CALIFORNIA TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ADOPTS 148 BIKING AND WALKING PROJECTS IN NEW ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM

Today's Date: August 21, 2014

District: Oakland, District 4

Contact: Walter Wallace

Phone: (510) 286-6115

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE          

CALIFORNIA TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION ADOPTS 148 BIKING AND WALKING PROJECTS IN NEW ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM

Commission also allocates $706 million to repair highways and bridges, improve road safety and reduce congestion

Oakland – The California Transportation Commission (CTC) today adopted 148 biking and walking projects, collectively valued at more than $430 million, in the state’s 2014 Active Transportation Program (ATP), making it the nation’s largest. The CTC will allocate nearly $221 million to the projects at its future meetings.

“We started the Active Transportation Program to establish California as a national leader in developing bike and pedestrian facilities,” said California State Transportation Agency Secretary Brian Kelly. “This program adopted today is the nation’s largest state commitment to bicycling, walking and other forms of active transportation. This program will increase transportation options for all Californians while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving public health and safety.”

“Today’s transportation system is more than just highways,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “Our Active Transportation Program supports a healthy, active lifestyle that also helps achieve California’s safety, mobility and greenhouse gas reduction goals.”

Last year, Governor Brown signed legislation (Senate Bill 99, Chapter 359 and Assembly Bill 101, Chapter 354) creating the ATP. The new program replaced a patchwork of small grant programs with a comprehensive program. Here are some of the significant projects adopted under the new active transportation program:

East Bay Greenway—Alameda CTC
Complete Streets Implementation for San Pablo Ave and Buchanan St—Albany
International Blvd Ped Lighting and Sidewalk Repair—Oakland
LAMMPS/Laurel, Mills, Maxwell Park and Seminary Active Transportation Connection	--Oakland

San Francisco Safer Streets—SFMTA

HWY 101 Ped/Bike Overcrossing—East Palo Alto

Click here to view a list of all 148 adopted ATP projects. Detailed information about the ATP can be found on Caltrans’ website. The adopted projects comprise two components: the Statewide Program ($183.8 million for 126 projects) and the Small Urban/Rural Program ($37.3 million for 22 projects). Nearly 87 percent ($191.5 million) of the funds for these components are directed at 130 projects that benefit disadvantaged communities.

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“Making it easier and more convenient to walk and bike is a direct investment in our health,” said Mary D. Nichols, Chairman of the California Air Resources Board. “This funding will help cities and counties throughout California take steps to fight air pollution and reduce greenhouse gases.”

Caltrans received approximately 770 applications from cities and counties across California, totaling nearly $1 billion in project requests, an excess in demand of three-to-one. California’s nine largest Metropolitan Planning Organizations (Bay Area, Fresno, Sacramento, San Diego, Southern California, San Jose, Stanislaus, Tulare, and Kern) are still eligible to recommend projects to the CTC on an additional $147 million in active transportation funds designated specifically to their regions based on population. The CTC will adopt projects submitted by MPOs in November.

Continuing the drive to rebuild California’s transportation infrastructure, the Commission also allocated nearly $706 million in funding to 125 transportation projects that will improve and maintain the state’s vital transportation system. More than $552 million of the funding will pay for “fix it first” projects that will repair bumpy pavement, preserve roads in good condition to prevent them from deteriorating, upgrade aging bridges and make roads safer for all.

“To get the most bang for the buck for taxpayers, Caltrans targets dollars where they are most effective - pavement preservation,” said Dougherty. “Every $1 spent on preventive pavement maintenance saves Californians $8 that would have been spent on expensive pavement repairs.”

The allocations also include nearly $21 million from Proposition 1B, a transportation bond approved by voters in 2006. To date, more than $17 billion in Proposition 1B funds have been put to work statewide for transportation purposes.

Here are some of the significant projects that will improve and/or preserve California’s valuable investments in its transportation system that received allocations:

Rehabilitate 6 miles of roadway in St. Helena, Napa County $19,017,000

Rehabilitate 50 miles of roadway along Route 80/580 Junction in Alameda County $13,091,000

Please see the attached file for more information about all projects that received allocations at today’s Commission meeting.

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