In establishing the Regional Surface Transportation Program Competitive Grants program, the Transportation Agency is seeking to fund projects that advance the goals of the Transportation Agency Board. These include delivering projects of regional significance that improve safety, provide maintenance for existing facilities, or support the development of a multimodal transportation network utilizing the principles of Complete Streets. Fair geographic balance in distributing the funds and the cost effectiveness of the proposed projects are also taken into consideration when awarding grant funds.
The grant application is comprised of four sections, each with 25 available points, for a total possible application score of 100 points. The four categories are Project Information & Regional Significance, Complete Streets, Project Readiness & Cost Effectiveness, and Regional Transportation Plan Consistency. The scoring for the application was designed and approved by the Transportation Agency Board to favor projects that improve regional routes with high traffic volumes, include bicycle and pedestrian facilities and safety enhancements, can be completed within the three year funding window, and support the performance measures included in the 2014 Regional Transportation Plan.
In May 2017, the Technical Advisory and Bicycle & Pedestrian Committees nominated committee members to the grants review committee to review and score the applications:
- Sean Vienna, AMBAG
- Vera Noghera, BPC Member
- Orchid Ochoa-Monroy, Caltrans
- Mary Israel, Fort Ord Reuse Authority
- Lisa Rheinheimer, Monterey-Salinas Transit,
- Virginia Murillo, TAMC Staff
- Mike Zeller, TAMC Staff
The Transportation Agency received thirteen completed grant applications, totaling over $14.3 million in requested Regional Surface Transportation Program grant funding. Each application was reviewed and scored four times by the committee. The attached summary sheet provides an overview of the projects submitted for consideration, and how the applications were scored by the review committee. After considering the scores and factoring in geographic equity and cost effectiveness, the following projects are recommended by Agency staff for grant funding:
- Monterey - North Fremont Bike and Pedestrian Improvements - $1,933,000
- Soledad - Metz Road Traffic Calming Project - $516,800
- County - State Route 1 Climbing Lane - $600,000
- Salinas - Downtown Complete Streets - $2,970,000
- Pacific Grove - Highway 68 Complete Street Corridor - $502,268
With this recommendation, staff made one adjustment from the overall scoring of the projects. First, the City of Marina's Reservation Road Roundabouts project ranked fifth in the total scoring, but was seeking a total of $4,005,000 of grant funding for a $4,500,000 project. Due to the high amount of requested funding, the limited amount of grant funding available, low matching funds for the project, and overall geographic equity, Agency staff is not recommending funding for this project at this time.
In addition, the City of Soledad submitted grant applications for two projects, with the East Street / Metz Road Roundabout Project as their first choice for funding, and the Metz Road Traffic Calming Project as the second. However, their second choice project scored higher and is currently recommended for funding.
Finally, in past grant cycles, the Transportation Agency has included Transportation Development Act 2% funds with the Regional Surface Transportation Program funds to increase the total competitive grants amount. For this cycle, the Transportation Agency Board approved programming the Transportation Development Act 2% funds to the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway Project, subject to the Agency receiving a Federal Lands Access Program grant for the project. Agency staff is now recommending to program the $900,000 of Transportation Development Act 2% funds to the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway Project in advance of potential receipt of the federal grant in order to begin the project.