The California Department of Transportation recently released for public comment a draft application guide intended to help local communities and tribal governments prepare to access regional sustainable project funding and achieve statewide greenhouse gas reduction targets. The agency encourages stakeholders to provide feedback within the 30-day period for the draft 2025-26 Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Application Guide and submit comments by Oct. 10.
Caltrans updated the STPG application to increase the Native American tribal government set-aside to $3 million from $800,000. This includes up to $2 million for sustainable communities and up to $1 million for climate adaptation planning.
Caltrans will conduct two virtual workshops for stakeholders on Oct. 2 and Oct. 3 from 9 to 10 a.m. prior to releasing the final guide and calls for applications. Details regarding these workshops and the draft application guide are available along with additional information about Caltrans’ Sustainable Grants Program by visiting the department’s dedicated webpage.
Additional updates to the STPG application include the following:
- Expanding eligible primary applicants for the Strategic Partnerships – Transit grant category to include transit agencies.
- Expanding the eligibility of the Strategic Partnerships funding to align with transportation, land use, housing and climate change goals.
- Removing the limited waiver of sovereign immunity requirement for Native American tribal government contracts with Caltrans.
- Removing the local match requirement for Native American tribal governments, which was previously set at 11.47% minimum.
The program includes several grant programs. Sustainable Communities grants include $25 million annually from Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
Strategic Partnerships grants include $4.5 million annually to support transportation and multimodal studies that address regional, interregional and statewide needs. These grants are authorized by Federal Transit Administration 5304 and Federal Highway Administration State Planning and Research Part I. Climate Adaptation Planning grants include approximately $3 million from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $15 billion clean transportation package from the 2022-23 state budget to continue furthering the state’s climate goals.
Caltrans says it awards transportation planning grants each year through a competitive process to encourage local and regional projects. Applications are evaluated on how projects advance state transportation and climate goals by identifying and addressing statewide, interregional or regional transportation deficiencies on the highway system. The grant program began in the 2015-16 fiscal year. Since then, Caltrans has awarded 685 planning grants totaling $266 million, and more than 60 percent of those projects have been completed.
Information about projects that are building California’s climate-friendly future is available at build.ca.gov and RebuildingCA.ca.gov.
Information provided by California Department of Transportation
