HomeMy WebLinkAboutRFQ_Town of Ithaca_Forest Home Traffic Calming Plan Update_ADDENDA 12.12.20251
FOREST HOME TRAFFIC CALMING PLAN UPDATE
ADDENDA (December 12, 2025) TO REQUEST FOR
QUALIFICATIONS
Q: Are teams that provide only transportation planning services, and do not provide any
engineering services, eligible to propose on this project, or is the Town looking for teams that
provide full engineering services as well?
A: The Town is seeking a fresh perspective and evaluation of how space is allocated and
prioritized in the Forest Home neighborhood’s transportation network; the Town adopted a
Complete Streets policy in 2015 and a Vision Zero policy in 2025. The Town is
seeking active transportation planning expertise, and more specifically, concept-level plans that
emphasize Vulnerable Road Users alongside robust, meaningful public involvement.
Q: Can you clarify what is meant by “meaningful public involvement” in the Anticipated
Scope of Work on page 4?
A: USDOT defines “meaningful public involvement” as a process that proactively seeks full
representation from the community, considers public comments and feedback, and
incorporates that feedback into a project, program, or plan (reference: October 2022 USDOT
handbook Promising Practices for Meaningful Public Involvement in Transportation Decision-
Making). The Town expects effective design and implementation of public participation to be a
core competency of the selected consultant (or consultant team). This Plan Update
is anticipated to include, but is not limited to, multiple site visits to the Forest Home community
and contact with a variety of residents and road users. Recommendations in the study should be
based on several iterations of community feedback.
Q: Can you clarify what is meant by “develop practicable strategies and recommendations to
alleviate traffic congestion” on page 3, paragraph 2?
A: The Town of Ithaca expects selected Consultant(s) to develop concept-level plans for future
infrastructure improvement projects that prioritize Vulnerable Road Users (pedestrians and
bicyclists).
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Q: Are recent street engineering surveys available for any streets in the study area that could
be used as part of this work?
A: Yes, the Town has a variety of Survey Drawings, Easement Drawings, Design Drawings,
and selected As-Built Drawings for the Forest Home neighborhood.
Q: Is existing GIS inventory data available for the location and details of walking and biking
street and intersection facilities in the Town?
A: The Town does have basic sidewalk location information, but no formal Town GIS inventory
of sidewalks exists; developing this asset inventory is an anticipated deliverable of this project.
Q: Does the Town have existing traffic data available for roadway segments in the Town
and/or any Turning Movement Counts for intersections (and if so, for what years?)?
A: The Town has the data from the 2007 Plan. The Town also has trail counter data for the
Forest Home Walkway from 2023, 2024, and 2025. The Town is also actively contemplating a
subscription to floating data and welcomes consultant suggestions for acquiring data. Historic
manual surveys performed by NYSDOT are available; NYSDOT also maintains a Traffic Data
Viewer.
Q: Does the Town or other stakeholders have existing and shareable utility GIS or survey data
beyond the 2025 Sewer data on the Town’s webpage?
A: Yes, the Town can provide water, sewer, and storm utility GIS data.
Q: Could you please confirm the total budget available for this project? Additionally, could
you clarify how the project is funded (e.g., Town capital funds, grants, or other sources)?
A: The Town will formalize both a project and budget upon selection of a consultant (or
consultant team). The project is partially funded through the Town budget and partially funded
by a grant.
Q: The 2007 Forest Home Traffic Calming Plan referenced on page 3 of the
RFQ advised against one-way routing. Why does the RFQ mention a possible “experiment or
pilot program for one-way traffic” in the Anticipated Scope of Work on page 4?
A: In the RFQ, the reference to an experiment for one-way traffic is provided as one example of
various alternatives that could be analyzed.
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Q: The RFQ references the potential inclusion of a demonstration or pilot program as part of
the alternatives analysis. Are you requesting that the consultant team design and implement
a temporary demonstration pilot during the project period, or only provide recommendations
for what such a pilot would entail?
A: The Town is only seeking recommendations for temporary demonstration pilots.
Q: If implementation of a temporary demonstration pilot is desired, what is
the anticipated duration of the pilot, and would the Town expect the consultant team to
conduct on-site observations, traffic counts, data measurement, monitoring, and analysis as
part of evaluating the pilot’s performance?
A: The Town will retain services under a separate agreement for any needed on-site
observations, traffic counts, data measurement, monitoring, and / or analysis for
implementation of any pilot project.
Q: Could you please clarify whether:
• The intent is to continue working with the existing steering committee,
• To expand the current committee to include additional stakeholders, or
• To form a new steering committee altogether?
A: The Town’s intent is to continue with the existing steering committee as the primary group
reviewing and recommending action upon all activities and work products prepared as part of
this Plan Update. The additional stakeholders listed will be invited to comment
and participate at specific milestones during development of the Plan Update.
Q: Does the Town have the internal capacity to host a project website as part of the public
and stakeholder outreach effort, or should we plan to provide this function externally?
A: Yes, the Town has internal capacity to host a project webpage.
Q: The Town of Ithaca seeks qualifications for an update of the 2007 Forest Home Traffic
Calming Plan, which the RFQ mentions as a background document. Why is it important to
update the original plan?
A: Although the 2007 Forest Home Traffic Calming Plan has been partially implemented,
residents’ original concerns about the detrimental impacts of traffic on quality of life and on the
historic and natural assets remain.
In 2025, representatives of Forest Home requested help from the Town of Ithaca and other
stakeholders to advance several priorities emerging from a 2024 community-wide planning
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study, including: traffic calming (and reduced volume if possible); improved safety and
connectivity of pedestrian walkways and bicycle routes; and streetscape beautification.
The Plan Update ideally: 1) takes into account changes since 2007 within the study area and the
broader context, and 2) utilizes up-to-date traffic modeling and traffic calming
techniques to help the Town secure future funding for implementation.
Q: The RFQ describes Forest Home as historic. Is the Town of Ithaca seeking
particular historic preservation expertise?
A: Demonstrated knowledge of how to implement projects in communities with narrow,
historic streets and other highly constrained spaces is a desirable qualification.
The Forest Home Improvement Association (FHIA) would like to highlight their specific goals for
requesting this project, which are summarized in the preamble to their May 2025 listing of
communitywide infrastructure goals:
The historic hamlet of Forest Home is a residential neighborhood surrounded by lands
belonging to Cornell University. The hamlet’s strong historical identity and sense of
community are reflected in its website: www.FHIA.org
Forest Home’s proximity to a major teaching and research university results in high
volumes of vehicular traffic that are incompatible, however, with its historic nature as
well as the safety of residents, pedestrians and cyclists.
We seek to improve the quality of life in the community by lowering vehicle speeds;
decreasing traffic volumes if possible; improving safety for all users; and improving the
streetscape aesthetic, making it consistent with the historic nature of the community
and the park-like environment of our neighbors Cornell University and its adjacent
Cornell Botanic Gardens.
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