FTA

Job Access and Reverse Commute Program
New Freedom Program

CALL FOR PROJECTS FOR CALIFORNIA’S SMALL URBAN AND RURAL AREA FY 2006 APPORTIONMENTS

Deadline: April 2, 2008
Extended to April 18, 2008

Caltrans Division of Mass Transportation is currently soliciting projects in small urban and rural areas throughout the state for two Federal Transportation Administration grant programs: 1) the Job Access and Reverse Commute (“JARC”) Program (49 USC Section 5316), and 2) the New Freedom Program (49 USC Section 5317). This is an accelerated call for projects for the FY 2006 apportionments, which would be lost to the state if not committed to projects by September 30, 2008.

Program Purpose:

The JARC Program provides funding for projects designed to transport welfare recipients and eligible low-income individuals to and from employment and employment-related activities, particularly to suburban and rural job locations.

The New Freedom Program provides funding to assist transit operators and public agencies to provide new transportation services for individuals with disabilities, above and beyond the minimum required by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Available Funding and Local Match Requirement:

The available funding statewide for each program is shown below. Project applications are subject to a statewide competitive selection process. The target programming amounts for the Bay Area’s small urbanized areas are provided as guidelines; if necessary, Caltrans will program any unused funds irrespective of small urbanized area. For rural areas, there is only a statewide target. The maximum grant award per project is $200,000 for JARC and $125,000 for New Freedom.

The minimum local match requirements are 20 percent for capital projects and 50 percent for operations projects.

Statewide Available Funding	JARC	New Freedom
Small Urbanized Areas (pop. between 50,000-200,000)	$1,417,641	$1,101,680
Rural Areas (pop. less than 50,000)	$863,171	$453,268
Bay Area Target Programming Amounts
Small Urbanized Areas
Fairfield	$45,401	$53,281
Gilroy-Morgan Hill	$0	$27,138
Livermore	$52,219	$31,593
Napa	$65,373	$39,550
Petaluma	$39,110	$23,661
Vacaville	$68,200	$41,261
Vallejo	$156,234	$100,571
Rural Areas	No target amount	No target amount

Coordinated Planning Requirement and Certification

Applicants are required to specify how their proposed project addresses transportation gap(s) and/or barrier(s) identified in the Bay Area’s Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Transportation Plan (“Coordinated Plan”), available at www.mtc.ca.gov/planning/pths/. If a project is recommended for funding, MTC will be required to certify that the project has been derived from the Coordinated Plan. The certification is not required to be submitted as part of the application.

Workshop and Application Form:

Caltrans is hosting an optional workshop for prospective applicants:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
9:30 a.m. – noon
Joseph P. Bort MetroCenter, 3rd Floor Fishbowl Conference Room
101 Eighth Street, Oakland.

The combined JARC and New Freedom application is available at:
www.dot.ca.gov/hq/MassTrans/Docs-Pdfs/JARC-NF-2006-App.doc.

Deadline:

Four applications (one original and three copies) need to be submitted by close of business, April 18, 2008 to:

California Department of Transportation
Division of Mass Transportation - MS 39
1120 N Street Room 3300
Sacramento, CA 95814

For more information:

Please also refer to www.dot.ca.gov/hq/MassTrans/5316.html for JARC and www.dot.ca.gov/hq/MassTrans/5317.html for New Freedom. Questions regarding this call for projects should be directed to:

Bill Walker
Federal Transit Grants Programs
Caltrans, Division of Mass Transportation
Office: (916) 654-8222
Mobile: (916) 207-2399
E-mail: Bill_Walker_jr@dot.ca.gov