The California Institute presents here a quick analysis of several of the California details of the Transportation Appropriations bill, passed May 16 by the House Appropriations Committee and June 13 by the Senate Appropriations Committee. We apologize for any errors or omissions in our discussion of these documents, and would appreciate any input/feedback on how to make improving corrections. The ordering of items generally reflects their presence in the bill does not mean to imply any relative importance.

The report is available on our website at http://www.calinst.org/pubs/tranapp01.htm or in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format at http://www.calinst.org/pubs/trap01.pdf .

The California Institute presents here a quick analysis of several of the California details of the Transportation Appropriations bill, passed May 16 by the House Appropriations Committee and June 13 by the Senate Appropriations Committee. We apologize for any errors or omissions in our discussion of these documents, and would appreciate any input/feedback on how to make improving corrections. The ordering of items generally reflects their presence in the bill does not mean to imply any relative importance.

The report is available on our website at http://www.calinst.org/pubs/tranapp01.htm or in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format at http://www.calinst.org/pubs/trap01.pdf .

Capital Investment Grants (House):

$1 million for the Hollister/Gilroy branch line rail extension project;

$4 million for the Los Angeles Mid-City and East Side corridors projects;

$50 million for the Los Angeles North Hollywood extension project;

$3 million for the Los Angeles-San Diego LOSSAN corridor project;

$10 million for the Oceanside-Escondido, California light rail system;

$3 million for the Orange County, California transit way project;

$35.2 million for the Sacramento south corridor LRT project;

$2 million for the San Bernardino Metrolink project;

$45 million for the San Diego Mission Valley east light rail project;

$80 million for the San Francisco BART extension to the airport project;

$12.25 million for the San Jose Tasman West light rail project; and

$3 million for the Stockton Altamont commuter rail project.

Details of grants are as follows (House -Senate):

Hollister/Gilroy branch line rail extension: $1 million for an extension of Caltrain service approximately 13 miles south from the current terminus in Gilroy to the city of Hollister. Ultimate projects costs are estimated at $15 million(House - Senate: eligible to receive funding for alternatives analysis and preliminary engineering).

Los Angeles Mid City and Eastside corridors projects (House-Senate: eligible to receive funding for final design): $4 million for continued planning and analysis in the ongoing MTA transit investment option study process.

Los Angeles North Hollywood extension project: $50 million to continue work on the North Hollywood red line segment, leaving a final payment of $49 million for a future year (House-Senate: eligible to receive funding for final design).

Los Angeles - San Diego LOSSAN corridor project (House-Senate: eligible for alterative analysis and preliminary engineering): $3 million in New Starts funding for final design and construction. LOSSAN is proposing safety improvements and for two station-area improvements, including: track and signal improvements at Los Angeles Union Station; a 450-space multi-level parking structure at the Oceanside transit center' and stabilization work along oceanfront bluffs in the city of Del Mar.

Oceanside - Escondido Light Rail Project (House-Senate: eligible to receive funding for final design): $10 million in New Starts funding for the project, which includes conversion of an existing 22-mile freight rail corridor into a diesel multiple unit transit system from Oceanside to Escondido via Vista and San Marcos, and including 1.7 miles of new right-of-way to serve the campus of CSU San Marcos.

Orange County transit way project (House-Senate: eligible to receive funding for final design): $3 million for continued examination at the initial stages of what is ultimately estimated to be a $2 billion project, a 26.6 mile rail corridor between Fullerton and Irvine via Anaheim, Santa Ana, John Wayne Airport, El Toro Marine Base. It is currently envisioned at 31 stations.

Sacramento south corridor LRT project (House-Senate: eligible to receive funding for final design): $35.2 million for continued construction of the 6.3-mile first phase of what will ultimately be an 11.3-mile light rail project on the Union Pacific right-of-way in South Sacramento. The first phase runs from downtown Sacramento to Meadowview Road and is expected to begin service in September 2003.

