We are going to get started.
All right.
Good afternoon, everyone.
And thank you for taking the time to join us in person and online for the first hearing
on the draft 2026 interregional transportation improvement program, or also known as ITIP.
As required by government code section 14526, the California Transportation Commission must
hold at least two public hearings on the draft ITIP proposed by Caltrans. Today's hearing
is the Southern Hearing and the Northern Hearing will be held on November 7th in Sassoon City.
The ITIP is a critical component of the State Transportation Improvement Program, also known
as the STIP. It provides funding for state highway improvements, intercity passenger
rail projects and other investments that enhance the interregional movement of people, vehicles
and goods. Caltrans released the draft ITIP on October 24, 2020-25. Today, the Commission
looks forward to hearing from Caltrans about how the projects proposed in the draft ITIP
will advance the state's goals for safety, equity, climate action, and economic prosperity.
We also recognize that California's regions have distinct needs and priorities. While
While the ITIP is statutorily limited, it is a multimodal program, one that can help
address those diverse needs through a range of transportation solutions.
Today's hearings is informational only, and therefore no action will be taken.
Once both hearings are complete, Caltrans will review all public and stakeholder comments
and consider them in preparing the final 2026 ITIP.
You will hear more about the overall ITIP adoption timeline
and the next agenda item.
But first, I'd like to invite Douglas Remedios
to provide instructions for members of the public
who wish to comment on the draft 2026
inter-regional transportation improvement program
following the Caltrans presentation.
Douglas, please.
Thank you, Vice Chair Falcone.
The hearing agenda is available on our website
at www.cattc.ca.gov.
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Thank you for joining us today.
Thank you so much, Douglas.
We are still on tab one,
and I am going to pass the microphone
to our chief deputy director, Paul Golaczewski.
Hi, good afternoon, everyone.
I just wanted to acknowledge the efforts
of our commission staff for holding this hearing today.
Doug Remedias, Justin Hall, Casey Morgan-Tarras
and Lori Waters for putting on this hearing for everyone,
as well as our partners at Caltrans,
James Anderson and his team,
and also wanted to thank our hosts,
Orange County Transportation Authority
for allowing us to use this facility today.
And with that, I'll pass it back to Vice Chair, welcome.
Thank you so much, Paul.
I am going to move forward to tab two,
overview and purpose of the draft
2026 inter-regional transportation improvement program.
And I will pass along to Casey Morgutieres.
Casey, thank you.
Good afternoon.
My name is Casey Morgutieres
and I am the program manager
of the state transportation improvement program,
also known as the STIP.
The STIP is a five-year program of capital improvements
that fund highway, transit, local road
and active transportation type projects.
Statute requires the STIP to be adopted by annually,
each even-numbered year, no later than April 1st.
The STIP is made up of two programs,
the Regional Improvement Program,
which receives 75% of STIP funds,
and the Inter-Regional Improvement Program
that receives 25% of STIP funds.
This hearing is specific to the draft
Inter-Regional Transportation Improvement Program,
also known as the ITIP, which is developed by Caltrans.
The ITIP is made up of projects that are programmed
in the STIP's Inter-Regional Improvement Program.
Statute requires that ITIP funds be distributed
as follows.
60% of the inner regional funds must be directed
outside of urbanized areas on inner regional road systems
with a minimum of 15% for inner city rail projects.
40% of the inner regional funds must go anywhere
in the state subject to the 60-40 split.
Caltrans is required to develop the ITIP
in consultation with transportation planning agencies,
county transportation commissions
and transportation authorities.
Caltrans is also required to submit the draft ITIP
to the California Transportation Commission
by October 15th of each odd numbered year.
By November 15th of each odd numbered year,
the commission is required to hold at least
two public hearings, one in the North
and one in the South.
The draft 2026 ITIP is available to the public
and can be found on Caltrans and the commission's website.
Today is the first of two required ITIP hearings.
The North hearing will be held next week
on Friday, November 7th in Sassoon City.
The agenda for the ITIP hearing is available
on the commission's website under meetings.
