The CA Transportation Commission (CTC) in 3 Minutes
This article provides an overview of the California Transportation Commission (the CTC). It is part of a series that provides short guides to different governmental transportation organizations in LA and CA.
Formal Name: California Transportation Commission
Year Formed: 1978
Budget: $5.4M
Staff: 13-member part-time commission supported by 24 full-time professional and administrative staff
What the CTC Does: Allocates federal and state funds for transportation throughout the state
The CTC was created in 1978 through the consolidation of four independent boards, commissions, and authorities that provided oversight for different transportation areas. (The CA Highway Commission, the State Transportation Board, the State Aeronautics Board, and the CA Toll Bridge Authority). Some of the CTC’s duties involve advising the governor and state legislature on state transportation issues and creating guidelines for state transportation programs like the ones created by the recent SB1 gas tax.
Allocating Transportation Funding
The CTC’s primary role is allocating funding for several state transportation programs. As mentioned in my piece on LA regional transportation, transportation funding is increasingly coming from local sales taxes as opposed to state and federal gas taxes and fees. But the CTC still allocates a huge amount of money to transportation all over the state.
In FY 2016–17, California received roughly $3.5 billion from the Federal Highway Administration $1.5 billion from the Federal Transit Administration. A portion of these funds is passed through directly to local and regional governments to determine how to spend on transportation infrastructure. The other portion is allocated to state transportation programs, most of which are implemented by Caltrans.
Programs
Three of the most important funding programs that the CTC oversees are:
- The State Highway Operation and Protection Program (SHOPP). This is a four-year list of highway system “repair” projects that is updated every two years. The SHOPP is implemented by Caltrans, and the 2018 SHOPP plans on spending about $4 billion per year.
- The State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) is a five-year transportation program that allocates funds to “improvements” on state highways, intercity rail, local roads, and transit infrastructure. Like the SHOPP, it is updated every two years and is implemented primarily by Caltrans. After getting an injection of additional SB-1 funds in 2018, the total $4 billion STIP to be spent over five years contained $3 billion in highway and road projects (75%) and $700M in rail and transit projects (20%). This comes out to an average of $800 million per year.
- The Active Transportation Program (ATP) was created in 2013 to fund “active” modes of transportation like walking and biking. The 2019 Active Transportation Fund Estimate authorizes spending $233 million per year on these projects throughout the state.
Go here for the main page of this transportation series.
