Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act is the current federal authorization for transportation funding programs. Signed in December 2015, the FAST Act authorizes funding over federal fiscal years (FFY) 2015-16 through 2019-20 for highway, highway and motor vehicle safety, public transportation, motor carrier safety, hazardous materials safety, rail, and research, technology, and statistics programs.

Core programs managed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) under the FAST Act include the National Highway Performance Program, the Surface Transportation Block Grant Program, Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality Improvement Program, Highway Safety Improvement Program, Railway-Highway Crossings Program, Metropolitan Planning, and National Highway Freight Program.

More info on the programs can be found at fhwa.dot.gov/fastact.

Core Transit Programs managed by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) authorized under the FAST Act include FTA 5307 Urbanized Area Formula, FTA 5309 New Starts, FTA 5310 Formula Grants for Enhanced Mobility of Seniors and Individuals with Disabilities, FTA 5337 State of Good Repair, and FTA 5339 Bus and Bus Facilities.

More info on the programs can be found at transit.dot.gov/FAST.

Other funding opportunities include competitive programs such as Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Program competitive grants, Fostering Advancements in Shipping and Transportation for the Long-term Achievement of National Efficiencies (FASTLANE) grants, and the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA), which provides federal credit assistance to eligible projects.

The Federal Transportation Improvement Program (FTIP) is a capital listing of all regionally significant federal or state funded transportation projects proposed over a six-year period for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) region, which includes Orange County. The projects include highway improvements, transit, rail and bus facilities, high occupancy vehicle lanes, signal synchronization, intersection improvements, freeway ramps, etc., and the funding sources are identified.

The SCAG FTIP can be found at ftip.scag.ca.gov.

More information about OCTA’s policies for using federal funds can be found in the CPP through the following link.

The Capital Programming Policies were approved by the OCTA Board of Directors on December 13, 2021 and can be found here.