The Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) received 21 proposals for the 2024 Federal Transportation Grant Funding Call for Projects.
Paul Brewster, TRPC senior planner who manages the Federal Transportation Grant funding process for the council, said they also received three Rural Community Support Program proposals.
In 2024, the TRPC will award $19.2 million in federal transportation grants to regional priority projects through four programs – Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG), Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ), Transportation Alternatives Program (TA), and Carbon Reduction Program (CRP).
On Thursday, August 1, TRPC's Technical Advisory Committee reviewed the federal grant applications, providing constructive feedback to applicants to strengthen the proposals before they are submitted to the council for funding consideration. The committee focuses on the projects' technical feasibility and eligibility.
The committee looked at factors such as the proposals' scope and budget, potential environmental and permitting issues, and how accurately the applicants had assessed their projects against the evaluation criteria.
According to Brewster, Thurston County provided the Rural Community Support Program funding. He said the applicants have agreed to split the $550,000 funds three ways, with each proposal requesting approximately $183,333. "This is a non-competitive grant program. The intent is to fund lower-cost but impactful high-priority projects."
The three proposals for the Rural Community Support Program are the following:
Rainier submitted a proposal for a thermoplastic striping project to replace most of the striping in the city, which is currently painted and in poor condition. The proposal is to replace crosswalks, stop bars, railroad crossings, and a bicycle lane striping near the schools, using more durable thermoplastic striping that lasts eight years or more.
The representative from Rainier claimed the city has limited staffing to maintain the striping. This project would help improve the safety and visibility of pedestrians and vehicles in the city.
The committee noted that the city could potentially have leftover funding from the project and suggested adding language to the proposal about using any remaining funds to expand the scope and cover additional striping locations in the city.
The Nisqually Indian Tribe is constructing a new linear road, to be named after Billy Frank Jr., which would connect a gravel pit to an existing road.
The project also includes a gravel path on the tribal side for pedestrian and utility vehicle access. The tribe requests funding to add a sidewalk with a slope for wheelchair access and lighting to improve safety and visibility, especially at night due to the surrounding forestry.
Cynetha Blacketer, a grant writer for Nisqually Administrative and Planning Departments, noted that a minimal amount of funding was already set aside for the pavement of the new road itself, but she said this would not be sufficient to cover the construction of the sidewalk. She explained that if there were any unforeseen circumstances with building the road, the existing funding would not be guaranteed to go towards the sidewalk.
The project involves reconstructing the sidewalk between 6th and 7th Avenues with new planter strips, curb, stormwater, lighting, and landscaping.
The following are the proposals received by the TRPC from local agencies with various projects:
DES is requesting $6.5 million from the STBG to support 60% through the final design and permitting of the transportation elements of the project in 2025-2026 to meet the goal of starting construction in 2027.
Olympia requested $2.5 million from the STBG program for the Martin Way corridor project. The proposal is to implement the project by designing improvements on the 2.2-mile section between Sawyer Street and College Street, within Olympia city limits. The proposed improvements will include roundabouts at Sawyer, Ensign, Lilly, and Sleater-Kinney, sidewalks on both sides of the street, enhanced crosswalks, enhanced bike lanes, access control, and possibly business and transit lanes.
The city also requests $1.5 million from STBG for the Pacific Avenue Enhanced Crosswalk project.
Meanwhile, Lacey is requesting $1.5 million for the STBG program for the College Street corridor improvements Phase 3 project.
The project will reconstruct College Street from Lacey Boulevard to 18th Avenue SE with improvements such as construction of a roundabout at the intersection of College Street and 16th Avenue SE, widened sidewalks with pedestrian buffers, accessible ramps, new lighting, landscape medians, auxiliary left turn lanes, streetscaping, and underground utility lines.
In addition, Lacey is requesting $570,000 from the CRP for the College Street project.
Tumwater asked for $173,000 from the STBG program for the Trosper Road Mobility Study. The project will examine mobility and safety issues on the west/southbound side of the Trosper Road and I-5 interchange in Tumwater. This study aims to determine future solutions and/or projects that could address the identified transportation challenges in this area.
Tumwater also requests $2.5 million in funding from the CMAQ grant for the Deschutes Valley Trail—Segment C project. This will construct a paved walking and bicycling trail connection from the Tumwater Valley Golf Court to T Street, creating a continuous multi-use trail network in the area.
Other projects requesting funds include an Olympia School District request for $250,000 funding for Capital High School safe walking improvements.
This phase will re-evaluate and refine the Transit Signal Priority (TSP) controls along the existing Martin Way Pilot Corridor, using real-world data and input from local agencies to further enhance transit efficiency and operations.
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