By Jeff Raliski, Transportation Analyst III
The Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) on January 16, 2025 approved $52.4M in funding for thirty-one individual transportation improvement projects across the region. The approved allocations are for Fiscal Year (FY) 2031 and are advanced under two federal programs: the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) and Regional Surface Transportation Program (RSTP) initiatives. The CMAQ program provides federal funding for projects that improve air quality. RSTP funding is generally available for a wide variety of transportation project categories.
For the CMAQ program, twelve of the nineteen funded projects address traffic signal system, timing, and coordination improvements across Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach, since such projects have historically been shown to be very cost effective in reducing vehicle emissions. The largest CMAQ funding awards this cycle, at $6 million, went to Hampton Roads Transit for bus vehicle replacement purchases. The remaining CMAQ awards support an intersection improvement in Newport News, bus vehicle replacement purchases at Williamsburg Area Transit, efficiency improvements in the movement of shipping containers in and around the Port of Virginia, new sidewalk improvement programs in James City County and Chesapeake, and a Complete Streets repurposing project in Norfolk, which will create a safe cycling option along a heavily traveled corridor while also reducing pedestrian crossing distances.
One of the multiple and connected Laskin Road improvement projects in Virginia Beach, Phase III, represents the largest RSTP funding allocation at approximately $9.2 million. Reflecting the great flexibility of the RSTP program, the remaining funding allocations are divided between the regional travel demand management program, five additional road widening efforts, two active transportation (non-motorized) improvement programs, two traffic signal system upgrades, and one transit study. Six different jurisdictions and agencies received RSTP allocations this cycle.
The region conducts the CMAQ/RSTP Project Selection Process annually. However, new applications for RSTP projects were not accepted for the current project selection cycle since the funding requirements in FY 2031 for existing projects in the program were calculated to be above the projected available funding target. Instead, the relevant committees reviewed the funding information for all previously approved RSTP projects in developing its funding recommendations, making adjustments in allocation amounts and phasing years as appropriate in order to bring allocation totals in line with the established FY 2031 funding target.
For the CMAQ selection process, approximately $13 million in FY 2031 CMAQ funding was projected to be available for distribution after consideration of the funding need of previously approved CMAQ projects. During the 2024 CMAQ Project Selection Process, HRTPO staff received applications for twenty-nine proposed new CMAQ projects. HRTPO staff evaluated and scored the proposed projects using the methodologies approved by the TTAC and HRTPO Board as outlined in the Guide to the HRTPO CMAQ and RSTP Project Selection Process.
https://www.hrtpo.org/DocumentCenter/View/685/Guide-to-the-HRTPO-CMAQ--RSTP-Project-Selection-Process-PDF?bidId=
Tables 1 and 2 below detail the approved CMAQ and RSTP projects and allocations for FY 2031, developed with the assistance from regional stakeholders on the Transportation Programming Subcommittee (TPS) and the Transportation Technical Advisory Committee (TTAC).
