Funding state and local highway projects in California has become a complex process involving multiple inter-related federal, state, regional, and local planning and operating agencies as well as an alphabet soup of documents and funding programs. The process is further complicated by changing requirements and shifting political priorities. Without a map and a strategy for developing fundable projects, public agencies risk losing funding opportunities.

This course explains how the process works in the "real world" and provides planners, project managers and grant managers with guidelines for thinking strategically as they develop fiscal plans, programs, and project descriptions. Topics Include:

* how the federal and state funding process works in California, including rules and laws
* navigating the institutional frameworks which make funding decisions
* the specific roles of the MPO, the CTC, and Caltrans
* what conditions govern who gets funded and who does not
* current funding priorities in California
* TIPs, STIPs, RTIPs, ITIPs, ATP, TDA, STA, SHOPP, CMAQ, TEA
* steps to build an effective funding strategy
* how to match project description with eligibility criteria for key fund sources
* pending and recent legislation affecting project funding, including impacts of federal reauthorization of transportation

This course focuses on the dynamics of transportation funding as well as some practical "grantsmanship." Students come away from the class with a better understanding of how the process works in California, including who the players are, how to develop or match a project with a particular funding source(s), and what's on the horizon with regard to funding priorities.

This is not a course on how to prepare a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) or how to meet specific procedural requirements for a funding program (see the Federal Aid series).

This course is for transportation planners and project managers in state and local agencies, regional planning agencies, and transit operators. Managers, board members, and others involved with developing fundable plans and projects and understanding where the money for transportation comes from or how funding decisions get made will also benefit.

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Instructors:

David Brewer

Pete Hathaway

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