Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) announced that eight local governments, transit agencies, and tribes in California will receive over $119 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). This funding comes from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that Padilla and Feinstein voted to pass last year increased the funding available for the RAISE program, which will help communities modernize transportation infrastructure.

“As the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues to deliver for California, I’m proud to see significant investments from this historic legislation for local and regional transportation infrastructure projects,” Senator Padilla said. “This funding for projects across the state, from San Francisco to the Central Valley and Los Angeles, will improve transportation safety, better connect our communities, and help keep our economy moving.”

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that President Biden signed last year continues to deliver big wins for California,” said Senator Feinstein. “The announcement of nearly $120 million to bolster transportation infrastructure is great news. This funding will help California continue to lead the way to cleaner, greener forms of transportation.”

The California projects awarded RAISE Grants this year are:

• $25 million for the California High-Speed Rail Authority’s Merced Extension Design Project
  This planning project will fund design efforts for the California High-Speed Rail project’s extension from Madera to Merced, including civil infrastructure, track, and systems along the Merced-Fresno-Bakersfield early operating segment.
  
  
• $23 million for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Project to Transform Howard Street for Safe and Equitable Mobility
  This project will improve safety and efficiency along Howard Street by implementing complete street improvements and green infrastructure. The project includes reducing one westbound vehicle lane, adding two-way protected bike lanes, upgrading curb ramps and traffic signals, raising crosswalks, adding bulb-outs and midblock signals, installing pedestrian lighting, and creating passenger loading zones.
  
  
• $20 million for the Port of Los Angeles Maritime Support Facility Access/Terminal Island Rail System Project
  This project will construct a four-lane, rail-roadway grade separation that will eliminate a significant impediment to truck access to an important container terminal support facility located on Terminal Island at the center of the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach complex.
  
  
• $15 million for the Inglewood Transit Connector Project
  This project will complete an approximately 1.6-mile fully-elevated, automated transit system with three stations to fill a critical gap in the region’s transit system on segments along Market Street, Manchester Boulevard, and Prairie Avenue.
  
  
• $15 million for the Yuba-Sutter Transit Authority’s Zero-Emission Bus Operations, Maintenance, and Administration Facility
  This project will replace an existing undersized, obsolete transit facility in a new location on a nearly 20-acre former brownfield site to support the conversion to a zero-emission bus fleet.
  
  
• $15 million for the City of Fontana’s Project to Better Connect the Inland Empire
  This project will provide major complete street improvements, such as additional lane capacity, an integrated traffic system, medians with protected left turns, a roundabout, bus turnouts, streetlights, signage, and raised medians. There will be more than 5 miles of Class II bike trails, more than 2.5 miles of Class I bike lanes, more than 5 miles of ADA-compliant sidewalks, approximately a half-mile of multi-use trails, pedestrian crosswalks, bridge, and countdown signal heads.
  
  
• $5 million for Mobility Zones in the Sacramento Region
  This planning project by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments will fund an equity-centered regional planning project that will engage disadvantaged communities from across the Sacramento Region in designating “Mobility Zones.” These efforts will integrate data analysis with the experiences shared by residents during outreach. Priority projects will be identified and will proceed with design, engineering, and preconstruction activities under this grant.
  
  
• $1,613,600 for the Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation in Del Norte County
  This funding will support Phase 2 of the planning for the Connected Communities Project, which will create separated pedestrian and bicycle paths and improved crossings around Highway 101. This project scope includes the environmental review and clearance, design and right-of-way, and utility planning and design processes.

RAISE projects are rigorously reviewed and selected by DOT based on merit. Projects are evaluated on statutory criteria of safety, environmental sustainability, quality of life, economic competitiveness and opportunity, state of good repair, partnership, and innovation. New this year, under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 2022 RAISE applications were also evaluated on the criteria of mobility and community connectivity. DOT assesses projects for universal design and accessibility for travelers, and considers how proposals increase mobility for freight and supply chain efficiency.

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