The California Department of Transportation – known as Caltrans – recently unveiled a new tool designed to prioritize transportation projects that further California’s climate, safety, and equity goals in relation to state and federal grant applications.
[Above image by Caltrans]
The agency said the new Caltrans System Investment Strategy or CSIS updates the project evaluation and nomination process to better identify and promote multimodal climate-friendly projects in funding decisions.
The new tool fulfills a key action in the state’s Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure or CAPTI, said Caltrans, which calls for a data- and performance-driven investment strategy to more effectively align state and federal grant applications for transportation projects with the state’s ambitious climate goals.
“Deploying this forward-thinking and progressive investment strategy will not only significantly reduce our carbon footprint but provide a tool to vastly improve the safety, equity, and accessibility of our highway system,” explained Tony Tavares, director of Caltrans, in a statement.
Caltrans noted that this new analytical tool includes nine quantitative and two qualitative metrics to evaluate projects.
Quantitative metrics include safety, vehicle miles traveled, accessibility, the effect on disadvantaged communities, land usage, improvements to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, improvements to zero-emission vehicle infrastructure, and improvements to freight movement, while qualitative metrics include climate resilience and public engagement.
Caltrans added that it plans to use its new Equity Index tool, introduced in March, along with its new CSIS as part of the agency’s climate, safety, and equity goal alignment process for transportation projects.
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