The California DOT (Caltrans) will award more than $34 million in transportation planning grants for FY 2020-2021 to local agencies and their efforts to plan more sustainable communities, reduce transportation-related greenhouse gases, and adapt to the effects of climate change.
A significant portion of these grant funds is available thanks to Senate Bill 1—the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. Senate Bill 1 invests approximately $54 billion over the next decade to fix roads, freeways, and bridges and puts more dollars toward transit and safety.
“Our current transportation system needs innovative strokes to help reduce congestion and protect the health of our communities and our planet,” said Bob Franzoia, Acting Director of Caltrans, in a news release. “We are all in this together, and these grants will help our communities address the effects of our changing climate.”
New numbers show that vehicle tailpipe emissions accounted for 37% of California’s 2017 GHG emissions, so Caltrans is aiming to help Californians walk, bike, and use transit more often. The available sustainable transportation planning grants include:
- $29.5 million in Sustainable Communities Grants: to encourage local and regional planning that furthers state goals and help achieve California's greenhouse gas reduction targets.
- $4.5 million in Strategic Partnerships Grants: to identify and address statewide, interregional, or regional transportation deficiencies on the state highway system in partnership with Caltrans. The transit component will fund planning projects that address multimodal transportation deficiencies with a focus on transit.
Grant announcements are anticipated in spring 2020.
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SOURCE: Caltrans
