We’ve previously reported on the recent passage of Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, which will raise approximately $52 billion in funding over the next 10 years specifically for transportation.  SB1 is now in full swing, and Caltrans is on a fast track to release new grant funding provided under the legislation.

On August 3, Caltrans released for public review and comment the final drafts of the SB 1 Sustainable Communities and Adaptation Planning Grant guides, which will provide more than $270 million in planning grants for local communities over the next decade.  These Grant Application Guides for the new SB 1 planning grant funds encompass the following:

• Transportation Planning: Caltrans will provide $25 million in annual grants for planning to support the goals and best practices cited by the California Transportation Commission in its regional transportation plan guidelines.
• Climate Change Adaptation Planning: Caltrans will provide $20 million over three years to agencies to support transportation infrastructure planning for areas that are potentially vulnerable to climate change.

The formal 30-day comment period for the final draft guides will be open through August 31.  The draft guidelines and comment forms can be found at http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/grants.html.  Additionally, two workshops will be held to discuss the Grant Application Guides.  The Sacramento workshop will be webcast live and viewable at http://ctmedia.dot.ca.gov/webcast/live/live_event.asp.

Grant applicants are encouraged to begin considering possible applications based on these drafts.  More details about the workshops, the grants and applications can be found at: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/grants.html.