American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
On February 17, 2010, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood announced that two Bay Area projects – San Francisco’s Doyle Drive replacement and the California Green Trade Corridor/Marine Highway ports project – will receive $76 million in funds from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) competitive grant program.
The $1.5 billion TIGER program was established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to spur a national competition for innovative, multi-modal and multi-jurisdictional transportation projects that promised significant economic and environmental benefits to an entire metropolitan area, a region or the nation. Out of the nearly 1,400 grant applications submitted, only 51 projects nationwide were selected to receive funding, including two in the Bay Area:
Forty six million dollars in TIGER funds will help close the gap in a $1.045 billion financing package for the replacement of Doyle Drive in San Francisco. The project will help create the new, seismically safe Presidio Parkway approach to the Golden Gate Bridge.
The California Green Trade Corridor/Marine Highway Project is a collaborative effort of the Port of Oakland along with the inland ports of Stockton and West Sacramento to develop and use a marine highway system as an alternative to existing truck and rail infrastructure. A $30 million TIGER grant will help to provide freight service via barge, primarily for consumer goods moving by ocean vessel and agricultural products grown in Central California.
July 23, 2009, Update:
TIGER Grant Priorities for Bay Area
On July 22, 2009, MTC approved the following list of four Bay Area projects totaling $133 million in grant requests as part of the statewide advocacy effort for the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program:
- Doyle Drive Replacement - $50 million
- California's Green Trade Corridor - $28 million
- BART SVRT Extension: Revenue Vehicle Storage at Hayward Yard - $50 million
- BART Oakland Airport Connector (TIFIA) - $5 million
June 5, 2009, Update:
Several Bay Area projects have been awarded major chunks of ARRA funding in recent weeks, including the Caldecott Tunnel, I-80 and Doyle Drive. See details at the Caltrans Economic Recovery Page:
www.dot.ca.gov/Recovery/
The Bay Area Council Economic Institute has released the Bay Area Economic Recovery Workplan, which coordinates the region’s response to federal stimulus funding opportunities.
April 22, 2009, Update:
MTC adopted a spending plan for roughly $167 million in stimulus money flowing to the Bay Area from California's portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The Commission voted to focus the bulk of the new funding on ready-to-go highway projects that were intended to be funded through Proposition 1B bonds but that have been stalled. Today's action comes on top of the $495 million in regional ARRA formula funds that MTC programmed in February 2009. To date, MTC has programmed more than $660 million in federal stimulus funds.
State ARRA Program Update
On April 8, 2009, the Programming and Allocations Committee approved recommending an updated spending plan for the state element of the ARRA to the Commission. The updated plan fully funds two ready-to-go Proposition 1B bond projects, and would also fund an additional $23 million for local streets and road rehabilitation projects regionwide and $14 million for High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane improvements in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties. Staff continues to recommend ARRA Transportation Enhancement funds be used to advance ready-to-go projects with future capacity available for new TE-eligible projects.
State ARRA Program
On March 25, 2009, MTC released for review a spending plan for the state element of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Commission will consider adoption of this plan on April 22nd with Committee action on April 8, 2009. The state element includes $160 million in flexible highway funds and $9.7 million in Transportation Enhancement funds.
The proposal would direct state ARRA funds to ready-to-go Proposition 1B bond projects in an effort to get these stalled projects into construction. The “freed up” transportation funding capacity available after advancing bond project would allow for a more extensive future programming discussion. Similarly for TE funds, staff is recommending that the funding be used to advance ready-to-go projects with future capacity available for new TE projects.
Regional ARRA Program
On February 26, 2009, the Commission adopted Resolution 3885, a $495 million expenditure plan for the region's formula-based share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The plan invests roughly 80 percent of the anticipated formula funds ($393 million) for the region into preservation and rehabilitation of the Bay Area's existing transit and local street and road system.
While federal deadlines require all funds to be obligated within one year (50% of transit funds within 180 days), the Commission approved stricter deadlines to require that all system preservation funds be obligated by May 31, 2009 and under contract by September 30, 2009.
With respect to the remaining funds, the plan proposes to invest $70 million in the BART Oakland Airport Connector, subject to strict deadlines, $13 million for safety projects and $19 million for the Freeway Performance Initiative. The commission deferred action until next month on advocacy priorities for the competitive programs contained in ARRA to allow further deliberation. Staff had recommended funding for Doyle Drive replacement and the Transbay Terminal Train Box (originally proposed as Attachment D to Resolution 3885).
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