Regional planning council considers how to spend federal grants for streets, trails, buses

The Thurston Regional Planning Council's (TRPC) Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was briefed on a draft funding scenario that would distribute approximately $19.2 million in federal transportation grants among local agencies and projects in the region.  

At the TAC meeting on Thursday, TRPC senior planner Paul Brewster said a total of $19,183,335 was available to award for transportation programming for 2025 through 2030.

Of that total, nearly $13.5 million is allocated for large urban areas, which includes $5 million in Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding. The remaining funding is divided among other grant programs, including Transportation Alternatives (TA), Surface Transportation Block Grants (STBG), and the Carbon Reduction Program.  

According to Brewster, the TRPC received $24 million in fund requests, exceeding the available federal grants and creating a $4.8 million funding gap.  

The CRP has $1.7 million in funding available but received over $2.7 million in requests. The TA program has $2.4 million in funding available but received requests totaling over $3.3 million.  

The STBG program has $10 million in funds available but received over $14 million requests across 11 various projects.  

The CRP has $1.7 million in funds available, but over $2.7 million was requested. TA has $2.4 million in funding available, but the fund requests is nearly $3.4 million. STBG has $10 million in funds available and over $14 million in fund requests for 11 various projects.  

CMAQ has $5 million in funds available. The TRPC received only $3.6 million in fund requests.  

The challenge for the TRPC's Transportation Policy Board subcommittee is to develop a funding recommendation that balances the available revenue with the proposed projects, aligning the federal funding sources as best as possible.  

TPB members Andy Ryder, Justin Belk, Michelle Murray, Robert Vanderpool, and Travis Millar volunteered to serve on a grant review subcommittee to assist the board with ranking the proposals and guiding funding scenarios. 

Brewster presented the combined requests and award scenarios for each applicant.  

The agency requested nearly $4 million for Intercity Transit, but the award scenario provides $3.8 million.  

The City of Lacey requested $1,538,284 in STBG funding and additional funding from the CRP. Brewster said the award scenario aims to provide Lacey with the full amount requested for the College Street Corridor Phase 3 improvements through the STBG program.  

Olympia had a combined request for $4 million in funding. Brewster said the award scenario would bring the city's allocation to $3,800,000, or just $200,000 under their original requests.  

Tumwater has two proposals – the Deschutes Valley Trail Segment C project and the Trosper Road Mobility study. The city requested $2,768,000 for these two projects, but the award would be $2,595,000.  

Yelm requested $3.6 million for the Rhoton Road NW reconstruction project. Brewster said the funding scenario pulled together several funding sources to provide Yelm with just over $1.7 million for this project.  

Thurston County submitted several proposals totaling $6,916,019 in requests. The award scenario provided the country with $5,182,954. 

The TRPC requested $650,000 to implement the Regional Trails Plan. The award scenario included a partial award of $500,000 for the project. 

The recommendation will be presented to the Transportation Policy Board on Wednesday, Nov. 13.