RECOMMENDATION

This is an information item only.

SUMMARY

The 2004 Regional Transportation Improvement Program (RTIP) must be approved by the Agency prior to April 12, 2004. Upon approval by the Agency, the RTIP will be forwarded to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) for incorporation into the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) by August 5, 2004. Except for $2.314 million in non-motorized Transportation Enhancement funds, no new funds are available for STIP projects. Shasta County projects currently programmed in the STIP must be delayed to meet projected funding availability, by year, over the five-year program.

DISCUSSION

The 2004 RTIP is a five-year budget to develop and deliver specified projects and must be submitted to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) by April 12, 2004. RTIPs are required every two years.

Based on State estimates released in late November, no new funding will be available over the five-year programming period ending 2009. The only exception is for non-motorized projects (see TE discussion below). Existing commitments totaling $30.011 million can remain in the 2004 RTIP; however, most projects must be delayed to meet year-by-year funding targets set by the CTC.

The attached spreadsheet shows existing STIP commitments by year and new annual funding targets for reprogramming these existing commitments. It also shows an example of a new program for the 2004 STIP that delays these projects to meet the targets. The project most affected by the annual target constraint is the “Dana to Downtown Project”. It would be delayed another two years to a construction start-date of 2008. Since annual targets set by the CTC maybe flexible, depending on other regions meeting their targets Statewide, staff will likely recommend that we keep programming for the Dana to Downtown Project in 2006.

The Transportation Enhancement (TE) program, which funds non-motorized transportation projects such as bike lanes, is now administered through the STIP rather than as a separate program. The CTC estimates that $2.314 million in new STIP funds could be programmed for non-motorized projects over the five-year STIP cycle. Alternatively, the Agency may elect to reserve these funds for motorized STIP projects or to cover cost escalation resulting from project delays. The primary tradeoff is that funds programmed for TE projects could be used during this STIP period while funds reserved for non-TE projects could not be used for at least six years.

Between now and the February Agency meeting, staff will work with local agencies to address the following issues:

1. How to best delay $30.011 million in existing STIP projects over the five-year period while still meeting year-by-year funding targets set by the CTC (see attachment).

2. The pros and cons of programming non-motorized TE funds over the next five years versus reserving the funds for motorized projects sometime beyond 2009.

The above discussions will involve revisiting the cost and schedule for existing STIP projects, and examining commitments for projects not fully funded in the current STIP (only initial phases such as environmental review are funded). Based on these discussions, a recommendation will be brought to the Agency at the February meeting.

Delaying project programming to a specific year does not guarantee funding in that year, particularly given the current State budget predicament. Like the 2002 STIP fund estimate – which turned out to be optimistic resulting in significant delays for all STIP projects – the 2004 fund estimate is based on current legislation that is certain to change. There are several tenuous assumptions, the most pivotal being that Proposition 42 will shift gasoline sales tax revenue from the general fund to transportation as specified in current law. Obviously, this may be further suspended. Without these STIP revenues ($1.738 billion over five years), no funds will be available in the first year of the 2004 STIP to honor programming commitments. Subsequent years would also be severely impacted.

For more detailed information, the 2004 STIP fund estimate may be viewed at http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/transprog/stip/Draft_FE.pdf.

ALTERNATIVES

None. This item is for information only. No Agency action is requested.

OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT

This item was discussed at the November 25, 2003 TAC Meeting. Since the STIP fund estimate will not be officially adopted until the December 10/11, 2003CTC meeting, TAC agreed that further discussions need to occur between that date and the February Agency meeting.

FINANCING

STIP projects are funded from State and Federal sources generated by taxes levied on fuel. Based on the Draft STIP fund estimate, most STIP projects that are currently programmed will have to be delayed one to five years.

________________________________________

Daniel J. Kovacich, Executive Officer

DSL/jac

Attachment: Existing STIP Programming, New 2004 STIP Annual Targets, and Possible Delays