San Joaquin receives $1.62M in Caltrans grants
San Joaquin County received $1.62 million in grants from the California Department of Transportation on Thursday to fund transportation improvement projects.
The money will be distributed between the County of San Joaquin, San Joaquin Regional Transit District, San Joaquin Council of Governments working with other transportation agencies and the Tri-Valley San Joaquin Valley Rail Authority, according to a Thursday press release from SJCOG.
“This grant funding demonstrates the local and regional commitment to building sustainable communities in San Joaquin County,” said county supervisor Kathy Miller, who also serves as the SJCOG chairwoman.
The County of San Joaquin received $240,000 to update its bicycle master plan with projects such as improving existing bicycle lanes in unincorporated county areas and creating new bicycle routes to connect them to cities such as Lodi, according to Mike Selling, deputy director of engineering for the county public works department.
“From what I understand, there’s a fair amount of people riding around Lodi where the wineries are, and just for fun, so I think there’s some great potential for Lodi to get something out of this,” Selling said.
The county plans to hold workshops with stakeholders such as cycling groups to find out where bicycle lanes need to be widened or added before issuing a request for proposals this summer, Selling said, and hiring a consultant to help with the bicycle master plan that he said has not been updated since 2010.
“It’s probably going to be a pretty slow process, but I would hope that we can have the new bike plan complete by 2020.”
The county public works department is not the only organization planning to use its funds for bicyclerelated projects.
SJCOG — working with the Tuolumne County Transportation Council, California Bicycle Coalition, Calaveras County Council of Governments and Alpine County Local Transportation Commission — will use its $318,503 to improve bicycle safety and encourage bicycle tourism in the area, according to Nicole Gorham, a public information officer for SJCOG.
“The goal of this joint effort is to focus on routes that are already frequented by bicyclists or that could be excellent routes for bicycle tourists because they are scenic, or because they connect destinations that would be appealing to bicycle tourists such as Lodi’s wineries,” Gorham said.
RTD received $177,060 to develop a solar energy system as well as $132,795 to fund a year-long study on the possibility of consolidating certain transit services in the county such as free or discounted rides for disabled passengers and ensuring compliance with the American’s With Disabilities Act, according to public information offi- cer Terry Williams.
“Goals for the study include determining if consolidation would result in cost reduction and service enhancements. In other words, by working together, we may be able to do our job better and for less money,” Williams said.
RTD staff have already met with transit managers from cities such as Lodi who volunteered to help draft a proposal for a Consolidated Services Transit Agency, Williams said, to help facilitate the consolidation should the study find the proposal to be feasible.
“For Lodi, it would mean the same outcome as for other jurisdictions in the county. Assuming the study shows that consolidation could be achieved, it would reduce costs and enhance services for communities such as Lodi,” Williams said
The Tri-Valley San Joaquin Valley Rail Authority also received $750,000 for a study to begin a plan to establish a connection between Bay Area Rapid Transit and the Altamont Corridor Express, the press release said.