Amador County has one of the projects on the list- and it is not affiliated with the Tri County Alliance of Amador, Calaveras and Alpine Counties and the cost overruns of the various bypass projects. The project up for approval this week is the long anticipated Regional Transit Center at Sutter Hill. The amount being requested is 1.4 million dollars and that would add onto an already approved grant for the Federal Government secured by Congressman Dan Lungren in 2005.

That Good News came to Amador County from Washington DC. In late 2005 when 836,000 dollars was allocated from Federal funds for the Amador County Regional Transportation Hub planned for Sutter Hill. This project is located on Sutter Hill and includes a regional park and ride transfer facility. This would be adjacent to State Hwy 49 and 104(lower Ridge Rd) and would serve as a “hub” for persons desiring to use bus services throughout Amador County and the surrounding counties as well. The battle for the 1.4 million dollars requested under the CMIA program will be an uphill battle for Amador County- State Transportation Staff has recommended against it. The staff recommendations to the commission include fully programming the $4.5 billion in CMIA funds over two cycles: this one and another round in 2008, consistent with the April adoption of the 2008 State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). The level of recommended funding in this cycle is approximately $2.8 billion.

The CTC staff is concerned that investing the entire $4.5 billion at this time may create challenges for project delivery and according to a staff report issued Friday afternoon, a funding level between $2.8 billion and $4.5 billion may be appropriate, as long as the investments yield measurable benefits and projects can meet their milestones. The decision whether to program the entire $4.5 billion or an amount less than that rests with the full Commission. Staff states in their report that they recognize that the recommended level of funding in this cycle does not achieve the 60-40 north-south split, which will need to be met in the subsequent round of programming. The criteria used by the CTC staff in their recommendations were a determination that the projects had demonstrable congestion relief or connectivity benefits that could be under construction before June 2011. At a total cost of $3,205,000 the Amador County request of 1,450,000 was found to have “unclear benefits to Corridor Mobility” according to the staff of the CTC. The Recommendation: Do not include( the Sutter Hill project) in the CMIA program. This project may be an appropriate candidate for the Proposition 1B formula transit program, says CTC staff, under the Public Transportation Modernization, Improvement, and Service Enhancement Account.