Merced County loses out on transportation grant
Regional leaders learned this week that the transportation money they hoped to get for what could be an important stretch of road in Merced went to other parts of the state.
Though an official announcement has not come from the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday congratulated the six regions in the state that were awarded money. Merced County’s request for $13 million to use on Campus Parkway in Merced was not on the list.
“The California projects that are receiving grants from the Transportation Department are critical to modernizing the state’s infrastructure,” Feinstein said in a press release.
In the works for more than a decade and a half, Merced’s planned four-lane expressway has been billed as vital to UC Merced’s success. The parkway would eventually connect the university to Highway 99 and could create access to a mostly open area, where retail and industrial space is available.
Regional leaders were hoping to garner matching funds from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program.
Stan Thurston, Merced’s mayor, said he was disappointed the county did not make the list for funding but not “shocked” by the outcome. The request for $13 million was more than any other city or regional body received in California.
The highest amount of money awarded in this state was $11.8 million to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which has plans for a network of sidewalks and bike lanes.
Thurston said city and regional leaders will have to begin to brainstorm other funding sources for the next phase of the parkway, because the transportation grant is too competitive. “We’re not going to get the TIGER grant, so we have to find $13 million to get the next phase built,” he said.
Merced’s leaders have said the parkway would open up space to add retail stores and an industrial park along the road, a chance to bring jobs to a county with some of the highest unemployment in the state.
Finding other funding sources for the $13 million is vital to Merced, he said. “It’s that important to the growth of this city to keep that moving,” Thurston said.
Merced and its regional counterparts, Merced County and the Merced County Association of Governments, have tried multiple times to get TIGER grant money with no success.
Getting a TIGER grant is a long shot, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult. The program received 797 requests nationwide for funding this year, compared with 585 in 2013.
On top of that, there’s some uncertainty as to whether the program will continue late into next year, according to Matt Fell, transportation director for MCAG.
“We don’t know if there’s going to be another TIGER next year or not,” he said. “And the TIGER program is extremely competitive, so even if there is, we don’t know if our chances will get any better.”
Even with funding from MCAG’s regional impact fee and State Transportation Improvement Program, Fell said, it would be difficult to fund the parkway without TIGER cash.
Fell said hearing ‘no’ this year from the Department of Transportation was difficult.
The parkway had the potential to create jobs and brought entities, including UC Merced, together to try to fund it. “We’re very disappointed,” Fell said. “It was a great partnership.”
This story was originally published September 11, 2014 at 8:27 PM with the headline "Merced County loses out on transportation grant."