Following the North and South hearings,
Caltrans staff will prepare the final ITIP.
The final ITIP shall include a summary
of the major comments received at the hearings
and responses to those comments.
Staff encourages Caltrans to consider the input received
at both hearings as the ITIP is finalized.
Caltrans's final ITIP and the regional transportation
improvement programs, also known as our tips,
are due to the commission by December 15th, 2025.
As our tips and the ITIP are received,
staff will compile all of the proposals into one document
that will be presented at the North and South STIP hearings
on Wednesday, January 28th and Thursday, February 5th, 2026.
Staff will publish our recommendations for the 2026 STIP
on Friday, February 27th, 2026.
The commission will adopt the STIP
at the March 2026 commission meeting
just a few days before the required adoption date
of April 1st.
The 2026 STIP guidelines were adopted by the commission
at the August 2025 commission meeting.
The guidelines set the policies, standards, criteria
and procedures for the development adoption
and management of the 2026 STIP.
Also in August, the commission adopted
the 2026 STIP fund estimate identifying 952 million
of new capacity for the 26th STIP period,
including 360 million in public transportation account funds,
the primary source for rail and transit projects.
The 26th STIP fund estimate indicates
a limited amount of capacity in the first three years
of the STIP due to existing programming commitments.
Priority will be given to projects
experiencing cost increases, new phases that are being added
to existing projects and projects
that have SB1 funding commitments.
The formula distribution for the Inter-Regional Program
is approximately 187 million.
However, due to previous advances of 79 million
and elapsed project totaling 62 million,
the amount available for new programming
is 170 million approximately.
These SIPP guidelines identify the Inter-Regional Program
that works towards achieving the following objectives.
provide access for people and goods to and through all
regions of California, ensure that the inter-regional
transportation system is reliable and efficient for the
movement of people, goods, services, and emergency
responses, develop and operate a safe inter-regional
transportation system for all travelers by improving
public safety and security, optimize multimodal
connectivity throughout the inter-regional transportation
system for all people, improve inter-regional
connectivity to enhance California's diverse economy
and improve and manage California's
inter-regional transportation system
in an environmentally sensitive, economical
and equitable manner that fosters livable
and healthy communities and promotes social equity.
All new projects proposed for funding
in the inter-regional program must meet the objectives
that I just specified, be consistent
with the inter-regional transportation strategic plan,
also known as the ITSP, have a project initiation or a PID
or equivalent to a PID.
And that concludes my comments.
Thank you so much, Casey,
for outlining the timeline and the processes.
And I will now turn it over, we are now in tab three,
presentation of the draft 2026
inter-regional transportation improvement program.
and we welcome Caltrans division chief
of finance programming, right?
James Anderson, welcome James.
It's a good afternoon, and thank you,
Vice Chair Falcone, commission staff,
and all others in attendance.
My name is James Anderson,
and I'm the division chief of financial program.
I work with Caltrans, I've been working
for that organization for let's just say over 30 years.
Don't want to give away any secrets.
And I'm pleased to present the draft 2026
inter-regional transportation improvement program,
also referred to as the ITIP.
Next slide, please.
So the ITIP aims for alignment and uniformity
across all of the statewide plans,
specifically the California Transportation Plan for 2050,
The Climate Action, CAPTI Climate Action Plan
for Transportation Infrastructure,
also referred to as CAPTI.
And last not least,
the Interregional Transportation Strategic Plan,
also referred to as ITSP.
And I'm going out these acronyms
and I'm happy to repeat if I need to,
but I just, it makes it easier in the long run
to be sure that everyone's on the same page
with regards to these acronyms.
But the objectives of the ITSP,
the interregional translation strategic plan
is focused on interregional travel.
And what the ITSP does is it provides the framework
for guiding state funding investments
into the highest priority corridors
for interregional strategic improvements.
The 2021 ITSP is the latest updated document that we have
that focuses on accessibility, climate, and equity.
The key takeaway from this slide
is that the proposed projects in the 2026 draft ITIP
are consistent with CAPTI and the ITSP.
Next slide, please.
