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Agenda Item # 12

BOARD MEMORANDUM

RECOMENDATION:

Discuss project priorities for the FY 2006 Countywide Transportation Development Act (TDA Article 3) program.

BACKGROUND:

The Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds are generated by a quarter cent per gallon tax on gasoline and diesel fuel sales.   A portion of these funds are returned by the State of California to the county in which they were collected for use on bicycle and pedestrian projects.   The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) programs these funds in the nine Bay Area counties.

MTC requests that each year, the Congestion Management Agency (CMA) in each of the nine Bay Area counties, coordinate and submit annual TDA Article 3 program funding priorities for their respective counties.   VTA serves as the CMA for Santa Clara County.

At its August 3, 2000 meeting, the VTA Board of Directors amended the TDA Article 3 project prioritization process.   The amended process is as follows:

• Guarantee Fund
  Seventy percent of the annual allocation is guaranteed to Member Agencies based on the most recent California Department of Finance population estimates.  These funds may be used for any eligible project.

• Bicycle Expenditure Program Projects
  Thirty percent of the annual allocation is dedicated to projects in the Countywide Bicycle Expenditure Program for the 10-year period FY 2002 through FY 2011.

• Rescind Requests
  TDA Article 3 allocations expire after two fiscal years.   If a Member Agency is unable to complete a Guarantee project within the two-year period, the Agency may rescind the project.

DISCUSSION:

Attachment A lists all TDA Article 3 projects requested by the cities and the County and includes Tier 1 Bicycle Expenditure Program projects.   The lists were developed in accordance with MTC’s Local Process Resolution, MTC’s project requirements and the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee’s (BPAC’s) criteria for the TDA Article 3 Discretionary funds.   The total TDA Article 3 funding available for this years programming is 1,803,643. 

For this cycle, a total of $1,274,044 in Guarantee Fund money was made available for TDA eligible projects.  The amount claimed by agencies in this cycle was $1,150,611. The amount unclaimed in the Guarantee Fund is $123,433.

An amount of $541,093 was available for Bicycle Expenditure Program (BEP) projects in this year’s cycle, which includes the previous year’s BEP carryover, this year’s BEP amount and the unclaimed Guarantee Fund amount from this year’s cycle.   There are three BEP projects requesting funding this cycle: 

• Campbell Avenue Bridge Widening over Los Gatos Creek Project
• Palo Alto Bicycle Boulevard Network Project
• Cox Avenue Railroad Crossing Project (in Saratoga).

These three projects’ requests total $410,000, leaving a balance of  $131,093 for this funding cycle.

Two cities are requesting advances in this cycle to assist in funding their TDA projects they would be unable to complete otherwise. 

• The City of Sunnyvale is requesting an advance of funds in order to cover higher project cost due to delay as a result of a re-bid of the project. The time delay caused an increase in project cost due to increasing cost of steel and concrete.   Staff recommends programming $86,000, as an advance, out of the BEP 30% Set-aside to meet the increased cost. The City would forgo next year’s Guarantee Funds up to $86,000 in exchange for using BEP 30% Set-aside funds.
• The City of Campbell is requesting $39,992 to complete their Westmont Avenue Street Improvement Project. In 2001, the City applied for the Westmont Avenue Project.   Due to changes in the project’s construction period, the funds for that project expired. At the time of expiration, City staff was still in the process of completing the project. In order to fully complete the project and make full use of the funds, Staff is recommending programming $39,992 out of the BEP 30% Set-aside to complete the Project as a one-time grant.   Staff expects completion of the Westmont Avenue Street Improvement Project within one year.

The remaining balance of $139,167 from this year’s entire TDA Article 3 Program will be carried over to next year.          

ALTERNATIVES:

The Committee may recommend an alternative list of project priorities.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Approximately $1.7 million in TDA Article 3 funds will be made available to projects in Santa Clara County.

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