After the most competitive cycle yet of the Active Transportation Program, we and our partners in mobility and environmental justice advocacy are pushing for a $1 Billion augmentation to Cycle 5 from the State General Fund, which is currently benefiting from an unprecedented one-time surplus. This augmentation would be sufficient to fully fund all applications that received a score of at least 80 out of 100 in Cycle 5, a threshold that we believe should be the expectation in every future ATP cycle.

Staff recommendations for Cycle 5 of the Active Transportation Program were released earlier this month. As we expected, the program became even more competitive than it was in Cycle 4: the cut-off score in the Statewide Component was 92 out of 100, a rise from Cycle 4’s cutoff score of 89. There was only enough funding for 41 projects in the statewide competition, and 9 in the Small Urban and Rural component, a decrease of 18 percent and 10 percent, respectively, from Cycle 4.  

Earlier this month, the California Transportation Commission (CTC) approved allocations for a bevy of projects programmed in four SB 1-supported programs. As Streetsblog describes, many of those projects, which were brought to the Commissioners by CTC staff, are emblematic of discredited highway expansion planning.

Last month, Governor Newsom signed Executive Order N-79-20, which calls for the end of all sales of new fossil fuel vehicles by 2035.