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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$359 MILLION IN NEW FUNDING WILL UPGRADE STATE’S TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND PAVE WAY FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH

Today's Date:  October 9, 2013

District:            04-Oakland                         

Contact:            Bob Haus 

Phone:             (510) 286-5576                 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                   

$359 MILLION IN NEW FUNDING WILL UPGRADE STATE’S TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEM AND PAVE WAY FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH

Bay Area gets $140 million from high-speed rail bond

SACRAMENTO – The California Transportation Commission (CTC) has allocated

$359 million to 36 projects, an investment that will create jobs bolstering the state’s economy, reduce traffic congestion, repair highways and bridges, and improve rail service.        

“These projects allow millions of dollars to flow into construction and produce enormous economic benefits for California,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty.

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) received $140 million from Proposition 1A, the high-speed rail bond, to purchase 46 new rail cars that will provide new service from the BART/Caltrain Millbrae Station directly to San Francisco International Airport.

The Millbrae facility is one of several key regional connectivity points California’s High-Speed Rail Authority has identified that will link BART and high-speed rail, creating a “blended” rail system. To handle additional transferring of passengers at Millbrae from the blended system longer trains will be needed. The $140 million will help pay to lengthen all three rail storage tracks at the south end of the station, enabling the facility to handle BART’s maximum train length of 10 cars and make it possible to run longer trains from the East Bay to the airport.

The allocations also include $44 million from Proposition 1B, a 2006 voter-approved transportation bond. To date, nearly $17 billion in Proposition 1B funds have been put to work statewide for transportation purposes. The remaining $175 million in allocations came from various state and federal transportation accounts. 

Other highlights of the CTC funding allocations include:

$16,853,000 to replace the Mococo off ramp from southbound Interstate 680, and to retrofit the Mococo Overcrossing Bridge in Marina Vista, Contra Costa County.

$16,584,000 to replace the 82-year old San Francisquito Creek Bridge on U.S. Route 101 at the San Mateo-Santa Clara County line with a new, seismically safe structure that will also provide 100-year flood protection, in partnership with the San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority.

For information about all projects that received allocations, please contact Bob Haus.

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