The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program provides funds for transportation projects and programs that will contribute to attainment or maintenance of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone, carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM).

The CMAQ program supports two important goals of the federal Department of Transportation: improving air quality and relieving congestion. These goals were strengthened in provisions added to the CMAQ Program by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP‑21; Pub. L. 112-141) and continued in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act; Pub. L. 114-94). These provisions emphasize cost-effective emission reduction and congestion mitigation activities when using CMAQ funding.

SPC and PennDOT staff are hosting a virtual workshop to assist local sponsors in the SPC region in understanding their roles, responsibilities, and requirements in delivering a transportation project.

If you are considering applying to any programs in the future, this workshop will introduce you to funding programs and the regulatory requirements sponsors must meet to use federal or state transportation funds. This workshop will provide details regarding the SPC Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside (TA) Program and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ), both of which have open/upcoming application periods.

With SmartMoves Connections, SPC presents a new approach to regional transit planning—one based on locating the Transit Supportive Land Uses already present in our region. Using a Machine Learning analysis of aerial photography and travel data, SmartMoves Connections maps the clusters of land with multimodal potential. These are put into six categories where Multimodal Hubs and Multimodal Corridors could be good mobility options.

A Multimodal Hub is a facility where mobility services can connect together—such as Park-and-Ride, bike lockers, scooter-share or paratransit—along with public transit service. These Hubs allow seamless connections between the parts of a person’s trip and enable new kinds of trips, even across county borders or on multiple transit services.

As of Monday June 28^th, the 2021 SPC Transportation Alternatives Funding Program is open to qualified applicants. The Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside (TA) Program provides funding for programs and projects defined as transportation alternatives, including on- and off-road pedestrian and bicycle facilities; infrastructure projects for improving non-driver access to public transportation and enhanced mobility; environmental mitigation; recreational trail program projects; and, safe routes to school projects. The SPC region receives a yearly sub-allocation of approximately $1.8 million to award to eligible projects.

Prospective project sponsors should submit a short pre-application by August 16, 2021. The full application will be due on October 15, 2021. The SPC TA program pre-application, application, and program guidance (which includes submission instructions) is available on the SPC website at https://www.spcregion.org/funding-programs/ . The site also includes a link to the concurrent but separate PennDOT administered statewide TA program. Any questions can be directed to Lillian Gabreski at lgabreski@spcregion.org.