California Department of Transportation awards $54 million for Sustainable Transportation Planning grants

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) recently issued another $54 million in "sustainable transportation planning grants" to municipalities statewide. You can see a full list of grants here.

Caltrans today awarded approximately $54 million for Sustainable Transportation Planning grants throughout the state. That amount includes $41.6 million for [90] "sustainable, climate-resilient transportation projects throughout California that address local and regional impacts of extreme weather events fueled by climate change."

Breaking down that $41.6 million:

Three grant types went out today: $20.2 million in Sustainable Communities Competitive and Technical Grants, $18.1 million in Climate Adaptation Planning Grants, and $3.3 million in federally funded Strategic Partnership Grants.

About $8 million of [the Sustainable Communities grants] will support the planning of 21 projects that "improve safety and access for people who walk and bike."

And this is all part of a bigger picture:

If it seems like California has been investing a lot of money in sustainability lately, it's true. Yesterday the Strategic Growth Council awarded $750 million for projects that unite affordable housing and clean transportation, and the state has invested more than $3.2 billion to improve public transit and passenger rail service this year alone.

For example, San Francisco area Caltrain tracks are currently being electrified, with electric-ish service expected in Fall 2024 between San Francisco and San Jose. This is more environmentally friendly than running fully diesel trains. Switching to (mostly) electric trains also improves speed and reliability, as they are fundamentally better machines less prone to breakage. Better service and travel times ultimately gets more people out of automobiles and into trains, which are fundamentally better for the environment.

Local rail electrification also supports inter-city rail projects like California High-Speed Rail. That project is continuing along as it has been for some time, slowly ramping up. The first "construction package" (CP 4) near Bakersfield is more or less complete now. CP 1-3 will finish construction in 2026. Construction of the 119-mile segment between Madera and Poplar Avenue (north of Bakersfield) will finish construction in mid-2028. The full (Interim?) Initial Operating Segment will be constructed by 2029. You can see more granular construction progress on Wikipedia. See also: California High-Speed Rail 2023 Project Update Report.