Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Federal Funding Windfall Kick-starts Bay Area Projects

Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Barrier in Line for Funding

Contact:

Randy Rentschler, 510.817.5780
John Goodwin, 510.817.5862

OAKLAND, Calif., April 12, 2005...The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) today announced that Bay Area transportation projects will receive nearly $122 million more in federal and state funds during the current fiscal year than previously had been estimated. This new revenue will allow MTC to speed implementation of its newly adopted Transportation 2030 Plan by providing project sponsors with the funds needed to start construction on key highway projects, repair more local streets and roads, meet more transit rehabilitation needs, and improve the safety and efficiency of the Bay Area transportation system. The lion’s share of the new revenue comes from a $107 million allocation of federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) money. MTC also is expected to advance the Transportation 2030 Plan by directing $15 million of federal and state funds to increase “lifeline” services for low-income residents.

“Transportation financing always delivers lots of surprises,” said MTC chair Jon Rubin. “But pleasant ones like this are few and far between.”

MTC Commissioner Mike Nevin, who also chairs the Caltrain Board of Directors, attributed the financial windfall to MTC’s conservative revenue forecasting and Bay Area transportation agencies’ record of efficiency in investing previous federal allocations. “Federal transportation money comes with a ‘use it or lose it’ kicker, and the Bay Area consistently puts whatever federal dollars it gets to work right away. This allowed us to scoop up some of the dollars that other regions have had to forfeit.”

Because the latest infusion of STP and CMAQ funds must be invested by Sept. 30, MTC’s Programming and Allocations Committee will consider at its regular April meeting tomorrow a plan to direct $55 million, or 51 percent, of the $107 million portion to five state highway projects that are fully permitted and ready for construction — but had been stalled by the state budget crisis. This includes $21.3 million to widen U.S. 101 to close the carpool-lane gap between San Rafael and Corte Madera; $17.5 million for the widening of Interstate 238 in Alameda County; $8.3 million to improve the U.S. 101/Steele Lane interchange in Santa Rosa; $5.5 million to add auxiliary lanes along Interstate 680 between Sycamore Valley Road in Danville and Bollinger Canyon Road in San Ramon; and $2.4 million to widen State Route 92 in Half Moon Bay.

The investment plan also calls for distributing $22.5 million to Bay Area cities and counties to help reduce local streets and roads maintenance backlogs; $22.5 million to San Francisco Muni, BART, Caltrain and Golden Gate Transit for various rehabilitation projects; and $6.9 million for system management and safety investments. These include $1.6 million for preliminary engineering and design of a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge, a project expected to cost a total of $2 million.

“I commend MTC staff for moving quickly to develop funding objectives for the additional money,” noted Jim Earp, executive director of the California Alliance for Jobs, a labor-management partnership formed by three contractors’ associations and two labor unions to promote the heavy construction industry in Northern and Central California.

Another item on the Programming and Allocations Committee’s agenda for tomorrow is a proposed $15 million investment of federal and state funds to implement the Lifeline Transportation Program outlined in the Transportation 2030 Plan that MTC adopted in February 2005. Designed to improve mobility options for low-income communities, the $216 million Lifeline Transportation Program will be funded primarily through State Transit Assistance (STA) funds resulting from the 2002 passage of Proposition 42. Because these funds are not expected to be available until fiscal 2008-09, however, the committee will consider a three-year interim plan that combines $7.6 million of other STA funds with an estimated $7.4 of federal CMAQ money to begin funding Lifeline projects and services as early as next year.

Funds for the Lifeline Transportation program would be distributed to Bay Area counties through a formula based on the number of low-income residents in each county. Alameda and Santa Clara counties, which together are home to about half of the Bay Area’s low-income population, will receive the largest shares, with a combined $2.5 million for fiscal 2005-06 and $7.4 million during the entire three-year investment period.

“Whether the destination is work, school or the doctor, all Bay Area residents — regardless of income — should be able to get from place to place,” said MTC Commissioner and Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty. “The Lifeline Transportation program helps make that possible.”

Both the interim Lifeline funding plan and the spending plan for the $107 million federal windfall require approval by the full Commission. The Commission will take up both matters when it next meets, on April 27.

MTC is the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area’s transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency.

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Note to editors: For a map of projects receiving new funding, click here.

 

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