No Grant Funding…Now What?

On August 26, I wrote about several federal grant applications that we submitted for transportation and sustainability projects in the Treasure Valley. In my post, I stated that the chance of receiving even one of these grants was slim.

Unfortunately, I was right. The federal Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development have released the lists of grant recipients. None of our projects received funding, although two Idaho projects did: one in Moscow and one in Hailey.

So, where does this leave us? While we are disappointed to not receive funding to help move these projects forward, it does not mean we are at a standstill. We will apply again next year, and build upon the partnerships we’ve formed and the lessons we’ve learned to develop even stronger applications. We will also request “debrief” sessions with both federal agencies to gain insight into what we can do differently next time to be more competitive.

In addition, we will continue to seek other funding to improve livability and transportation infrastructure in the valley, and we will move forward with the planning projects. However, the work on those projects will be less robust than it would have been with the grant money.

For example, the proposed “regional plan for sustainable development” will be rolled into the next update of our regional long-range transportation plan, Communities in Motion. While the focus of the plan is transportation, other factors, such as housing, land use, and energy, will be incorporated, as all of these issues are interrelated. We will build on the valuable partnerships developed during the grant application process to ensure we are planning cohesively.

The State Street/Highway 44 project will also move forward. We have time budgeted to devote to this important corridor and will work closely with the Ada County Highway District, Valley Regional Transit, the City of Boise, and others to expand transportation choices and encourage transit-supportive land uses along the corridor.

We will work on small, “bite-sized” pieces of the high-capacity corridor alternatives analysis to better prepare us for the full-blown analysis in the future. At the same time, we will continue to seek funding for that full analysis.

However, the argument for funding an alternatives analysis is tricky. While the need for high-capacity transit between Caldwell and Boise is well documented, it can be difficult to make a valid argument for funding for the analysis when there is no source of funding to operate a high-capacity system. It is a “chicken and egg” conundrum – which comes first the plan or the money?

Along those lines, we’ll also continue to advocate for local funding options for transportation for the Treasure Valley. Without a local source of funding, we are at the mercy of the decisions of others, as we were with these grant applications. To be able to take control of our own destiny, we need to be able to pay our own way.