The California Transportation Commission has approved staff recommendations for funding bike and pedestrian projects in two portions of the state's Active Transportation Program: the statewide competitive pot (half of the total funding, with about $85 million available), and a portion set aside for small urban and rural areas (ten percent of program funding, with about $17 million available). The remaining forty percent of ATP funding, around $67 million, will be allotted to projects within the largest Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) next year.
This year's ATP faced a greatly reduced funding picture. Every person that called in or spoke in person at yesterday's meeting urged state leaders to increase the program's funding.
All of the selected projects scored very highly - the cutoff scores were 96 out of 100 for the statewide portion, and 95 out of 100 for the small urban and rural portion. Although eighteen projects came in at the cutoff or higher, there wasn't money for all of them. Staff anticipated that it would be difficult to choose between high-scoring projects, so earlier this year they created a new tie-breaking process. First, they prioritized project readiness, then projects that scored highest on their potential for increasing walking and biking.
In the statewide portion, three projects were awarded a score of 96 by the assessment teams. There was enough funding available to fully fund the first of those three, but only partial funding was available for the second one. There is not enough money to fund the third project that scored 96, the city of Stockton’s Bicycle-Pedestrian Connectivity Project.
In the small urban and rural program, four projects tied at 95 points. There was enough funding for three of them, leaving partial funding for the city of Visalia’s Goshen Visalia Corridor Connection project.
While there were several applications for quick-build projects, none of them scored high enough and therefore none were recommended for funding.
This ATP Cycle 7 has been one of the most competitive since the program was created in 2013, in part because its budget is so constrained but also because demand is high, and the projects that are being submitted are bigger and more ambitious than in earlier years. They also tend to score higher as applicants have learned to improve their applications by conducting better public outreach and/or envisioning more transformative or complete projects.
The CTC received requests for $2.5 billion in funding for 277 projects. Staff presenting the item at the CTC meeting, and others speaking on it, repeatedly pointed out that had the ATP been fully funded, nineteen more projects could have received funding. Staff highlighted several that received high scores, including projects in Oakland, Chula Vista, Shasta Lake, and Stockton, and showed a map of what could have been.
"It says something about a program, when none of our projects have been funded, and I still come to tell you that this program is awesome, even for a loser like me," said Steven Hernandez, Mayor of Coachella Valley. The ATP "is outstanding and transformative," and it needs more money, he said.
"These projects change lives, and they inspire," said Javier Lopez, the Mayor of Ceres and chair of Stanislaus Council of Governments.
"These are truly transformative projects," said Mike Woodman of the Nevada County Transportation Commission. "Prior to the existence of the ATP, these were not possible."
"Don't forget that there are many projects that didn't even apply because there was so little money," said Nephele Barrett, calling in from Mendocino County. "We're not really seeing the full need," she added.
"The fact that the Inland Empire received no funding only underscores the need to drive home that this program needs lots more money," said Marven Norman, a bike advocate and resident in the region. "It's not just because it's nice to fund all the projects, but it's important to realize we have a massive deficit of infrastructure for biking and walking, as opposed to cars. For the price of one freeway project we could fund the whole ATP," he said.
Climate Plan and its coalition partners are "very concerned," according to Jeanie Ward Waller. "We see demand for this program growing. Also note that the $2.5 billion in requests in this cycle was nearly as much as the total requests for both the Congested Corridors and Trade Corridors Enhancement programs (both funded by the gas tax)." She pointed out that a lot of time and effort go into the applications and reviewing and scoring them, even those that are not chosen. But Commission staff also need to make sure the projects are delivered, she reminded the Commission.
Perhaps the most disheartening piece is that none of this is new: ATP proponents have been saying for years that the program is too small and needs more funding.
There isn't enough money in the Active Transportation Program. When will this change?
Note that all projects must supplement their ATP funding with local and other sources of funding.
The nine projects chosen for funding in the Statewide Component are:
- John Street/Williams Road Safe Routes to Schools Project and Programming in the city of Salinas, Monterey County ($7.9 million) Score: 100
- Madera Citywide Safe Routes to School project in Madera city and county ($6.2 million) Score: 99.
- Highland Community Connectivity Project in the city of Visalia, Tulare County ($5.4 million) Score: 98
- Wolf Creek Community and Connectivity Project in the city of Grass Valley, Nevada County ($12.9 million) Score: 98
- Safe Paths Pomona: At-Grade Pedestrian and Bike Safety in the city of Pomona, Los Angeles County (20.1 million) Score: 97.5
- Westchester/Veterans Station Multimodal Connection Project in the city of Inglewood, Los Angeles County ($7.6 million) Score: 97
- Beyond Bike Lanes - Elevating Santa Fe Street in the city of Visalia, Tulare County 1($11.4 million) Score: 96.5
- West Rancho Dominguez Walks: Providing Safer Access to Schools/Parks, Los Angeles County ($7.9 million) Score: 96
- Church Street Mobility Enhancement Project in Stanislaus County. This project requested $7.7 million but there is only $4.5 million available. Score: 96
The four projects to receive funding in the Small Urban and Rural Component are:
- Big Pine Paiute Tribal Active Transportation Plan in Owens Valley, Inyo County ($251,000) Score: 5
- Covelo/Round Valley Safe Routes to School in Mendocino ($6.1 million) Score: 95
- Connecting Tecopa: Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Corridor in Inyo County ($7.8 million) Score: 95
- Goshen Visalia Corridor Connection Project in the city of Visalia, Tulare County. This project requested $34 million but there is only $2.6 million available after the other projects were awarded. Score: 95.
Does it seem like Visalia did particularly well? It did. Planners there have taken full advantage of the technical assistance offered by ATP staff to all applicants.