So with limited funding available
in the draft 2026 ITIP, projects were prioritized
based on cost updates for ongoing projects,
the requested ITIP funding needs,
the requested funding amount,
the evaluation criteria for ITIP projects,
and how the projects fit within the CAPTA
and the ITSP framework.
Next slide, please.
So the 2026 DIP fund estimate provided 176 million
in new capacity.
Of the 176.6 million,
61.2 million was available
for programming new ITIP projects.
The available capacity of this ITIP
was used the remaining available capacity in the ITIP.
115.4 million was used to fund cost increases,
cost updates for caregiver projects and new projects.
I'm sorry, cost-safe deaths for already programmed projects
and projects needing subsequent phases for funding.
Next slide, please.
So before we talk about this slide,
I just wanna reemphasize that the 2026 side tip again
had around 176.6 million available,
but only 61.2 million was available
for funding new projects.
I just want that to be the takeaway
from that particular slide.
So this slide provides a statewide perspective
on the overall inter-regional highway system.
It shows existing and newly proposed projects
and their location in one of the high priority corridors.
After transportation projects in the ITIP
enhance safety, connectivity,
particularly for vulnerable users, non-motorized users,
disadvantaged communities,
and support broader climate sustainability goals.
The active transportation projects within the 2026 ITIP
will encourage walking, biking, and transit on streets
that support disadvantaged communities.
And last but not least, these projects
will better separate vehicles
that are traveling inter-regionally from non-motorized users,
thus enhancing safety, providing safety benefits
for all users of the state highway system.
Next slide, please.
So this slide provides a statewide perspective
of the overall inter-city passenger rail program
of existing and newly proposed projects
and their location in one of the nine
inter-city passenger rail corridors.
Rail investments improve passenger and freight movement,
enable mode shift, decrease congestion,
and support reliable and safety,
as well as some corridors are prioritized
based on statewide needs.
The important thing to realize here is not every corridor,
some corridors may have more projects fee than others.
That's just an important distinction
for your review and reference.
These projects provide the necessary capacity
and reliability for a mode shift of passenger vehicles
and goods to rail and will alleviate congestion
and enhance safety on the state highway system.
Lastly, these projects facilitate mode shifts
and is expected to improve travel trip reliability
on the state highway system.
See again, the key takeaway from this slide
is not all corridors have projects
and some corridors may have more than one project.
so please make a mental note of that.
Next slide, please.
As this table shows, there are 19 careable projects
from the 2024 i-TIP.
It's important to point out that these projects
do not account against this cycle's capacity
that's available for new programming
as their capacity is carried forward
from the previous i-TIP cycles.
Next slide, please.
So as this table shows,
There are eight carryover projects,
and then the sum there at the bottom right corner
of that spreadsheet is 115.4 C million in cost updates,
or refinements, or for next subsequent phases
to deliver the project.
So the key takeaway from this slide
is the 115.4 C million is for projects
that either require cost updates
or have funding needs for subsequent phases.
Next slide please.
So one of the significant benefits of the 2024 ITIP
was we set aside 87.5 C million as a real reserve.
And we're pleased to report that we are actually
programming two projects from that rail reserve,
from that certified funding in the 2024 I-TIP,
in this I-TIP.
And the two projects that are being funded
is the King City multi-semodal transportation center
and the Madera high-speed rail station.
And again, those projects are being funded
from the rail reserve that was set aside in the 2024 I-TIP.
that they are not being funded from new capacity
in the 2026 I tip.
With this adjustment, this transitions the 2024 the I tip
and with this action Caltrans is fully programming
the rail reserve establishing the prior I tip
strengthening the state's investment in sustainable
and reliable intercity passenger rail infrastructure.
Next slide, please.
So these are the new projects that are proposed
in the 2026, our tip.
Even though the table shows six projects,
there are only five new projects.
The last row of the rail project,
King City multimodal translation center,
that 1.6C million is an update.
We're showing here to capture
that it's a little bit more than what we had initially
set aside in the 2024 ITIP.
So we're showing it here
to capture the additional cost update.
But the five projects are one mass transit,
two rail projects, one highway project,
and one ATP project.
