Meeting_Body
PLANNING AND PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
JULY 16, 2025
Subject
SUBJECT: APPROVAL OF THE CONGESTION MITIGATION AND AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM AND SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BLOCK GRANT PROJECT RANKING RECOMMENDATIONS
Action
ACTION: APPROVE RECOMMENDATION
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
AUTHORIZE the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or their designee to submit to the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) the project ranking recommendations for Los Angeles County for Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) and Surface Transportation Block Grant Program (STBG) funding for federal fiscal year 2027 through 2028 (Attachment A).
Issue
ISSUE
On March 31, 2025, the SCAG released a call for nominations inviting agencies within Los Angeles County to submit applications for CMAQ and STBG funding apportionments available for the SCAG region for federal fiscal year (FFY) 2027 through FFY 2028. Metro staff, along with two representatives from area Councils of Governments, have reviewed and ranked applications for Los Angeles County and are seeking Board approval of the project rankings. SCAG will further review and prioritize the applications and will make the final project funding awards at the November 2025 Regional Council (RC) Meeting.
Background
BACKGROUND
The CMAQ Program is a federal funding source for transportation projects and programs designed to reduce congestion and enhance air quality in areas that do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone, carbon monoxide, or particulate matter (nonattainment areas), as well as in former nonattainment areas that are now in compliance (maintenance areas). The STBG program is another federal funding source that may be utilized for projects that preserve and improve the conditions and performance of highways, bridges, and public roads, along with pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, and transit capital projects.
In 2021, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Federal Transit Administration (FTA) jointly mandated the State of California to comply with the administration process for CMAQ and STBG funds. CMAQ and STBG funds were previously allocated to County Transportation Commissions (CTC) based on a population-based formula. The corrective action required by the FHWA and FTA replaces the current federal transportation funding sub-allocations by population or mode to cities and counties with a performance-based approach and modifies the project selection process, so federally funded transportation projects are chosen by SCAG as the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) instead of by Metro as the CTC.
The CMAQ Program and STBG Program Guidelines, adopted by the SCAG RC on March 2025, established the framework for project selection and allocation of CMAQ and STBG funds within the SCAG region. These guidelines outline the SCAG-administered project selection process in compliance with federal requirements for the CMAQ and STBG programs.
As part of the 2025 SCAG Call for Projects, all County Transportation Commissions (CTCs) in the SCAG region, which includes Metro, will assist in the process by providing initial project screening using the Board adopted project evaluation and ranking criteria described below. Following the Board’s adoption of the ranked projects for Los Angeles County this July, SCAG staff will then evaluate all nominations against program criteria and recommend a list of projects and funding amounts for final SCAG Regional Council approval of the selected projects.
SCAG is responsible for the development of the call for project nominations process, oversight, and final project selection. SCAG has established performance-based nomination targets to guide the nomination submittals from each county within the SCAG region. For the CMAQ and STBG funds available through this call for projects, Los Angeles County’s target is approximately $660 million. This funding target will only guide the nomination submittals from each county; it is not a guaranteed funding level nor a nomination ceiling.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
The SCAG guidelines require each county to adopt and apply a Project Prioritization Framework consisting of criteria to evaluate and rank each project. Projects were evaluated into four categories: Highly Recommended, Recommended, Contingency List, and Not Recommended.
On March 27, 2025, the Board adopted the following four criteria to be used to evaluate and rank projects submitted in Los Angeles County:
1. Eligibility: Potential implementing agencies and projects must be eligible for CMAQ and/or STBG funds.
2. Alignment with Metro Plans and Policies: Projects must support adopted Metro plans, policies, and objectives.
a. Given the Metro Board's commitment to provide world-class mobility options during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, priority will be given to the projects that support the Games Mobility Concept Plan.
3. Community/Stakeholder Engagement: Project nomination applications must demonstrate community support. Community support may be determined through a variety of means, including (but not limited to):
a. Responses to public outreach, including comments received at public meetings or hearings, feedback from community workshops, survey responses, etc., and/or Endorsement by community-based organizations.
b. Subregional support. Endorsement by a Council of Government or Subregional Board.
4. Deliverability and Readiness: Implementing agencies must demonstrate sufficient capacity and technical expertise to meet deadlines. Projects must demonstrate readiness and the ability to obligate the funds within the programming period.
a. To maximize the timely obligation of CMAQ/STBG funds and to provide maximum mobility benefits to support the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, priority will be given to projects that can be delivered (i.e., open to public use) before June 2028.
To ensure transparency in the project ranking process, two representatives from the Council of Governments (COG) reviewed and ranked the applications submitted for Los Angeles County. The two COG representatives were nominated and affirmed by the COG Executive Directors. The two COG representatives and three Metro staff reviewed all 105 applications and met to review and discuss their project rankings. The project ranking recommendations included in Attachment A were developed through a consensus of the five-member review panel. This collaboration provided enhanced transparency in the evaluation and ranking of all projects seeking CMAQ/STBG funding. Ultimately, SCAG will further review and prioritize the applications to make the final decisions on project funding awards.
Project Rankings
105 applications from 34 agencies, including Metro, seeking approximately $2.03 billion, were submitted in Los Angeles County. The Metro projects identified for funding were existing projects with Board approval and were eligible to spend CMAQ and STBG. The evaluation panel reviewed and evaluated the applications using the Metro Board adopted Prioritization Framework criteria described above and assigned one of four categories: Highly Recommended (49 projects totaling $1.52 billion), Recommended (28 projects totaling $415 million), Contingency List (22 projects totaling $237 million), or Not Recommended (6 projects totaling $33 million). Attachment A lists (in alphabetical order by agency) the overall ranking for each application submitted and identifies the subregion and modal category.