San Bernardino Metrolink Project (House-Senate: eligible to receive funding for final design): $2 million for proposed improvements along this commuter rail project, including construction of sidings in the I-10 corridor, upgrading siding at Marengo, and double-tracking of a line between Pomona and Montclair stations. The full cost of these upgrades is estimated at $31.4 million.

San Diego Mission Valley East light rail project (House-Senate: eligible to receive funding for final design): $45 million for a 5.9-mile extension of the Blue Line from its current terminus east of I-15 to the City of La Mesa -- via Grantville, San Diego State University, Alvarado Medical Center, and 70th Street -- thus connecting it to the existing Orange Line near Baltimore Drive. The $431 million project would include elevated, at-grade and tunnel portions and provide two park-and-ride lots and a new access road between Waring Road and the Grantville Station.

San Francisco BART extension to the airport project (House-Senate: eligible to receive funding for final design and alternative analysis): $80 million for this project to construct an 8.2-mile 4-station extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) from the Colma BART station through Colma, South San Francisco, San Bruno, and Millbrae. The project is estimated to cost $1.5 billion.

San Jose Tasman West light rail project (House-Senate: eligible to receive funding for final design): $12.25 million for the recently-completed project extending 7.6 miles from the northern terminus of the Guadalupe LRT in Santa Clara, west through Sunnyvale, to the CalTrain commuter rail station in Mountain View.

Stockton Altamont commuter rail project (House-Senate: eligible for funding for alternative analysis and preliminary engineering): $3 million for the commuter rail system along an existing Union Pacific right-of-way from San Joaquin County, via Alameda County, to Santa Clara County. Members from the three counties form a joint powers authority which runs the Altamont Commuter Express (ACE).

San Francisco Third Street light rail project (House-Senate: eligible for funding for alternative analysis and preliminary engineering): The committee provided no funds but specifically recommended that the FTA work with project sponsors in developing support materials for phase II of the project.

Reverse Commute Grants (Senate):

Alameda and Contra Costa Counties $500,000

Monterey $150,000

Santa Clara County $500,000

Transit Formula Grants (House): The committee notes the following breakout of formula grant transit funding which has been previously designated under TEA-21 authorizing legislation:

California Total $493.975,342

Antioch-Pittsburg $1.76M

Bakersfield $3.57M

Chico $.768M

Davis $.932 M

Fairfield $1.13M

Fresno $5.44M

Hemet-San Jacinto $.945M

Hesperia-Victorville $1.2M

Indio-Coachella $.571M

Lancaster-Palmdale $2.03M

Lodi $.793M

Lompoc $.487M

Los Angeles $201M

Merced $.866M

Modesto $2.9M

Napa $.905M

Oxnard-Ventura $6.9M

Palm Springs $1.13M

Redding $.652M

Riverside-San Bernardino $18.17M

Sacramento $13.9M

Salinas $1.7M

San Diego $42.6M

San Francisco-Oakland $116.9M

San Jose $30.3M

San Luis Obispo $.812M

Santa Barbara $2.65M

Santa Cruz $1.37M

Santa Maria $1.25M

Santa Rosa $2.4M

Seaside-Monterrey $1.6M

Simi Valley $1.5M

Stockton $3.77M

Vacaville $.935M

Visalia $1.07M

Watsonville $.588M

Yuba City $.939M

Yuma AZ-CA (CA) $.003M

The Senate Committee recommends $500,070,648 in FY01 formula programs, but does not breakdown funds by project.

Buses and Bus Facilities (House):

