Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)

Draft 2013 TIP

DRAFT 2013 TIP PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has released the Draft 2013 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis for public comment beginning March 29, 2013 and ending May 3, 2013. They are available online (see below), the MTC/ABAG Library and major libraries throughout the Bay Area.

Written comments may be submitted to MTC’s Public Information Office at 101 Eighth St., Oakland, CA 94607 or faxed to MTC at 510-817-5848 or sent via e-mail to info@mtc.ca.gov. Written comments are due by 4 p.m. on Friday, May 3, 2013. For more information, call MTC’s Public Information Office at 510-817-5757.

Public Hearing Notices

Background

The federally required Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is a comprehensive listing of Bay Area surface transportation projects that are to receive federal funding or are subject to a federally required action, or are considered regionally significant for air quality conformity purposes. The 2011 TIP was adopted by the Commission on October 27, 2010 and approved by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on December 14, 2010.

MTC and the other Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in California have historically followed a Caltrans directed update schedule (that is consistent statewide) to update the TIP every two years.  Based on the two-year update schedule, the Draft 2013 TIP and accompanying Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis were released for public review and comment on June 22, 2012, with a public hearing held on July 11, 2012.

Several commenters noted the timing mismatch between the scheduled adoption of the 2013 TIP and the region’s RTP and Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS), Plan Bay Area. In September 2012, MTC postponed the final adoption of the new TIP to more closely align with development and adoption of Plan Bay Area, which is currently slated for adoption in July 2013. Therefore, MTC is currently developing the 6-year 2013 TIP (FY2012-13 through FY2017-18), which includes both a financial constraint analysis and an air quality conformity analysis. The 2013 TIP does not include any regionally significant projects not included in the Draft Plan Bay Area.

MTC has developed the Draft 2013 TIP and Draft Conformity Analysis in cooperation with the county Congestion Management Agencies, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), individual cities, counties, transit operators, and other project sponsors, and in consultation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). All projects included in the TIP are consistent with the long-range Draft Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), Draft Plan Bay Area.

Per federal conformity regulations, the Draft TIP, along with the Draft Plan Bay Area, was analyzed by MTC to determine if it is consistent with or conforms to the approved federal State Implementation Plan (SIP), or meets other emissions tests for criteria pollutants and precursors for which the Bay Area air basin is designated as a nonattainment or maintenance area. This includes ground-level ozone, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter.

The Draft 2013 TIP contains approximately 880 projects totaling about $16.9 billion. The TIP is also financially constrained – meaning that the amount of funding programmed does not exceed the amount of funding reasonably expected to be available. Please find below the draft TIP and conformity documentation.

 

Copies of the Draft 2013 TIP and Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis are available for review at the MTC-ABAG Library, 101 Eighth Street, Oakland, California and at major public libraries (PDF) in each of the Bay Area counties. For more information, or for the location of the library closest to you, call MTC’s Public Information Office at 510-817-5757.

Prior to the formal consideration, oral public comment on the Draft 2013 TIP and Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis will also be received at any of the nine public hearings for the Draft Plan Bay Area.  The details of the hearings are in the legal notice.