Report 14, on the RTC meeting of April 2, 2009:
Below are a few highlights from the Regional Transportation Commission's meeting held on April 2, 2009. (The agenda for this meeting may be found here, and the RTC's own “highlights” may be found here.)
Agenda Item 31: Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line Acquisition—Status Report and Timeline
Following a closed session regarding the rail corridor acquisition, RTC Deputy Director Luis Mendez reported on the ongoing “due diligence” inspections, plans and reports. For details, see his staff report, which may be found here.
Of significance, the timeline has been pushed back from August 2009 to November 2009, to complete the acquisition and select a shortline rail operator to operate the existing freight service. A detailed update on the timeline is available here. Mendez confirmed the the RTC has until June 2010 to use Proposition 116 funds for the purchase of the rail corridor.
Agenda Item 27: Transportation Funding Updates
RTC Senior Planner Rachel Moriconi reported on the status of funding through the federal economic “stimulus bill”—the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and through the Regional Surface Transportation Program (RSTP). $5.6 million are expected from ARRA and $5.5 million from RSTP. Moriconi's staff report is here.
As we reported earlier here for the March 5 RTC meeting, the proposed local projects seeking this funding are primarily for road repairs for local streets. However, her staff report also recommends using $326,000 in RSTP funds for the Highway 1 Soquel/Morrissey Auxiliary Lanes Project until State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) funds become available for this project.
The RTC Policy Workshop meeting for April 16 has been cancelled. The next regular RTC meeting will be held in the Capitola City Council chambers on Thursday, May 7, starting at 9:00 a.m.