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The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has released the Draft 2013 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis for Plan Bay Area and the 2013 TIP for public comment. The comment period starts Friday, March 29, 2013, and ends on Friday, May 3, 2013, at 4:00 p.m.
Copies of the Draft 2013 TIP and Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis are available for public review at the MTC-ABAG Library, 101 Eighth Street, Oakland, and at major public libraries in each of the nine Bay Area counties, and on the MTC website at: http://www.mtc.ca.gov/funding/tip/2013 and http://onebayarea.org.
The federally required TIP is a comprehensive listing of surface transportation capital projects for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area that receive federal funds, are subject to a federally required action or are regionally significant. The MTC, as the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the San Francisco Bay Area region, prepares and adopts the TIP at least once every four years. The TIP covers a six-year period and must be financially constrained by year, meaning that the amount of dollars committed to the projects (also referred as programmed) must not exceed the amount of dollars estimated to be available. The Draft 2013 TIP includes projects programmed over six fiscal years from FY 2012-13 through FY 2017-18. The TIP must include a financial plan that demonstrates the programmed projects can be implemented, and must be accompanied by a transportation-air quality conformity analysis. To further assist in the public assessment of the 2013 TIP, and specifically to address the equity implications of the proposed TIP investments, MTC has conducted an investment analysis with a focus on low-income and minority residents.
MTC has also prepared a Draft Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis for Plan Bay Area and the 2013 TIP. As required by federal conformity regulations, MTC must demonstrate that the TIP and Plan are consistent with (“conforms to”) the federal air quality plan known as the State Implementation Plan. Conformity to the SIP means that the transportation activities will not cause new air quality violations, worsen existing violations, or delay timely attainment of the relevant national ambient air quality standards. For the Bay Area, the conformity analysis addresses the national 8-hour ozone standard, national carbon monoxide standard, and the national 24-hour fine particulate matter standard.
MTC has developed the 2013 TIP and Draft Transportation-Air Quality 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 Draft Plan Bay Area, the long-range Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Prior to the formal consideration of the 2013 TIP and Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis, MTC will hold public meetings and receive public comments.
Public Hearings:
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 held throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The dates and times of the public hearings can be found at: www.onebayarea.org
Written Comments:
Written comments may be submitted to MTC’s Public Information Office at: 101 Eighth Street, 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 4:00 p.m. on Friday May 3, 2013. For more information, call MTC’s Public Information Office at 510-817-5787.
The Final 2013 TIP and Final Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis for Plan Bay Area and the 2013 TIP are scheduled for adoption by MTC on July 24, 2013. Once approved by the Commission, the 2013 TIP will be forwarded to Caltrans, FHWA and the FTA for approval and inclusion into the Federal State Transportation Improvement Program (FSTIP). Federal approval of the FSTIP is anticipated in August 2013. The Final Transportation-Air Quality Conformity Analysis and the Commission’s conformity determination will be forwarded to FHWA and FTA for their joint review and concurrence.
A brief informational Guide to the TIP can be found online at http://www.mtc.ca.gov/funding/tip/2013.
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