Alameda Contra costa Transit District $1 M

Anaheim $.5M

Brea $.150M

Calabasas $1M

Commerce $2M

Compton $.5M

Culver City $1.5M

Davis $2M

El Dorado $.5M

El Segundo $2.1M

Folsom $3M

Foothills Transit $4.1M

Fresno $1M

Humboldt County $1M

Livermore $1M

Los Angeles County MTA $9M

Marin County $1.82M

Modesto $.5M

Monrovia $.58M

Monterey Salina Transit $1M

Municipal Transit Operators Coalition $4M

Oceanside $4M

Placer County $.5M

Playa Vista $3M

Redlands $.8M

Rialto $1.1M

Riverside County $1M

Sacramento $2M

San Bernardino intermodal facility $3.2M

San Bernardino train station $.8M

San Diego East Village $2M

San Francisco county connection buses $1M

San Francisco MUNI buses and facilities $4M

Santa Barbara County $.24M

Santa Clara Valley Transit $1M

Santa Clarita $3M

Santa Cruz $3.1M

Sonoma County $1M

SunLine transit agency $2M

Temecula $.2M

Vista $.3M

The Senate Committee notes that it has delineated a number of eligible bus and bus facility projects, and directs the Federal Transit Administration to submit requests to the congressional appropriations and authorizing committees on or before February 1, 2001, choosing from among the projects listed above.

The House Committee directs the FTA not to reallocate FY98 funds for the following new start and buses and bus facilities programs: Inglewood transit center, Rialto Metro Link depot, San Bernardino Metrolink project, San Diego Mid-Coast project, San Joaquin buses and bus facilities, and Sonoma County park-and-ride facility (House).

The Senate notes that the San Joaquin buses and bus facilities have $1.95 million remaining in unobligated FY98 funds that are in danger of lapsing before the end of FY00.

Fixed Guideway Modernization Apportionments: The bill notes that California's apportionment for the program is $105.86 million (House)/$10302 million (Senate).

National Planning and Research: Sacramento Area Council of Governments and regional air quality planning and coordination study - $250,000 (Senate).

Coast Guard

Vessel traffic and safety fairway, Santa Barbara/San Francisco - Prohibits funds to plan, finalize or implement regulations that would route vessels in close proximity to oil rigs. The Committee reached this decision based on its concern that implementing regulations such as these would increase the threat of offshore oil accidents in California (House-Senate).

Acquisition, Construction, and Improvements: Among other recommendations nationwide, the committee recommends $8 million for transportation improvements in shore facilities at the Coast Guard Island, Alameda (House).

Federal Aviation Administration

Airport surveillance radar - Of $11.1 million in total funds, $4 million are to be used specifically for a transportable/shelterized ASR-9 radar system with a secondary surveillance radar for Palm Springs Regional Airport, in order to address radar coverage problems that the Airport has been experiencing (House).

Terminal air traffic control facilities replacement - Of $140 million recommended by the Committee, $25.9 million would be allocated for a facility in Oakland (Phase III) (House-Senate).

Northern California Metroplex - Down from the $17.5 million enacted in FY00, the Committee recommends $6 million for this facility (House-Senate).

Discretionary Grants (House): Congress provides $900million(House) for discretionary grants to airports, and specifies 105 airports, many of which are in California, as priority airports to receive the funds. The California airports and their project requests include:

State Location Project Description

CA San Bernardino International Airport Various improvement projects (House)

CA Napa County Airport Runway, taxiway, and ramp maintenance, master plan, taxiway project

CA Jack McNamera Field, Del Norte County Resurface runways

CA Fresno Yosemite International Airport Design and construct midfield air cargo taxiways, design and construct midfield air cargo apron, design and construct airfield drainage improvements, design and construct midfield air cargo access road

CA General William J. Fox Field, Lancaster Extend the existing county airport runway

CA Stockton Metropolitan Airport Lengthen runway

CA Bishop Airport, Inyo County Facility, utility and infrastructure improvements

CA Ontario International Airport Grove Corridor improvements; structure and ramp improvements; right-of-way acquisition; cargo demand study

CA Mammoth/Yosemite Airport, Upgrade airport to handle jets

Mammoth Lakes

CA Meadows Field Airport, Bakersfield New terminal, ramp and access road

CA Gross Field Airport, Marin County Runway extension

CA Sacramento Mather Airport Runway, taxiway, and apron pavement rehabilitation and runway/taxiway lighting

CA Southern California Logistics Airport Runway extension

CA March Air Reserve Base Civilian refueling system

The Senate bill includes an overall obligation of $928 million for discretionary grants to airports, but includes just two California airports: Mammoth Lakes and Marin County Airport. It further authorizes a FAA letter of intent to fund multi-year airport improvement projects, one of which is Sacramento Metro ($1.6 million)

The Senate Committee notes the delivery and commissioning dates of airport surface detection equipment (ASDE-3) in San Francisco, Los Angeles (2 sites), and San Diego.

