Grant Management Branch:                            Sustainable Transportation Planning Grants

The Grant Management Branch administers the Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grants within the Headquarters Division of Transportation Planning. The Sustainable Transportation Planning Grants are comprised of the following four grant categories - Sustainable Communities (Competitive & Formula), Strategic Partnerships and Strategic Partnerships - Transit - which award a total of approximately $34.5 million (State and federal funding) annually to local and regional planning agencies, cities, counties, transit agencies, and Native American Tribal Governments.

Caltrans Releases the FY 2026-27 Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Application Guide and Call for Applications

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is pleased to release the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-27 Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Application Guide and Call for Applications. A total of $34.5 million is available for transportation planning projects statewide. The information provided below will assist with the successful completion of grant applications, due November 21, 2025, by 5 PM. Caltrans will be conducting virtual grant application workshops in September-October 2025. Flyers and dates for the HQ Statewide Grant Application Workshops and the HQ Tribal Workshop are listed below. Contact the appropriate Caltrans district staff (see "District Contacts" in the Contacts box) if there are questions about developing a competitive grant application.

• FY 2026-27 Grant Application Guide (PDF)
• Application Checklist (PDF)
• Application Cover Sheet (.DOCX)
• Application Signature Page (PDF)
• Sustainable Communities Application Narrative (PDF)
• Strategic Partnerships Application Narrative (PDF)
• Scope of Work Checklist and Template (.DOCX)
• Cost & Schedule Checklist and Template (.XLSX)
• Third Party In-Kind Valuation Plan Checklist and Template (.XLSX)
• Local Match Calculator (.XLSX)
• Grant Application Workshop Schedule (PDF) 
• HQ Grant Application Workshop #1 - September 24th, 9:30-10:30am (PDF)
• HQ Tribal Grant Application Workshop - October 1st, 9:30-10:30am (PDF)
• HQ Grant Application Workshop #2 - October 8th, 9:30-10:30am (PDF)
• HQ Grant Application Workshop #3 (Tentative) - October 15th, 9:30-10:30am (PDF)

Accessibility Assistance: Caltrans makes every attempt to ensure our documents are accessible. Due to variances between assistive technologies, there may be portions of this document which are not accessible. Where documents cannot be made accessible, we are committed to providing alternative access to the content. Should you need additional assistance, please contact us at (916) 654-2852 or Regional Planning at regional.planning.grants@dot.ca.gov or visit https://dot.ca.gov/request-ada-compliant-documents. 

The Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Program includes:

• Sustainable Communities Grants (Approximately $30 million - $17.5 million/competitive & $12.5 million/formula) to encourage local and regional planning that supports state goals, implements Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCS) (where applicable), and to ultimately achieve the State’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target of 40 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and 2050, respectively.

• Strategic Partnerships Grants ($4.5 million) to identify and address statewide, interregional, or regional transportation deficiencies on the State highway system in partnership with Caltrans. A sub-category funds transit-focused planning projects that address multimodal transportation deficiencies.

FY 2026-27 Grants Schedule

The FY 2026-27 Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant schedule is outlined below.  Applicants are encouraged to visit the California Grants Portal and subscribe to receive notifications about State funding opportunities.

• September 8, 2025 – Release FY 2026-27 Grant Application Guide/Call-for-applications
• September–October 2025 – District and HQ grant application workshops (actual dates TBA)
• November 21, 2025 – Grant application submittal deadline
• November 2025–April 2026 – Application evaluation and management approval of grant award recommendations
• Spring/Summer 2026 – Grant award announcements
• Fall 2026 – Grant recipients begin project activities
• June 2029 – Grant expiration date