The State Active Transportation Program was created by Senate Bill 99 in 2013. The program's purpose and goals are to increase the proportion of trips accomplished by biking and walking, increase safety for these modes, reduce greenhouse gases, enhance public health, and provide a benefit to disadvantaged communities. The program consolidated various transportation funding sources into a single program totaling approximately $123 million a year from a combination of state and federal monies. Most recently, Senate Bill 1 added $100 million per year to the program, nearly doubling the amount of available funds for active transportation projects. Cycle 4 will program four years of funding (State Fiscal Years 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23).
Monterey County jurisdictions have been successful in obtaining ATP funds for projects, including:
- Castroville bike and pedestrian crossing;
- Moss Landing trail segment of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network;
- Las Lomas bike and pedestrian improvements in North Monterey County;
- North Fremont Street bike and pedestrian improvements in Monterey;
- West Broadway bike and pedestrian improvements in Seaside; and
- Via Salinas Valley bike and pedestrian improvements and educational outreach in Salinas, Gonzales, Greenfield, Soledad and King City.
Guidelines
The Final Draft ATP Cycle 4 Guidelines (web attachment) will be brought to the May 16 California Transportation Commission meeting for adoption and the ATP Cycle 4 Call for Projects will occur the same day. The Cycle 4 Guidelines include some notable changes to previous funding cycles including the use of five (5) different applications which will be submitted digitally, a new scoring matrix, adding Caltrans as an eligible applicant, and updated reporting requirements to be consistent with the upcoming SB 1 Accountability Guidelines.
Eligible projects include infrastructure improvements, non-infrastructure programs and active transportation plans (in disadvantaged communities only). Twenty-five percent (25%) of funding must serve "disadvantaged communities". For a project to qualify as a disadvantaged community under ATP, applicants can use one of the following criteria:
- Median Household Income (less than 80% of the statewide median);
- CalEnviroScreen (25% most disadvantaged);
- National School Lunch Program (>75% students eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals);or
- Regional Definition (TAMC will include a regional definition in its Regional Transportation Plan that will reflect criteria from the Health Disadvantage Index; i.e. poverty, housing burden, access to automobiles, single parent households and linguistic isolation).
Matching funds are not required for ATP Cycle 4, but up to 5 points are awarded for matching/leveraging over 20% of the total project cost for medium and large infrastructure applications.
Consistent with Senate Bill 1 Accountability Guidelines, large ATP projects with total project cost over $25 Million will need a baseline agreement with Caltrans. Reporting for all grant projects will be quarterly in the first year and then every 6 months thereafter.
Applications & Scoring
The five applications available for ATP Cycle 4 funding are based on the grant funds requested or project type:
- Large Infrastructure ($7 Million + total project cost)
- Medium Infrastructure ($1.5-$7 Million total project cost)
- Small Infrastructure (up to $1.5 Million total project cost)
- Non-Infrastructure Projects
- Plans
The Cycle 4 ATP Question Matrix by Application Type (web attachment) is a useful tool that shows the scoring criteria and weighting for each of the five application types. The "Need" and "Safety" criteria account for over half the points available for scoring infrastructure applications. Serving disadvantaged communities and being able to demonstrate that the public had opportunities to provide input on the project are the next most important criteria in terms of scoring. Large infrastructure projects (over $7 Million total project cost) will also require a site review with Caltrans and California Transportation Commission staff.
Cycle 4 applications must be submitted digitally, in an effort to save paper, time and resources.
Project Coordination
TAMC staff has been coordinating with local cities and the County to identify projects that will be competitive for the upcoming ATP funding cycle and developing concept designs for high-priority active transportation projects. Applicants are asked to also coordinate with TAMC staff on Safe Routes to School projects to take advantage of potential Measure X funding.
Caltrans is organizing an ATP Workshop on May 24 to discuss Cycle 4 applications, and how to coordinate with Caltrans on projects that include State rights-of-way.