Safety & Vision Zero

The compounding effects of the pandemic stay-home orders and the drastically reduced revenues have had an enormous effect on the legislative agenda and schedule in Sacramento. Though the State Senate and State Assembly are starting to reconvene, lawmakers are drastically cutting back on the bills they have introduced and sponsored, as very little legislation not directly tied to the emergency is being pursued.

The application deadline for Cycle 5 of the Active Transportation Program, which will award $440M for biking, walking, and Safe Routes projects, has been extended from June 15 to September 15 to account for staffing and outreach challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The deadline for the Quick Build pilot program, a new addition this Cycle 5, has only been moved back just one month, to July 15.

UPDATE: April 20, 2020

In the meantime, we hosted the second in our ATP Webinar series last week, and 300 participants tuned in, far exceeding our expectations. The webinar, Writing a Compelling Statement of Need was hosted by California Senior Policy Manager Jonathan Matz and featured Panelists Meghan Pendrocelli, Program Analyst at the California Transportation Commission and Bill Sadler, Bill Sadler, Director of Operations at the Public Health Alliance of California.

The California Transportation Commission approved the guidelines and released applications for Cycle 5 of the Active Transportation Program at its March meeting.

Workshops to refine the ATP Cycle 5 Guidelines are continuing, and since our January update, there have been a few changes: 

• The Healthy Places Index will now be accepted as a fourth statewide metric to qualify for Disadvantaged Community Status, with full severity points available. We’re very pleased that this option will be available to applicants. 

We are disappointed that Tamika Butler has had to resign as a CTC commissioner only a few months after her appointment last fall.

We salute the Air Resources Board for the creation of the new Sustainable Transportation Equity Program (STEP).