Determination_Of_Safety_Impact
DETERMINATION OF SAFETY IMPACT
Approval of this item will have no direct impact on the safety of Metro customers or employees. However, as some of the projects eligible for these funds include safety enhancements, avoiding potential risks to maintaining the grant funding helps to ensure the timely realization of the projects’ anticipated safety benefits.
Financial_Impact
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Adoption of the recommendations would allow Metro to take action to potentially secure up to $2.03 billion for Metro and subregional projects. Although SCAG has targeted $660 million, this funding target will only guide the nomination submittals from each county, it is not a guaranteed funding level, nor does it set a nomination ceiling.
Impact to Budget
Projects approved by the SCAG Regional Council for funding will be programmed in the 2027 FTIP consistent with adopted FTIP Guidelines.
Equity_Platform
EQUITY PLATFORM
CMAQ and STBG funds aim to provide a flexible funding source for state and local governments to support transportation projects and programs that reduce congestion and enhance air quality in areas that do not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The Board's action will help secure funding from a program designed to advance transit and other multimodal plans, programs, and infrastructure improvements within lower-resourced communities, areas of concentrated poverty, historically disadvantaged communities, and areas with diminished or lost service.
Nearly all Metro EFCs overlap with one or more of the indicators included in SCAG’s mapping tool used to identify Areas of Persistent Poverty and Historically Disadvantaged Communities in the evaluation of Community Economic Development. Census tracts identified as Areas of Persistent Poverty are similar to Metro’s EFCs in that they are determined using socioeconomic factors, including a significant percentage of the population living in poverty.
The adopted project ranking criteria in the CMAQ/STBG Call for Nominations process require applicants to demonstrate direct and/or indirect benefits to Metro Equity Focus Communities (EFCs). These benefits include air quality improvements, infrastructure for safer active transportation and improvements to local transit services. The types of projects funded through the CMAQ/STBG Call include improvements to local transit, clean transportation technology, and transportation demand management strategies.
Vehicle_Miles_Traveled _Outcome
VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED OUTCOME
VMT and VMT per capita in Los Angeles County are lower than national averages, the lowest in the SCAG region, and on the lower end of VMT per capita statewide, with these declining VMT trends due in part to Metro’s significant investment in rail and bus transit.* Metro’s Board-adopted VMT reduction targets align with California’s statewide climate goals, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. To ensure continued progress, all Board items are assessed for their potential impact on VMT.
While the agency remains committed to reducing VMT through transit and multimodal investments, some projects may induce or increase personal vehicle travel. However, these individual projects aim to ensure the efficient and safe movement of people and goods. Although the highway project improvements under the STBG may not directly contribute to the achievement of the Board-adopted VMT Reduction Targets, the VMT Targets were developed to account for the cumulative effect of a suite of programs and projects within the Metro region, which individually may induce or increase VMT. Additionally, Metro has a voter-approved mandate to deliver multimodal projects that enhance mobility while ensuring the efficient and safe movement of people and goods. As part of these ongoing efforts, this item is expected to contribute to further reductions in VMT.
This item supports Metro’s systemwide strategy to reduce VMT by providing funding to enhance transit systems and to support various multimodal plans, programs, and infrastructure improvements throughout the region. These investment activities will benefit and further encourage transit ridership, ridesharing, and active transportation. Metro’s Board-adopted VMT reduction targets were designed to build on the success of existing investments, and this item aligns with those objectives.
*Based on population estimates from the United States Census and VMT estimates from Caltrans’ Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) data between 2001-2019.
Implementation_of_Strategic_Plan_Goals
IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS
Approval of these recommendations will support the following Strategic Plan Goals:
Goal 3: Enhance communities and lives through mobility and access to opportunity by securing funding that will conduct planning, create and enhance programs, and build infrastructure that accelerates infill development that facilitates housing supply, choice, and affordability, affirmatively further fair housing, and reduce VMT.
Goal 4: Transform LA County through regional collaboration and national leadership by facilitating partnerships to deliver transportation projects with significant geographic or regionwide benefits.
Alternatives_Considered
ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED
The Board may choose not to approve the recommended actions. Staff does not recommend this alternative because SCAG requires each County Transportation Commission (CTC) to adopt project rankings of CMAQ/STBG projects, which could jeopardize funding for projects in Los Angeles County.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
Upon Board approval of these recommendations, staff will transmit the project ranking for Los Angeles County to SCAG by the August 1, 2025, deadline.
Attachment
ATTACHMENT
Attachment A - Project Rankings for CMAQ/STBG Funding for Los Angeles County
Prepared_by
Prepared by:
Michael Richmai, Senior Manager, Countywide Planning & Development, (213) 922-2558
Nancy Marroquin, Senior Director, Countywide Planning & Development, (213) 418-3086
Mark Yamarone, Executive Officer, Countywide Planning & Development, (213) 418-3452
Laurie Lombardi, Senior Executive Officer, Countywide Planning & Development, (213) 418-3251
Nicole Ferrara, Deputy Chief Planning Officer, Countywide Planning & Development, (213) 547-4332
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: Ray Sosa, Chief Planning Officer, (213) 547-4274
