FY 2007 Grant Memo - TCSP Projects - TCSP Program

	Memorandum
U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration Federal Transit Administration
	SENT BY ELECTRONIC MAIL


Subject:	INFORMATION: Transportation, Community, and System Preservation Program Request for FY 2007 Grant Applications (Electronic Reply Due: April 30, 2007)	Date:	March 22, 2007
From:	Associate Administrator for Planning, Environment & Realty	Reply to: Attn. of:	HEPP-20
To:	Division Administrators	HEPP-0307-L68-0007

Section 1117 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users provides funding for the Transportation, Community, and System Preservation (TCSP) Program. For FY 2007, Congress did not designate (“earmark”) TCSP funds for the first time since FY 2000 in enacting the Continuing Resolution for FY 2007.

By this notice, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is amending and supplementing its original notice of January 4, 2007 and re-soliciting applications for the TCSP Program for FY 2007. FHWA is focusing on projects which, in addition to meeting statutory criteria of the TCSP Program, provide substantial benefits relating to highway safety or congestion relief. These safety and congestion benefits are the types of benefits that the General Accountability Office recommended be assessed in making discretionary grant awards in an earlier report discussing the FHWA discretionary grant process.

In addition to traditional TCSP project applications, FHWA invites applications of larger-scale projects that provide strategic safety and congestion benefits under the TCSP program. As you know, highway safety has been an increasing focus and priority for FHWA over the recent past. Targeting discretionary funding like TCSP funds, in a results-oriented comprehensive approach to safety is a means of directing limited discretionary funding to those projects that will yield tangible transportation and safety benefits. With respect to safety, applicants should describe the safety benefits associated with the project or activity for which funding is sought, including whether the project, activity, or improvement:

Will result in a measurable reduction in the loss of property, injury, or life;
Incorporates innovative safety design or operational techniques, including variable pricing for congestion reduction, electronic tolling, barrier systems, and intersection-related enhancements;
Incorporates innovative construction work zone strategies to improve safety;
Is located on a rural road that is in need of priority attention based on analysis of safety experience; and/or
Is located in an urban area of high injury or fatality, and is an initiative to improve the design, operation or other aspect of the existing facility that will result in a measurable safety improvement.

Increasing mobility by reducing congestion has also been a priority for FHWA over the past few years. The application of discretionary funding to improve mobility and reduce congestion will yield tangible transportation and economic benefits that should far exceed the limited amount of discretionary funding provided to the project.

In furtherance of measuring the congestion reduction and mobility benefits associated with a project that qualifies for funding under the TCSP Program, within the application, the applicant should describe how the TCSP project, activity or improvement:

Relieves congestion in an urban area or along a major transportation corridor;
Employs operational and technological improvements that promote safety and congestion relief; and/or
Addresses major freight bottlenecks.

For FY 2007, approximately $56 million is available for obligation for TCSP projects. The candidate projects must meet the eligibility criteria for the TCSP Program and will be evaluated on the selection criteria established for the TCSP program and the safety and congestion criteria set forth above and in the attached Federal Register Notice of Funds Availability of March 22, 2007. These criteria are listed in Attachment 1.

Please ensure that the attached TCSP grant application submitted by your State transportation department is for a project or projects that are ready to advance, and for which the funds should be able to be obligated in FY 2007, if the requested TCSP funding is provided.

The applications must be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format (see Attachment 2). Project applications should be received in Headquarters no later than April 30, 2007. Late filed applications may only be considered to the extent practical. When submitting the State's project applications, the division office shall transmit them via email to the attention of Gary Jensen at gary.jensen@dot.gov. Your email transmittal should include:

A statement from the division office that the State's submittal has been reviewed by the division office and that it meets the submission requirements;
The State transportation department's submission email or letter to the FHWA division office; and
Each Microsoft Word application as an attachment.

Information on the TCSP Program is included as Attachment 1 to this memorandum. This contains background information on the program including eligibility and selection criteria, as well as the submission requirements. This solicitation memorandum will also be posted on our FHWA website at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/tcsp/projects.html.

If there are any questions concerning the TCSP Program, please contact Gary Jensen at gary.jensen@dot.gov.

Attachments

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