District: District 11 — San Diego and Imperial Counties
Contact: Stephen Welborn
Phone: (619) 688-6670
SACRAMENTO — With most of the funding coming from Governor Gavin Newsom’s clean transportation infrastructure package and the California Climate Commitment, Caltrans today awarded $51.4 million in planning grants for 89 sustainable, climate-resilient transportation projects throughout California to help communities better withstand the impacts of extreme weather events fueled by climate change.
The selected projects will help reduce planet-warming pollution, improve resiliency of the state highway system, enhance access to safe walkways and bike paths, and expand natural disaster preparedness. Nearly $29 million comes from one-time state and federal sources made possible by Governor Newsom’s historic $15 billion clean transportation package in the 2022-23 state budget to further the state’s ambitious climate goals. Another $12.4 million comes from Senate Bill (SB) 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. The awards will fund project planning and conceptual design efforts, helping move the projects closer to construction.
“California is at the forefront of planning transportation projects built to help underserved communities withstand the effects of climate change,” said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares. “By working closely with local partners, we can maintain a sustainable, adaptable and resilient transportation system that will serve all Californians far into the future.”
Local San Diego County projects include:
- $600,000 for the development of a multimodal mobility plan for the Mid-City San Diego Communities using a complete streets approach to identify improvements addressing safety for bicyclists and pedestrians, improve first-mile/last-mile connectivity to existing and planned transit, and increase multimodal connections to neighboring communities.
- $400,000 for the City of Vista's Sustainable Mobility Plan to expedite the adoption of complete streets, prioritizing projects that improve safety, accessibility, and convenience for pedestrians, cyclists, and public transit users.
- $367,591 for NCTD to develop a Gender Action Plan (GAP) to that would mitigate the mobility burden on women and gender nonconforming (WGNC) groups through an outreach strategy, policy, operations, capital improvements, and an implementation plan.
- $344,521 for NCTD to study the implementation of a plan to enhance the travel time efficiency of its BREEZE bus service using advanced Transit Signal Priority (TSP) technology.
In total, Caltrans will fund:
- $28.8 million in Climate Adaptation Planning Grants – all from Governor Newsom’s clean transportation infrastructure package – to 30 local, regional and transit agencies to identify transportation-related climate vulnerabilities through the development of climate adaptation plans, as well as project-level adaptation planning to address climate impacts to transportation infrastructure. Ninety-seven percent of these projects will benefit disadvantaged communities.
- $19.2 million in Sustainable Communities Competitive and Technical Grants to 50 local, regional and transit agencies for transportation and land use planning, as well as planning for electric vehicle charging infrastructure. This includes more than $6 million to fund planning for 16 projects that improve safety and access for people who walk and bike. Ninety-two percent of these projects will benefit disadvantaged communities.
- $3.4 million in federally funded Strategic Partnerships Grants to nine projects that will plan for managed lanes, training and certification for local elected officials, comprehensive multimodal corridors, transit network and comprehensive operational analyses, improve interregional ADA paratransit coordination, develop airport passenger transportation recommendations, develop a zero-emissions bus fleet, coordinate multimodal transportation and land use compatibility.
View the complete list of this year’s planning grant project awardees.
Caltrans awards transportation planning grants each year through a competitive process to encourage local and regional projects. Applications are evaluated on how projects advance state transportation and climate goals by identifying and addressing statewide, interregional, or regional transportation deficiencies on the highway system. The grant program began in the 2015-16 fiscal year. Since then, Caltrans has awarded 685 planning grants totaling $266 million, and more than 60 percent of those projects have been completed.
SB 1 provides $5 billion in transportation funding annually that is shared between state and local agencies. Road projects progress through construction phases more quickly based on the availability of SB 1 funds, including projects that are partially funded by SB 1.
Find more projects that are building California’s climate-friendly future at build.ca.gov and RebuildingCA.ca.gov.