$60.6 million awarded to strengthen climate-resilient transportation infrastructure

California Construction News staff writer

California has secured $60.6 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation to bolster climate-resilient transportation infrastructure across the state, addressing challenges such as wildfires, flooding, and extreme heat.

According to U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, funds will support projects that improve transportation infrastructure’s resilience against extreme weather and natural disasters. The initiatives will help expedite emergency response, secure reliable evacuation routes, and create good-paying construction jobs across California.

The grant is from the Department of Transportation’s Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient and Cost-Saving Transportation program.

Projects receiving funding address a range of challenges:

• City of Davis: $24 million to install cool pavement technologies and upgrading roadways across 15 project locations to mitigate extreme heat and enhance safety for all road users.
• Metropolitan Transportation Commission: $20 million to improve corridor resilience and prevent flooding on a 10.4-mile section of State Route 37, benefiting communities in Sonoma, Napa, and Solano counties.
• County of Tulare: $5.3 million to improve a two-mile segment of Avenue 56, protecting a critical evacuation route for the community and constructing a permanent elevated roadway.
• California Department of Transportation: $4.1 million to develop a plan for evacuation route improvements on State Routes 96 and 169, focusing on resilience against wildfire and extreme weather impacts.
• County of Los Angeles: $3.2 million for Integrated Corridor Management strategies in the Castaic-Santa Clarita Valley section of I-5.
• Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay Indians: $2.2 million to address transportation safety on the sole access route to a section of the Ewiiaapaayp Reservation, creating a secondary evacuation route for safe passage in emergencies.
• Tahoe Regional Planning Agency: Over $1.7 million will be used to develop a Resilience Improvement Plan and upgrade communications infrastructure for integrated emergency evacuation in the region.