Title
Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Grant (Ordinance S-48441)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to apply for, accept, and if awarded, enter into agreements for disbursement of federal transportation funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program. Further request to authorize the City Treasurer to accept, and the City Controller to disburse, all funds related to this item. If received, the grant funds would be for an amount not to exceed $25 million and the City would provide a local match in an amount not to exceed $15 million. This grant funding opportunity is part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Report
Summary
The RAISE discretionary grant program replaced the former Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development or BUILD grant program. The Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2022 RAISE grant specifies that the minimum award amount for urban projects must be at least $5 million and no greater than $25 million. The City’s grant request will not exceed an award amount of $25 million. The local match requirement would be a minimum of 20 percent of the total project cost. To be competitive at a national level for the RAISE grant, it is not uncommon for local matches to be upwards of 30 percent or more of the total project cost.
The U.S. Department of Transportation issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity on Jan. 27, 2022, authorizing and appropriating $1.5 billion in FFY 2022 surface transportation funds for capital projects under the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) that will have significant local or regional impact. The deadline for application submittal is April 14, 2022. The FFY 2022 RAISE grant offers an opportunity to leverage City funds for transportation projects, and RAISE grants are awarded on a competitive basis considering these evaluative criteria:
- Improves safety;
- Environmental justice and equity;
- Sustainability;
- Quality of life;
- Mobility and community connectivity;
- Economic competitiveness and opportunity;
- State of good repair;
- Partnership and collaboration;
- Innovative;
- Project readiness; and
- Cost effective.
Street Transportation (Streets) staff is collaborating on a grant submittal for a new pedestrian and bicycle bridge across the Rio Salado along the 3rd Street alignment. Additionally, staff is looking to make improvements along the south bank of the Rio Salado that will extend from a future South Central Light Rail station and connect to the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center, existing local and regional recreational trails, and future commercial development along the Rio Salado. Improvements will also include upgrading the existing south bank dirt path to an asphalt or concrete pathway with low emitting solar lights to improve safety and connectivity along the multi-use path for extended hours of recreation and commuting between Central Avenue and 16th Street.
The bicycle and pedestrian project will meet the grant criteria for competitiveness including:
- Improving safety by offering connections to a future off-roadway/low density collector bike and pedestrian improvement planned on 3rd Street that will connect Rio Salado to Lincoln Drive;
- Improving safety by adding low emitting solar lights to the south bank path;
- Increasing all the health benefits of extending recreational and commuting paths;
- Promoting sustainable design options including solar lights;
- Improvements and connections to the South Phoenix community with direct access to the future South Central Light Rail line and direct access to a natural regional recreational trail;
- Building upon a state of good repair;
- Partnering with regional and local non-profits and jurisdictions collaborating on the Rio Reimagined project, recently designated as an Urban Waters Federal Partnership site; and
- Positioning this project for future bicycle and pedestrian expansion phases to include a roadway and multi-use path facility that will directly connect users and underrepresented communities from South Phoenix to Downtown Phoenix.
Financial Impact
If awarded, the RAISE grant will fund up to $25 million of the total project cost. Streets staff intend to submit a grant application for a total project cost estimated at $35-$40 million, which will include design, environmental, and construction costs. With a grant award request of $25 million, the city would provide a local participation of up to $15 million, or about 37.5 percent of the total project cost. This amount aligns well with submitting a competitive grant.
The local match is available for programming in the Street Transportation Department’s Capital Improvement Program budget.
Location
Council Districts: 7 and 8
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Managers Mario Paniagua, Karen Peters and Inger Erickson, and the Street Transportation and Parks and Recreation departments.