Projects being proposed for state and federal funding must be identified in a Regional Transportation Plan, which the Agency updates on a 4-year cycle for Monterey County. The regional plan is a long-range planning document with a 20-year horizon that includes three main components: 1) A Policy Element communicating goals and measurable objectives for improving the transportation system, 2) a Financial Element that includes a forecast of revenues over the life of the plan, and 3) an Action Element that includes a list of projects to be funded within the capacity of the funding forecast, which meet the goals and objectives identified in the document.

The Regional Transportation Plan includes a listing of regionally significant projects on the regional road, highway, rail and transit networks planned over the time horizon of the plan, which add capacity and need to be included in the AMBAG Regional Travel Demand Model. The plan must also identify all other planned local street, bike/pedestrian and transit projects that may use state or federal funding.

The list of projects identified in the plan must be consistent with the needs, goals and priorities identified in the policy element and the total cost of those projects must fall within the funding capacity of the long range revenue forecast. The draft list of projects is comprised of the project list from the 2014 Regional Transportation Plan, and will be sent out separately for each jurisdiction to review.

During the preparation of the 2014 plan, agency staff coordinated with the jurisdictions to conduct a comprehensive update to the list of projects. At this time, staff is seeking to update the committee on progress made with the current Regional Transportation Plan update and receive feedback on the draft list of projects. Staff requests that member jurisdictions review the list of their local projects and provide feedback on any cost or scope changes, or if projects need to be added or deleted by September 22, 2016.