San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG) Board members on Jan. 26 got their first glimpse at projects that could be promoted by the agency’s San Joaquin One Voice® advocacy program in 2023.
Eight applications for projects with regional significance were submitted and include:
- SJCOG’s State Route 99/120 Connector Project Phase 1B.
- Manteca’s State Route 120/Airport Way Diverging Diamond Interchange Project.
- Ripon’s Altamont Corridor Express Station.
- Tracy’s Interstate 580/Patterson Pass Road/International Parkway Interchange Improvements.
- Stockton and the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission’s Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard Rail and Roadway Reconstruction.
- San Joaquin Regional Transit District’s purchase of five hybrid electric buses.
- Port of Stockton’s Rail Bridge Replacement Project.
- San Joaquin County’s Grant Line Road Corridor Improvement Project.
For the first time for One Voice®, a volunteer evaluation committee reviewed the applications and provided applicants with valuable feedback to improve the projects’ respective presentations ahead of the One Voice® trip to Washington, D.C., in May. That trip will be used to advocate for projects approved by the SJCOG Board that most closely align with eligibility requirements for funding created by the passage of federal transportation and infrastructure legislation. Potential funding sources include the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill; Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE); Thriving Communities; National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Set aside Discretionary Grants; Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) Grants Program; and Advanced Transportation Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) program.
The SJCOG Board will consider the revised project presentations for approval as soon as at its March meeting.
SJCOG and its member jurisdictions — San Joaquin County and the cities of Stockton, Lodi, Manteca, Tracy, Ripon, Escalon, and Lathrop — are still riding high on the success of the 2022 One Voice® effort. Two major regional transportation projects and an academy for teaching skills for railroad jobs each received a combined $9 million in partial funding when President Joe Biden signed the $1.7 trillion federal spending bill on Dec. 29. That is the greatest success in the history of One Voice®.