The San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments is expected to award more than $22 million over the next four years to active transportation, bus system improvements, and first/last mile projects.
The Measure M Subregional Program funds will be disbursed from 2022 to 2025. The money comes from the voter approved Measure M 1/2 cent sales tax. The SGVCOG this cycle is prioritizing "regional projects to maximize regional transportation benefits."
"Last cycle focused on local benefits, and that's great, but our board this time wanted to boost regional benefits," said Alexander Fung, SGVCOG Senior Management Analyst. "Not many improvements have been made on a regional basis, and this cycle is addressing that," Fung added.
Up to $15 million will go towards projects that need planning, design and construction; and $7 million will go toward project planning and design. Cities applying to the $7 million fund can apply up to $1 million per project.
Next year, active transportation projects will be funded $2.6 million, bus improvements $624,765, and first-last mile improvements $2.2 million, with each year increasing incrementally.
The 2025 estimate will be available this month.
While staff recommendations for projects are expected to be released on November 1, feedback and review will go until at least May 2022. Project recommendations will be reviewed by multiple steering committees and advisory committees at the SGVCOG, and its governing board. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the project recommendations throughout November. Later the final approval will be from the Metro board of directors.
Awardees will have up to three years to spend down their funds. If left unspent, awardees will need to return the monies to the subregional pool for the next cycle's awards.
Applicants can also bundle multiple projects into a single proposal, said Fung, but they still need to be able to show that they enhance the regional corridors, which can include reflecting ideas from long-range planning documents like Metro.
To be eligible for any of the overall $15 million, projects are required to have 20 percent "local match" funded by the applicant, and the project design needs to be a minimum of 25 percent complete. These projects also have to be identified in at least one participating agency’s five-year capital improvement project list. Right-of-way acquisitions won't be funded. Projects vying for the $7 million pot need designs to be at minimum 10 percent completed.
Projects that have received funds from the first cycle for fiscal year 2017-2021 can apply for this cycle as well.
Applications must be submitted by October 18 at 5 p.m. to afung@sgvcog.org. Full application details, scoring criteria and guidelines can be found at the MSP website.
SBLA San Gabriel Valley coverage, including this article and SGV Connect, is supported by Foothill Transit, offering car-free travel throughout the San Gabriel Valley with connections to the new Gold Line Stations across the Foothills and Commuter Express lines traveling into the heart of downtown L.A. To plan your trip, visit Foothill Transit. “Foothill Transit. Going Good Places.”
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