Caltrans this week awarded $9.2 million in Sustainable Transportation Planning Grants to support local governments and agencies in their efforts to integrate transit, bicycling and walking into their local transportation plans. These grants include plans and studies for complete streets, connectivity, multimodal transportation, transit hubs and station areas, corridors, active transportation and community engagement outreach throughout the state.

“Sustainability is important at every stage of a project, from planning to construction,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “These grants help Caltrans achieve its mission of providing a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system and ensure all Californians have more livable and economically vibrant communities.”

Approximately $1.5 million was awarded for Strategic Partnership grants which encourage regional agencies to partner with Caltrans to identify and address statewide/interregional transportation deficiencies in the state highway system; strengthen government-to-government relationships; and ultimately result in programmed system improvements.

The remaining funds were awarded as Sustainable Communities grants to identify and address mobility deficiencies including the mobility needs of environmental justice and disadvantaged communities; encourage stakeholder collaboration; involve active public engagement; and ultimately result in programmed system improvements.

Grant recipients include cities, counties, transit agencies, tribal governments and metropolitan and regional transportation agencies throughout the state. For a complete list of grant recipients, visit http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tpp/grants.html.

These grants are for planning only. Planning is a crucial first step in creating projects that could ultimately lead to sustainable transportation improvements. For these grants, Caltrans received 132 applications totaling about $30 million in requests.