Staff reports
Eureka >> The California Transportation Commission (CTC) on Friday adopted 148 biking and walking projects, including one on Phillips Avenue in Clearlake, 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. The commission has also allocated more than $700 million toward 125 projects, including one on Highway 29 near Lakeport.
“We started the Active Transportation Program to establish California as a national leader in developing bike and pedestrian facilities,” California State Transportation Agency Secretary Brian Kelly said. “This program adopted (Friday) 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,” Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty said. “Our Active Transportation Program supports a healthy, active lifestyle that also helps achieve California”s safety, mobility and greenhouse gas reduction goals.”
Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation creating the ATP. The new program replaced a patchwork of small grant programs with a comprehensive program. Here are one of the significant projects adopted under the new active transportation program is slated for Clearlake, where bicycle lands and roadway rehad on Phillips Avenue received $564,000.
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.
Two of the significant projects that will improve and/or preserve California”s investments in its transportation system that received allocations are $4.9 million to rehabilitate 19.8-lane miles of roadway on Highway 29 near Lakeport and about $22 million to rehabilitate 83 lane miles of roadway at three locations near Ukiah and Laytonville.
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), according to Phil Frisbie, Jr. Nearly 87 percent ($191.5 million) of the funds for these components are directed at 130 projects that benefit disadvantaged communities.
“Making it easier and more convenient to walk and bike is a direct investment in our health,” Mary D. Nichols, chairman of the California Air Resources Board, said. “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, Frisbie stated. California”s nine largest Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO) — 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.
The commission also allocated nearly $706 million in funding to 125 transportation projects that will improve and maintain the state”s vital transportation system, Frisbie stated. 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,” Dougherty said. “Every $1 spent on preventive pavement maintenance saves Californians $8 that would have been spent on expensive pavement repairs.”