And the funding for the proposed new projects total 61.1,
these projects reflect the priorities described and identified in the
interregional transportation strategic plan, and it also helps us to implement
CAPTI and work towards our climate health and equity goals by increasing
safe transportation options for the traveling public. If anyone is
interested in how the new projects were scored when the final ITIP is listed
I tip is listed on the website.
They will actually have the scores for the projects as well.
So they will be available for your review and reference.
And they'll be posting on the same website
as the draft, 2026, I tip.
Next slide, please.
I wanna thank you for allowing me
to present the draft 2026, I tip to you.
The public comment period is open now
until November the 24th.
If you have comments, please submit them in writing
to my email to OSIP, that's oscarcattyimpact and papa,
OSIP at d-o-t-dad-oscotracy.ca.gov.
And again, my name is James Vampsen,
I work with Caltrans, thank you for the opportunity.
And back to you, Vice Chair Falco.
Thank you, Mr. Anderson.
I appreciate you making the presentation.
And now we are on tab four.
I'm opening up the hearing to public comment.
Each speaker will have the opportunity
to provide two minutes.
Please keep your comments as possible to within two minutes.
Again, we appreciate those who have come from afar
to join us or not so far to join us today at this hearing
as well as are those online.
And with that, open to public comment, thank you.
Yes, thank you, Vice Chair.
A reminder to those in the room,
you may submit a speaker slip to us in the front
if you wish to comment.
At this time, I do see one of our virtual attendees
with their hand raised.
I'd call on Jeannie Ward-Waller.
Thank you so much.
And I wanna really appreciate James and the Caltrans team
for putting together this draft ITIP
and for the presentation.
I just, I think I have a question and a comment.
One of the proposed ITIP projects in the list
is described as various projects along Highway 99.
And I just was curious to get more information.
I'm not sure if that's appropriate to share now
in this hearing or maybe as a follow-up,
but just a better understanding
of what that's proposing to fund.
and I think related to all of the projects on Highway 99,
I know in a previous ITIP there was a requirement
to have the multimodal corridor plan
for Highway 99 finished.
I know that's out in draft, but not finalized yet.
So I wonder if that could also just be addressed
by Caltrans, the issue of alignment
with that corridor plan.
And generally, I just want to say,
I think we're really pleased on behalf of climate plan
and partners.
We're pretty pleased to see the multimodal nature
of this ITIP definitely support the rail investments.
And I think especially I wanna just express support
for the active transportation projects that are proposed
in this ITIP.
I know there's been debate in the past
about what interregional active transportation investments
should look like and should be included in ITIP,
future I tips and I'm very pleased to see Caltrans putting more active transportation
projects forward in this draft I tip. So thank you very much.
Thank you for your comments, Mr. Waller. Anybody else, Justin?
I don't see any virtual hand raised at this time, but just a reminder to our virtual attendees
that you may use the virtual hand raise feature if you wish to provide a verbal comment. But
but at this time we will take some of the common cards
that we've received here in the room.
I'd like to first call on Shelly Kwon.
Good afternoon, I'm Shelly Kwon
with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, or Metro.
And I'd like to convey that Metro supports
the use of ITIP funds on projects
that implement solutions to our state's
greatest transportation challenges.
So we are very pleased to see the inclusion
of the LA Riverway bike path segment six
in the draft 2026 ITIP.
Segment six is one of several segments
of the LA River bike path,
which needs to be completed to close the gaps
in the 51 mile bike path system
that connects to a lot of the inter-regional road system,
including the US 101,
and is adjacent to many transit stations,
which serve Amtrak Pacific Surf Liner,
countywide and regional rail and local bus service.
It is truly a project that will increase connectivity
and accessibility to multimobile options
throughout LA County.
I'd also like to say that we hope this will be the start
of a partnership with Caltrans to complete the full bike path.
We've already been fortunate to receive commission funds
for other segments of the bike path.
So this is a first for Metro and Caltrans
and the county and Caltrans on this.
In addition, Metro would like to affirm our support
for a project that we submitted,
but which is not included in the ITIP cycle
and that is the Malabar Yard improvements project.
