Bi-State Regional Commission

Bi-State Regional Commission is hosting webinars of the Association of Pedestrians and Bicyle Professionals (APBP) for October and November 2018. Both conferences are 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the Bi-State Regional Commission office, 1504 Third Avenue, Rock Island, IL. 

October 17, 2018 — 10 Years of Safe Routes to School - Where do we go from here?
November 14, 2018 — Conflict Resolution: Good Sidepath Design
 

July 25, 2018 – J. Scott Speegle, Passenger Rail & Transit Communications Manager, Illinois Department of Transportation (DOT), reported that the DOT is fully committed to seeing the passenger rail project to completion. The DOT is working with the BNSF (Class I) railroad and Iowa Interstate (IAIS) (Class III) railroad along with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to complete key components of the corridor. To this point, there is $177 million in FRA funds and $45 million in state funds awarded to the project.

August 22, 2018 – Bryan Schmid, Senior Planner at Bi-State Regional Commission, described numerous levels of bicycle and pedestrian facilities found in the Bi-State Region. Separated trails, bike lanes, shared lanes, and signed routes provide a continuum of comfort levels to cyclists using the roadway or, in the case of separated trails, designated nonmotorized facilities. Higher levels of separation from vehicular traffic increase the comfort levels and safety of nonmotorized travelers.

May 24, 2018 –  Beginning on April 27, 2018, ALL entities renewing or updating their registration at www.SAM.gov will be required to submit an original, signed notarized letter confirming the authorized Entity Administrator associated with the DUNS number before the registration is activated.

As a reminder, the Federal Government will not make an award to an entity until the entity has complied with the requirements to provide a valid DUNS number and maintain an active SAM registration with current information. If the applicant is noncompliant with this requirement at the time of award offer, then Federal Government will determine the applicant is not qualified to receive an award.

April 16, 2018 – Bi-State Regional Commission is holding a free Complete Streets Worshop on Tuesday, May 22, 2018 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Rock Island Public Library, 401 19th Street, Rock Island.

This short, half-day event is going to be packed with great speakers and ideas to take back to your community. Highlights include:

• Keynote speaker Michael Divita from South Bend, Indiana, a town of 101,168 whose streetscape improvements were recently named one of the Best Complete Streets Initiatives of 2017 by Smart Growth America.  Learn about project implementation, key takeaways, and demonstration projects that helped South Bend gain the support of local residents and business owners.
• Presentations from Scott County Public Health, Healthy Hometown, and the Illinois DOT about opportunities to get free, expert assessments of your pedestrian amenities, followed by a short demonstration “walking audit” to give you a feel for the process.
• A guided brainstorming session with Heather Schady from the Active Transportation Alliance following a presentation on low-cost pop-up projects (involving such simple materials as chalk and duct tape) that have been used in other communities to explore the benefits of Complete Streets initiatives.

Parking is at the library.  Wear walking shoes for the walking audit demonstration over lunch.
Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2018-bi-state-complete-streets-workshop-tickets-45040020915.

April 26, 2018 – The U.S. Department of Transportation has launched its new Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD)
Transportation Discretionary Grants program.

BUILD Transportation grants replace the pre-existing Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program.  The new grant program is for investments in surface transportation infrastructure and will be awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant local or regional impact. 

ELIGIBLE PROJECTS - BUILD funding can support roads, bridges, transit, passenger or freight rail, ports or intermodal transportation.  Rural broadband is eligible as part of a transportation project.

April 25, 2018 – Nicole Carkner, Executive Director of Quad City Health Initiative(QCHI), reported that QCHI has provided the planning and communications backbone to enable cross sector community health improvement in the Quad Cities for nearly 20 years.  With the financial support of its founding sponsors Genesis Health System and UnityPoint Health-Trinity, and other partners, QCHI has built an infrastructure that currently harnesses the collective work of more than 120 volunteers from 60 organizations and reaches thousands of community members.

April 25, 2018 – Commissioners approved a resolution to adopt the Bi-State Region Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) 2018 Progress Report, which was then submitted to the Economic Development Administration.  The draft of the document was distributed at the March 28, 2018 meeting to Commissioners for review and provided to the public on the Bi-State website.  Minor comments were received through the 30-day review regarding economic development related projects as noted in the projects list.

March 28, 2018 – Lindsay Whitson, Senior Planner at Bi-State Regional Commission, presented a draft of the 2018 Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Progress Report, highlighting a few economic trends seen in the Quad Cities.  She also provided a list of the strengths, challenges, opportunities, and threats and emphasized the importance of each community’s economic-related projects.

The CEDS is the result of a locally-based, regionally-driven planning process designed to enhance the economic growth of the Bi-State Region.  Components of the CEDS Progress Report include a detailed overview of the people, economy, and sense of place of the Bi-State Region; a description of the strengths, challenges, opportunities, and threats; and a list of performance measures to access the progress toward the region’s goals.

March 28, 2018 – Human trafficking, or modern-day slavery, is the exploitation of human beings through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of commercial sex or forced labor.  Human trafficking generates $9.5 billion per year as reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and there are approximately 40 million slaves around the world, according to Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT).

Sergeant Neil Suckow with the Iowa Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Enforcement (MVE) reported that the MVE has teamed up with Truckers Against Trafficking to bring awareness to this problem.  Together, they seek to educate, equip, empower, and mobilize members of the trucking industry to spot and report suspected cases of human trafficking.