Digital inventory plans need funding

Jefferson and Lewis counties as well as 13 of their towns and villages are seeking state grant funding to develop and manage a digital inventory of roads and other infrastructure.

"It was a big effort on the part of a lot of players," said John K. Bartow Jr., executive director of the Tug Hill Commission, which recently submitted the grant application on behalf of the municipalities.

The group of municipalities proposes to contract with Transmap Corp., Columbus, Ohio, to digitally map more than 1,300 miles of roads and streets and store the information on new servers maintained by Jefferson and Lewis counties, said Emily R. McKenna of the Tug Hill Commission. The counties and participating towns and villages would have Internet-based, password-protected access to the information, allowing for use both at the office and in the field, she said.

The project, if funded, is expected to take about a year to complete.

The group — with Lewis County as lead applicant — is seeking a $638,059 grant through the state Local Government Efficiency Grant program to cover 90 percent of the $708,954 project. The $70,895 local share would be shared among participants based on road mileage.

Commission officials estimate the project would cost an additional $1 million if undertaken separately by each municipality.

The project would allow local highway officials to review pavement conditions without driving the roads or relying on their memories, making long-term planning and completion of state reports easier and more efficient, Ms. McKenna said.

Transmap also is able to log the positions of roadside objects, such as signs, fire hydrants, sidewalks and water shut-off valves, Mr. Bartow said.

"It will pick up anything communities wish to flag," he said.

"They will have information that hadn't been readily available in the past," commission member Kathleen M. Amyot said.

Lewis County participants are the town and village of Lowville and the towns of Denmark, Croghan and Martinsburg. Jefferson County participants are the town and village of Philadelphia, the towns of Adams, Alexandria, Champion, Clayton and LeRay and the village of West Carthage.

While the village of Lowville has been using a digital inventory program for a few years through previous grant funding, the joint project would provide upgraded equipment and more detailed data, said Mark D. Tabolt, Lowville's superintendent of public works.

Water and sewer lines can be plotted by connecting shut-off valve positions, infrastructure upgrades and their costs can be put into the system and video from a small camera inserted into sewer lines can even be stored, Mr. Tabolt said.

"You can be as brief as you want or as detailed as you want," he said.

The concept for the project began about 18 months ago when Denmark Highway Superintendent Patrick F. Mahar was looking for highway management software, Ms. Amyot said. Officials from Lewis County and five municipalities soon began meeting regularly to research companies that could do the work and develop a project scope, she said.

After learning of the project at the commission's annual local government conference in March, officials from several Jefferson County towns also expressed interest, leading to an expansion of the proposal, Ms. Amyot said.

Tug Hill Commission actually submitted applications under two different categories: efficiency implementation and 21st century demonstration.

If the project were to be funded through the 21st century category, additional state funding could be available to add more towns and villages to the proposed highway management system, Ms. McKenna said.

Along with the sheer number of municipalities involved in the project, Tug Hill Commission officials said, the savings in time and money, and ability to duplicate it in other communities, make a strong case for funding.