SACOG Conformity Determination

8. IMPLEMENTING THE 2006 MTP
HOW DOES THIS 2006 MTP LEAD TO PROJECTS GETTING BUILT?
The MTP 2025 provided a long-range vision for short-term transportation funding decisions,
and the 2006 MTP continues this vision into implementation.
SACOG assigns federal and state funds to carry out projects from the long-range plan,
through a series of documents called Transportation Improvement Programs, or TIPs. Any
agency using federal or state funds for projects must deal with as many as four different
kinds of TIPs:
• Regional Transportation Improvement Program or RTIP -- SACOG specifies projects
to receive federal and state funds made available by the California Transportation
Commission, going out five years into the future. The RTIP serves as an application to use
the federal and state funds for the projects specified.
• State Transportation Improvement Program or STIP -- the California Transportation
Commission brings together RTIPs from all over the state into the STIP, which extends five
years into the future. The Commission authorizes the use of state funds for all the projects
included as well as a federal program, Transportation Enhancements Activity (TEA).
• Metropolitan Transportation Improvement Program or MTIP -- SACOG specifies
projects to receive three types of federal funds granted directly to the region: Regional
Surface Transportation Program (RSTP), Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ),
and various Federal Transit Administration funds, going out three years into the future.
SACOG sends the MTIP to Caltrans, including both projects funded directly and projects
contained in the STIP, and it serves as an application for all projects to receive federal
funding of any type. This MTP will be accompanied by a new MTIP.
• Federal Transportation Improvement Program or FTIP -- Caltrans packages MTIPs
from all over the state into the FTIP, which covers three years into the future, and sends it to
the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration. The federal
agencies currently approve the FTIP by October of even-numbered years, and authorize the
use of federal funds and consideration of federal permits for the projects specified.
The process to prepare and approve the series of four TIPs takes a year, with public review
and approval at the local, regional, state, and federal levels in sequence. This process involves
counties, cities, and transit districts seeking federal funds for their projects, SACOG selecting
which projects to fund, and two state agencies and two federal agencies reviewing and approving
the projects, funding amounts, and schedules for work. From time to time, SACOG may amend the
TIPs, with approval by the other agencies involved when projects or costs or schedules change, a
process that takes up to three months.
The TIPs must satisfy three federal and state requirements:
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