To better prepare for weather emergencies
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) has announced that California will receive $60.6 million to help communities across the state better prepare for and respond to extreme weather events like wildfires, flooding, and extreme heat. This funding was made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which established the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Grant Program.
“As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of floods, wildfires, and extreme heat, climate-smart transportation infrastructure can be the difference between life and death,” Padilla said. “Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’re delivering major investments in underserved and Tribal communities to expedite emergency response and secure reliable emergency evacuation routes while creating more good-paying construction jobs.”
The PROTECT Grant Program funds projects to make transportation infrastructure more resilient to future weather events and other natural disasters by focusing on resilience planning, making resilience improvements to existing transportation assets and evacuation routes, and addressing at-risk highway infrastructure. In general, eligible projects include highway and transit projects, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and port facilities, including those that help improve evacuations or disaster relief.
Among the applicants receiving funding are:
• California Department of Transportation — $4,100,000: The California Department of Transportation will receive $4.1 million to develop a plan that identifies evacuation route improvements for State Routes 96 and 169, focusing on resilience elements against wildfire, extreme weather impacts, and other climate related events. This project will improve and protect access for disadvantaged communities, including Hoopa, Karuk, Yurok and Tsnungwe Tribes, to obtain goods, services, and medical care, connection to cultural resources, and emergency access in and out of the region.
• County of Los Angeles — $3,178,400: The County of Los Angeles will receive nearly $3.2 million to implement Integrated Corridor Management strategies on and around the Castaic-Santa Clarita Valley section of I-5 to minimize delays during evacuations and improve emergency response times to help save lives. The intelligent transportation components include changeable message signs, sensors, closed-circuit TV cameras, advanced traffic controllers and communications that will enable real-time traffic monitoring and operations to support evacuation routes.
In 2022, Padilla announced more than $631 million over five years for the PROTECT Formula Program. Padilla previously authored an amendment included in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to ensure that vegetation management along roadways, a critical activity to help prevent wildfires in California, is eligible under the PROTECT Program.
