16 Feb Notice of Public Comment Period for Surface Transportation Program Project Selection Criteria
The SCOG Transportation Policy Board has released its draft Surface Transportation Program (STP) project selection criteria for public review and comment. Once approved, the criteria will be used to prioritize regional transportation projects to receive approximately $5.4 million in STP funding. The draft criteria are primarily objective measures that have been selected to assess the regional impact of proposed projects. Weights have been assigned to the measures to prioritize projects that address regional priorities. The public is invited to provide input on the proposed measures, weighting, and selection process (more details below).
Set-Aside
To address the difficulty in developing project prioritization criteria that fairly rate all types of projects that are eligible for STP funds, it is recommended that 10% of the available STP funds be set aside for non-roadway projects (transit, historical preservation, non-motorized, etc.). Once 10% of the STP funds have been allocated or all of the non-roadway projects have been prioritized (whichever amount is smaller), all projects will compete against each other based upon the criteria.
Contingency List
SCOG will also make a call for regional planning study proposals to develop a contingency list of projects that can move forward if other projects are unable to do so. This will provide SCOG with greater flexibility to meet its annual federal funding obligation target. The proposed regional planning studies will be prioritized based upon the following criteria:
- What is the regional issue the study will address?
- What is the desired outcome?
- Does the study address a project/issue identified in Skagit 2040?
- What is the level of regional impact the study will have?
Public Input
SCOG invites the public to provide input on the draft STP project selection criteria. If you have any suggestions about the criteria or the proposed process, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to leave a reply in the comment section of this post. Additionally, written comments can be sent to:
Gabe Philips
gabep@scog.net
(360) 416-6678
204 W Montgomery Street
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Written comments must be submitted by Friday, March 3, 2017. The comments will be compiled and presented to the Transportation Policy Board a week prior to its March 15, 2017 meeting. The public is also welcome to provide verbal comments at the Transportation Policy Board meeting, but written comments are preferred.
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