MTA Unveils Capital Program Dashboard
For those such as myself who like to keep tabs on anything & everything involving the MTA, this news is exciting. Earlier today, the MTA unveiled a Capital Program Dashboard which enables anyone interested to track the progress of any & all capital projects. Here are the complete details courtesy of a press release:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today unveiled a new on-line Dashboard that will enable the public to track the progress of the MTA’s various capital projects. This new web tool will feature a user-friendly interactive system that will provide information on project scopes, budgets, and schedules, all easily accessible on the MTA’s web site (www.mta.info).
The public will be able to search the Dashboard for specific projects and follow their progression from inception to completion. This information will be available for every project in the 2010-2014 Capital Program and selected projects still underway in the 2005-2009 program.
“The Dashboard provides an unprecedented level of detail and information on our capital projects,” said Jay H. Walder, MTA Chairman and CEO. “From station improvements to the purchase of equipment, signal improvements to updates on the Second Avenue Subway, the Dashboard will allow anyone to monitor the MTA’s new approach to capital projects designed to keep the 2010-2014 Capital Program on schedule and on budget — all with a few clicks of the mouse.”
As the agency continues to transform how it does business, the Chairman added that the Dashboard will promote further transparency and reinforce the agency’s commitment to provide information to customers that is more concise and easier to understand.
The Capital Program Dashboard will enable anyone to search for a project in the 2010-2014 Capital Program by keyword, project category, by MTA agency, project phase (planning, design, construction, or complete), or by location where an interactive map, powered by Google, will list projects within a geographical area.
Additional project information will be accessible by clicking on the link that will provide a more detailed project description. The Dashboard can be used to check if the scope of a project has changed, when the project started, and whether or not it is still on schedule and on budget. Project milestones and budget data that break down project funding by year will be readily available as well.
The Dashboard will also encapsulate the entire Capital Program providing a thorough “Plan Review” that includes figures on the number of projects in the Program, how many are on budget, and the number of projects that are on schedule, ahead of schedule, or behind schedule.
In addition, the Dashboard will also include projects in the 2005-2009 Capital Program that are under construction but not completed and with budgets over $20 million. Information will also be available for projects funded by the federal stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) as well as projects contained within the Second Avenue Subway, East Side Access, and 7 line Extension projects.
“I believe the MTA has taken a significant step in providing MTA managers, public officials and the public itself a more user friendly tool to track the progress, in dollars and time, of capital projects,” said MTA Inspector General Barry Kluger. “I am particularly gratified that MTA has accepted the recommendation made in our Dashboard Report to make it a more transparent and useful reporting tool to the public.”
“The MTA’s new Dashboard is an important step towards enabling the agency to manage its capital program more effectively and permitting the public to monitor how its money is being converted into transit improvements,” said Charles Brecher, Research Director at the Citizens Budget Commission. “The Citizens Budget Commission has been pleased to work with MTA staff in developing this significant tool for greater transparency.”
“The Capital Program Dashboard is a major step forward in making information about the MTA’s capital projects readily available to the public,” said Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee Executive Director William Henderson. “We believe that it is a significant advance toward increasing the transparency of the MTA.”
The $26.3 billion 2010-2014 Capital Program reflects a nearly $2 billion reduction as the result of a comprehensive review and a new MTA focus on cost effectiveness and efficiency. The program aims to benefit customers by maintaining the high levels of service reliability and safety provided today; improve service on the existing system with new technology; and complete critical expansion projects to ease crowding and support growth. The full plan and an executive summary are also available online at www.mta.info.
I have not had the chance to take a look at it but will do so later tonight or tomorrow.
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