30k (with some small exceptions.) Per Recreational Trails Program: Preliminary Report on State Trail Projects on average 44% of this fund is spent on “Trail Construction or Development.” While Maryland does not provide enough information to say what we do spend on actual trail construction I am willing to bet it is no where close to 44%.
So I decided to see how Maryland’s average cost per RTP project compared to other states (data follows.) Only 9 other states had a smaller average cost per project than Maryland. Maryland’s average cost was $22k, the national average was $41k. It is worth noting that DC’s average was $232k per project and California was %122k per project. Big difference!
My main point here is I would love to see a greater diversity of projects funded through this program. And on that note I noticed the $30k cap has changed!
Funds requested per project cannot exceed $40,000 for trail construction and $30,000 for non-construction.
Please note, for the FY15 solicitation, we will consider lifting the $40K cap for
construction projects that score high with the criteria.
So things are starting to change! And remember this is a 20% local match so here’s hoping to see a lot more bicycle related projects! Speaking of changes for the good, I noticed Transportation Enhancements (TE) are back! That’s right the CTP mentions $25,355,100 worth of TE projects!!! I did not see any mention of the old draconic 50% local match requirement, nor any mention of a match requirement. Did Jim Smith decide to start spending that $40 million backlog of federal money rather then just let the feds keep that money? I would love to know the details but from what I can see from publicly available documents, things are finally starting to look up. .
| State | 2004-2009 Projects | Total Projects | Total RTP Funding | Total Other Funding | Avg RTP cost / Project | % Match |
| HI | 94 | 574 | 4,196,717.00 | 1,165,438.00 | $7,311.35 | 27.77% |
| VT | 285 | 565 | 6,897,933.00 | 21,912,930.00 | $12,208.73 | 317.67% |
| NH | 266 | 536 | 7,660,456.00 | 11,378,738.00 | $14,291.90 | 148.54% |
| RI | 80 | 151 | 2,516,091.00 | 3,573,782.00 | $16,662.85 | 142.04% |
| NJ | 264 | 559 | 9,733,417.00 | 18,501,477.00 | $17,412.19 | 190.08% |
| MT | 270 | 556 | 10,042,717.00 | 3,511,815.00 | $18,062.44 | 34.97% |
| CT | 58 | 222 | 4,497,878.00 | 1,624,456.00 | $20,260.71 | 36.12% |
| MA | 124 | 241 | 5,064,010.00 | 5,337,388.00 | $21,012.49 | 105.40% |
| ME | 209 | 394 | 8,362,521.00 | 2,267,518.00 | $21,224.67 | 27.12% |
| MD | 289 | 525 | 11,458,593.00 | 5,955,675.00 | $21,825.89 | 51.98% |
| ID | 105 | 352 | 8,296,709.00 | 13,803,952.00 | $23,570.20 | 166.38% |
| AK | 110 | 271 | $7,124,052.00 | $3,393,126.00 | $26,288.01 | 47.63% |
| CO | 206 | 348 | 9,556,288.00 | 19,992,409.00 | $27,460.60 | 209.21% |
| WI | 95 | 331 | 9,780,274.00 | 9,996,409.00 | $29,547.66 | 102.21% |
| KY | 149 | 318 | 9,526,742.00 | 6,256,029.00 | $29,958.31 | 65.67% |
| DE | 57 | 90 | 2,786,123.00 | 2,477,865.00 | $30,956.92 | 88.94% |
| WY | 148 | 306 | 10,113,148.00 | 9,130,383.00 | $33,049.50 | 90.28% |
| SD | 123 | 272 | 9,837,153.00 | 7,258,566.00 | $36,166.00 | 73.79% |
| AR | 69 | 236 | 8,903,736.00 | 3,429,572.00 | $37,727.69 | 38.52% |
| NC | 114 | 344 | 12,991,310.00 | 23,855,714.00 | $37,765.44 | 183.63% |
| OR | 91 | 259 | 10,002,728.00 | 13,949,762.00 | $38,620.57 | 139.46% |
| KS | 119 | 269 | 11,059,806.00 | 5,939,856.00 | $41,114.52 | 53.71% |
| NV | 98 | 211 | 8,702,978.00 | 6,005,152.00 | $41,246.34 | 69.00% |
| ND | 72 | 183 | 7,718,207.00 | 1,654,880.00 | $42,175.99 | 21.44% |
| MN | 104 | 246 | 10,475,270.00 | 26,743,647.00 | $42,582.40 | 255.30% |
| WV | 125 | 223 | 9,922,934.00 | 2,852,043.00 | $44,497.46 | 28.74% |
| TX | 283 | 12,945,553.00 | 7,703,811.00 | $45,744.00 | 59.51% | |
| LA | 122 | 244 | 11,578,346.00 | 10,331,643.00 | $47,452.24 | 89.23% |
| SC | 63 | 172 | 8,212,145.00 | 3,656,271.00 | $47,745.03 | 44.52% |
| UT | 135 | 269 | 13,121,377.00 | 8,976,012.00 | $48,778.35 | 68.41% |
| VA | 95 | 256 | 13,214,126.00 | 6,290,588.00 | $51,617.68 | 47.61% |
| PA | 118 | 318 | 18,025,084.00 | 11,795,588.00 | $56,682.65 | 65.44% |
| NM | 22 | 90 | 5,152,631.00 | 4,086,744.00 | $57,251.46 | 79.31% |
| MO | 109 | 221 | 12,792,537.00 | 17,534,532.00 | $57,884.78 | 137.07% |
| OK | 68 | 189 | 11,140,186.00 | 5,765,342.00 | $58,942.78 | 51.75% |
| WA | 181 | 389 | 23,004,527.00 | 19,573,587.00 | $59,137.60 | 85.09% |
| AL | 92 | 234 | 14,091,334.00 | 3,990,865.00 | $60,219.38 | 28.32% |
| NY | 96 | 250 | 15,367,839.00 | 7,690,068.00 | $61,471.36 | 50.04% |
| TN | 81 | 195 | 12,806,328.00 | 4,270,393.00 | $65,673.48 | 33.35% |
| MS | 74 | 153 | 10,332,620.00 | 2,247,666.00 | $67,533.46 | 21.75% |
| IL | 53 | 162 | 11,079,669.00 | 4,944,158.00 | $68,393.02 | 44.62% |
| AZ | 80 | 116 | 8,024,338.00 | 6,167,110.00 | $69,175.33 | 76.86% |
| OH | 65 | 188 | 13,107,632.00 | 16,186,468.00 | $69,721.45 | 123.49% |
| GA | 79 | 164 | 14,189,089.00 | 16,017,452.00 | $86,518.84 | 112.89% |
| NE | 47 | 105 | 9,182,670.00 | 5,501,160.00 | $87,454.00 | 59.91% |
| MI | 86 | 189 | 19,127,301.00 | 10,169,466.00 | $101,202.65 | 53.17% |
| FL | 60 | 145 | 16,356,265.00 | 11,304,925.00 | $112,801.83 | 69.12% |
| CA | 73 | 235 | 28,777,426.00 | 11,862,897.00 | $122,457.13 | 41.22% |
| IN | 47 | 85 | 11,453,423.00 | 3,897,981.00 | $134,746.15 | 34.03% |
| IA | 34 | 76 | 10,322,049.00 | 3,231,620.00 | $135,816.43 | 31.31% |
| DC | 10 | 22 | 5,098,212.00 | 1,482,467.00 | $231,736.91 | 29.08% |
| Total / Average | 5614 | 13332 | 545,730,498 | 436,647,396 | $40,933.88 | 80.01% |
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