Comprehensive Transportation Projects
2021 Regional Transportation Improvement Program
SANDAG, as the Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Regional Transportation Planning Agency, is required by state and federal laws to develop and adopt a Regional Transportation Improvement Program (RTIP).
The RTIP is a multi-billion-dollar, multi-year program of proposed major transportation projects in the San Diego Region. Transportation projects funded with federal, state and San Diego transportation sales tax program (TransNet) must be included in an approved RTIP. The programming of locally funded projects may also be programmed at the discretion of the agency.
The RTIP covers five fiscal years (FY 2021 through FY 2025) and incrementally implements the SANDAG 2019 Federal Regional Transportation Plan, the long-range transportation plan for the San Diego region.
The current Regional Plan was approved by the SANDAG Board of Directors at its meeting on October 25, 2019.
At its meeting on February 26, 2021, the SANDAG Board of Directors will be asked to adopt the final 2021 RTIP.
SANDAG anticipates a federal approval date in April 2021.
2021 RTIP Overview
SANDAG is in the process of developing the 2021 RTIP. A memo detailing the process, requirements, and schedule was emailed on July 2, 2020, and is also below under the Downloads section.
All regionally significant and/or capacity increasing (CI) transportation projects are required to be included in the RTIP and incorporated into the air quality quantitative emissions analysis. All projects included in the 2021 RTIP must be consistent with the Regional Plan.
In addition, the TransNet Program of Projects (POP) is required to be programmed in the RTIP. The TransNet POP was updated for FY 2021 through FY 2025 and was programmed in Amendment No. 14 to the 2018 RTIP. All projects in the POP were carried over to the 2021 RTIP.
2021 RTIP Update Schedule
The list below contains some significant milestones for the 2021 RTIP update process.
July 15, 2020 – All projects are due in ProjectTrak
September 25, 2020 – Funding changes to projects are allowed
November 6, 2020 – All resolutions must be uploaded in ProjectTrak
December 11, 2020 – SANDAG Board is scheduled to release the draft 2021 RTIP for public comment
February 5, 2021 – Transportation Committee is scheduled to hold a public hearing for 2021 RTIP
February 26, 2021 – SANDAG Board is scheduled to adopt the final 2021 RTIP
Federal Air Quality Conformity Requirements
Federal regulations require SANDAG to conduct an air quality conformity analysis of all regionally significant projects that increase the transportation system capacity. All regionally significant capacity increasing transportation projects regardless of funding sources must be included in the RTIP. Additional information on conformity can be found on the Conformity Working Group web page.
Amendments to the 2021 RTIP
On July 26, 2019, the SANDAG Board of Directors delegated the authority to approve administrative modifications to the RTIP, to the SANDAG Executive Director, thereby reducing the time required to process and approve administrative modifications. The planned amendment schedule for the 2021 RTIP includes formal amendments alternating with administrative modifications. Please consult the administrative modification guidelines to determine which amendment to participate in.
Project Manager
Sue Alpert, Senior Financial Programming Analyst
Phone: (619) 595-5318, Email: sue.alpert@sandag.org
For media inquiries, please contact the SANDAG Public Information Office at (619) 699-1950 or pio@sandag.org.
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