Federal Highway Administration

Intelligent Transportation Systems: Within the $437 million authorized by TEA-21 for ITS, there are $100 million provided for ITS research. The Committees recommended that these funds be allocated to some specific projects, including: House

Alameda-Contra Costa $1,000,000

Huntington Beach 2,500,000

Norwalk and Santa Fe Springs 1,000,000

Sacramento County 1,750,000

Sacramento 1,000,000

Federal Aid Highways

The committee report noted various programs included in TEA-21 language. California is estimated to receive $2.17 billion (House)/$2.49 billion (Senate) in FY01 federal-aid limitation formula funding, of $22.76 billion (House)/$29 billion (Senate)distributed nationwide. The Senate Committee recommends $281 million in revenue aligned budget authority The state would also receive $149 million from the nation's $2.8 billion in minimum guarantee payments (House). Some of these include the following:

Bridge replacement and rehabilitation program - This program is continued by the TEA21 to provide assistance for bridges on public roads including a discretionary set-aside for high cost bridges and for the seismic retrofit of bridges. Fifty percent of a state's bridge funds may be transferred to the NHS or the STP but the amount of any such transfer is deducted from the national bridge needs used in the program's apportionment formula for the following year (House-Senate)

Congestion mitigation and air quality improvement program - A wide range of programs that must be DOT and EPA determines that they are likely to meet the national ambient air quality standards (House-Senate).

Federal lands highways - A program that provides authorizations for deficient Indian reservation bridges, Indian reservation roads, parks and park roads, as well as federally-owned public roads providing access to the National Wildlife Refuge System (House-Senate).

Within federal lands highways funds, the Committee noted that FY01 funds should include the following activities (House)

Historic Kelso depot, Mojave national Preservation 5,400,000

Lake Tahoe, Binwall repair and drainage improvement 1,000,000

Utah Trail, Joshua Tree National Park 1,500,000

Emergency Relief - Repair and reconstruction to federally - owned roads and highways which have suffered damage as a result of natural disasters or catastrophic failures (House-Senate).

National corridor planning and border infrastructure programs - A program to improve the safe movement of people and goods at or across the US/Canadian and US/Mexican borders (House-Senate).

Ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities - funding for the construction of ferry boats and ferry terminal facilities(House-Senate).

Transportation and community system preservation pilot programs: Funds should include the following California programs(House and Senate):

El Segundo, intermodal facility improvements 1,000,000 (House)

Elwood bicycle/pedestrian bridge, County of Santa Barbara 250,000 (House)

Traffic calming and mitigation, South Pasadena, Pasadena, El Serano 1,000,000 (House)

Roseville historic district revitalization project 500,000 (Senate)

Specified ITS Deployment Projects: Integrating intelligent transportation systems into metropolitan and rural areas under section 5208 of TEA21 - Sacramento to Reno, I-80 corridor ($200,000) (Senate)

High Speed Maglev Deployment Program(Senate):

California-Nevada super speed train commission, Las Vegas to Anaheim ($4 M)

Southern California Association of Governments: Los Angeles International Airport to March Air force Base ($3M)

Job Access and Reverse Commute Grant Discretionary Grant Program: The Committee recommends allocations to metropolitan planning organizations, local government authorities and nonprofit organizations in Sacramento ($1 million), Fresno-Tulare-Kings-Kern Counties ($3 million), Los Angeles ($3.5 million), and San Francisco ($275,000). (House)

Federal Railroad Administration

Next Generation High-Speed Rail-Rail Highway Crossings Hazard Elimination: The Committee recommends $250,000 to be used on the eastern San Fernando Valley corridor (Senate).

Grade Crossing Program-Unobligated Funds: Out of the FY01 apportionment in California, $576,532 is unobligated as of 9/30/99 (House).

The Senate bill names Crescent City and Merced as two of the Essential Air Services cities.