This is a component of the Link Union Station project
which will increase operational capacity
at Los Angeles Union Station.
While it's not included in the draft ITIP,
we do plan to seek opportunities
to continue state partnership on the project.
On a high level note,
we hope that Caltrans will consider establishing
more feedback loops during the ITIP development process
so that nominating agencies have the opportunity
to understand and maybe address any concerns
that would impact the project's inclusion in the ITIP.
And lastly, I wanna thank District Seven
and Headquarters staff who worked very closely with us
on our ITIP nominations.
Thank you.
Thank you, Shellyan.
Up next, I'd like to call on Ted Smalley.
Thank you, and thank you, commission, staff,
Caltrans, for letting me speak today.
I want to call attention to the 99 projects.
I think we've partnered together
over the past number of years,
including a 99 town hall in Tulare.
You all have had numerous tours up and down the valley.
At the last TSEP hearing,
you all voted to continue to support finishing the 99.
There are a number of projects in there,
including the North and South Madera projects.
And even though those are in the North,
We as a Valley work together and we certainly support our sister agency and finishing the
99.
I want to call our attention to really thank Caltrans for bringing forward the recommendation
on the managed lading project.
I think Jeanie mentioned earlier the multi-modal corridor plan, it is either substantially
done or ready for signature, I don't remember the technicality there, but for us, I think
the CTC's intent wasn't for us just to do a study
and put it on the shelf.
This is now implementing the managed lanes on 99.
And I think that's always been the intent
for us all collectively to work together
to look at those improvements on 99
for both safety and can have huge air quality benefits.
I wanna thank both District 6 and District 10,
but especially District 6 who has worked so hard
on some of these projects.
we are ready to move forward and I would just note on 99 as you saw at the TSEP hearing
in this day and age
believe it or not there is bipartisan support for things and at the TSEP hearing you saw that at the federal level we showed
support
both parties we saw parties at the state level at our local level
If ever there's a transportation project that has galvanized the whole Valley together it is finishing the 99
We appreciate Caltrans headquarters bringing forward to continue to make progress on this
You're a great partner and as well as the CPC and we certainly support
This effort. So thank you very much. I'm happy to answering questions
Thank You Ted
Yes, we have one more in the room at this time.
I'd like to call on Clint Pease.
Good afternoon.
Clint Pease and Wes Bandak, I just want to say thank you to the commission and to CalTrains
for the ICIF.
We have one project in there we want to briefly touch on.
Thank you for your continued support.
It's the San Diego Lagoon and double-trapped project in the city of Del Mar in Palm Beach.
Another key improvement or continued, double tracking of the Lotus End rail line, second
news, corridor.
As well, again, thank you for the continued support.
That project will construct the bottom of self-track, eliminating other bottom of that
connect system, improving the liability.
It'll also raise that track out of the floodplain, and it will also provide a special event platform
But on our racetrack there, that will help alleviate congestion off the high five of local streets,
provide another alternative to get out of the cars, to get to the special event via transit.
So, I just wanted to say thank you and support and we appreciate the time and effort
from everybody who support the item.
Thank you.
Thanks, Clint.
So, that concludes all in-person comment cards.
At this time, I do not see any more virtual attendees indicating they wish to comment
by using the hand raise feature or submitting a written comment.
So, just a reminder, if it is your intention,
please get our attention with a virtual hand raise.
Okay, we'll give it a minute for folks to jump on if they wish
to make public comment.
You also have one additional opportunity to participate
in a NITIP hearing as our associate deputy director,
Casey more Gutierrez mentioned that we have opportunity on
November 7th in Sissoon City and
As well as the submitting written comments to us
Vice chair, I'm not seeing any other requests to comment at this time. Hey going once
Boy, okay. Again. Thank you to those of you who joined us in
person and
online. Thank you OCTA for hosting us. Thank you Commission staff as always for organizing
you know such a solid hearing and opportunity for public to participate in these important
programs that we are working on and thank you again to Caltrans to James for being here.
And with that, we are adjourned.