Item Coversheet

Agenda Item 3.5.2

TAMC Logo     
TRANSPORTATION AGENCY FOR MONTEREY COUNTY
Memorandum
To: 

Board of Directors

From:

Alissa Guther, Assistant Transportation Planner

Meeting Date:

January 25, 2023

Subject:

Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program Grant Application

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program Grant Application

  1. AUTHORIZE staff to apply for a Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) grant for the Pajaro/Watsonville Multimodal Transit Station; and
  2. AUTHORIZE the Executive Director to accept grant funds, if awarded.
SUMMARY:
The anticipated funding request for the Pajaro/Watsonville Multimodal Transit Station will be approximately $15 million. This funding is to support the environmental review, design, and right-of-way acquisition phases of the station project.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The Pajaro/Watsonville Multimodal Transit Station is estimated to cost approximately $55 million to construct, but this estimate may change as the project is further defined in the environmental review and design phases. The TIRCP grant funding application for $15 million would cover the cost of updating the Monterey County Rail Extension final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to add the larger footprint of the vision scenario adopted by TAMC in the Monterey Bay Area Rail Network Integration Study, a federal Environmental Impact Study (EIS) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to ensure federal grant eligibility, design, and right-of-way acquisition. Future funding for construction could come from a federal grant or another state grant.
DISCUSSION:

The Pajaro/Watsonville Multimodal Transit Hub (see web attachment) is phase 2 of the Monterey County Rail Extension project (the Kick Start project is phase 1, and the Castroville station is phase 3). The proposed Pajaro/Watsonville station is located in the Monterey County unincorporated community of Pajaro. The station site is approximately 1.5 miles from downtown Watsonville in the County of Santa Cruz. This station will be the connection point for Santa Cruz County to new passenger rail service on the coast mainline tracks between Salinas and the San Francisco Bay Area. The station will transform a currently blighted area by providing a new community transportation hub that could entice transit-oriented housing and community services to the surrounding area.

 

The Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) was established to provide grants from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to transformative capital improvements that can significantly reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, vehicle miles traveled, and congestion. The program funding was further expanded in Senate Bill 1. Its objectives are to:

  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions;
  • Expand and improve transit service to increase ridership;
  • Integrate the rail service of the state's various rail operations, including the high-speed rail system; and
  • Improve transit safety.

 

The Pajaro Watsonville Multimodal Transit Hub will address all the TIRCP goals, and the Monterey Bay Area Rail Network Integration Study (see web attachment) shows how the station will support the implementation of transit goals throughout the county and the region, by providing an access point to passenger rail service on the coast mainline tracks for the disadvantaged community of Pajaro and the City of Watsonville. The station will be a hub for Monterey-Salinas Transit and Santa Cruz Metro local and regional bus services. In the 20-year vision scenario of the Network Integration Study, the Pajaro station is the connecting point for the Santa Cruz Branch Line, enabling a round-the-bay rail service.

WEB ATTACHMENTS: