CTC staff recommends $12.4 million for 2 Monterey County Projects

The Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) recently announced that two Monterey County projects are being recommended to receive $12.4 million in funding from the Active Transportation Program.
Debbie Hale, the Executive Director of TAMC, said, “The confidence that voters placed in them with the approval of Measure X is being rewarded and indicated that they were able to apply for the $12.4 million of matching grants from the SB 1 funded Active Transportation Program for pedestrian and bicycle safety projects that will benefit the Salinas Valley, Monterey Peninsula and North Monterey County.”
The staff recommendations going before the California Transportation Commission for approval later this month includes $10.3 million for the Fort Ord Regional Trail and Greenway (FORTAG) and $2.1 million for a Safe Routes to School Education Program.
The recommended funding for the FORTAG project will be matched with $2 million of Measure X funds. It will be used to fund the Highway 218 segment of the Fort Ord Regional Trail & Greenway, to construct a 1.5-mile paved bicycle and pedestrian trail segment of the proposed 32-mile Fort Ord Regional Trail & Greenway. The regional trail will improve safety, promote healthier lifestyles and the project provides a safe alternative to Highway 218, between Del Rey Woods Elementary School and Laguna Grande Regional Park.
The recommended $2.1 million education program will be matched with $82,000 in local funds. In partnership with the Monterey County Health Department, the money will be used to fund the “Every Child: Community-Supported Safe Routes to School” program.  The program will establish safe routes to school community networks and use innovative tools to provide long-lasting and year-round education in 10 disadvantaged communities in the Salinas Valley, the Monterey Peninsula and unincorporated North Monterey County.
Ms. Hale, concluded by saying, that, “We will know if all of the hard work with our partners in cities of Del Rey Oaks, Seaside, Monterey and the Monterey County Health Department will pay off when we learn the outcome of the California Transportation Commission meeting in Sacramento on January 31.”