Committee Sticks With Staff's $52.1M Grant List Despite Chair's Push

Contra Costa's bid for federal transportation dollars cleared a key hurdle Oct. 1, 2026, when the CCTA Planning Committee recommended staff's ranked $52.1M One Bay Area Grant (OBAG 4) list. Chair Carlyn Obringer pushed to elevate two local road projects, but staff warned that reshuffling could weaken the county's regional standing. The committee also approved $2.04M for a student Clipper Bay Pass pilot and school biking programs.

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• $52.1M OBAG 4 and CARE list advances 4-0 to the Authority Board after a ranking dispute
• Chair's bid to lift Cowell Road and Coggins Drive over the BART lighting project and Bay Pass falls short
• $90M available, $226M requested: staff lays out a five-source strategy for a call about 230% oversubscribed
• West County flags a preconstruction funding gap for the top-ranked San Pablo Avenue project
• $2.04M approved 5-0 for a Bay Pass pilot covering about 2,000 Mount Diablo Unified students

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Chair Challenges OBAG Ranking; Staff List Holds

Why it matters: The list goes to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) by Oct. 31. Its order determines which projects get federal dollars and whether Contra Costa secures at least its $43.4M formula share.

Where things stand: Director of Planning Matt Kelly presented a $52.1M nomination, 120% of the target. It leads with three countywide programs: Smart Signals, Safe Routes to School non-infrastructure, and the Clipper Bay Pass. San Pablo Avenue, Coggins Drive, a BART lighting upgrade and Cowell Road follow. Staff trimmed the Bay Pass request to $10M and Smart Signals from $24M to $14M. CARE funds go to BART wayfinding and Pittsburg's West Leland Avenue.

Kelly said the countywide programs came first by design: "The authority's primary main priorities for this was to get those 3 countywide programs funded from OBAG."

The other side: Obringer noted the Technical Coordinating Committee ranked Coggins and Cowell higher than staff did. She also questioned whether BART lighting qualifies as countywide. "Would it be possible to move the student Bay Pass down, lower on the list, and move Cowell and Coggins up higher on the list?" asked Obringer.

Staff pushed back on three fronts:

• Structure: A June board decision created three silos: countywide, active transportation and transit.
• Math: Moving Cowell up would leave only a partial chunk of a project under the $43.4M line, and MTC prefers fully funded phases.
• Backstops: Measure J's TLC program and TFCA remain fallbacks for Cowell and Coggins.

Director of Programming Hisham Noemi framed the trade-off in geographic terms. "If you decide to take out the Bay Pass program, we can tell you for sure that East County and the Southwest County will lose out because now they're losing their share of that $10 million," said Noemi. He added: "If you take out the money for the countywide program, they're not going to be eligible for anything else." Tim, of CCTA's executive staff, said MTC's draft guidelines do not necessarily favor smaller local projects.

Commissioner Ken Carlson sympathized with the chair on optics: "Our public sees cones and construction. They see movement." He nonetheless sided with staff. "I would go with staff's recommendation," said Carlson, who then made the motion. Carlson also caught a mismatch in CARE amounts between the staff report and the slides. Staff cited $549,000 and $1,650,000 and will correct the figures.

Commissioner Mark Armstrong noted that his city's Crow Canyon Iron Horse Trail overcrossing missed the cut. "But we probably weren't ready for primetime on this one, and I get that," said Armstrong.

Decisions and stakeholder impacts: The committee recommended the list, along with authority for the executive director to execute a fund swap agreement with BART (For: 4, Obringer, Carlson, Armstrong, Rita Xavier; Against: 0; Absent: 1, Vice Chair Aaron Meadows). Meadows had seconded the motion but left before the vote, and the second was re-made.

East and Southwest County keep their countywide share. BART gains lighting and wayfinding money. Cowell Road and Coggins Drive sponsors now rely on backup sources if OBAG falls short.

What's next: The Authority Board takes final action before the Oct. 31 MTC deadline.

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Five Funding Streams, One Oversubscribed Call

The basics: CCTA's coordinated call pools OBAG 4, CARE, TFCA and two Measure J sources, TLC and PBTF. Federal funds require an 11.47% local match.

Where things stand: Kelly said the call drew 39 proposals from 24 sponsors, roughly $226M in requests against about $90M available. "It's about 230% or so oversubscribed," said Kelly. The available funds break down as follows:

• TLC: about $33.1M; East County's share was preprogrammed to eBART
• PBTF: about $8.4M
• CARE: $2.1M

Staff set four objectives: maximize OBAG, honor each source's rules, achieve geographic equity, and follow Measure J processes. Subregional variation ranges from -3.75% to +3.14%.

The other side: Leah Greenblatt of the West Contra Costa Transportation Commission (WCTAC) welcomed San Pablo Avenue's No. 1 OBAG ranking. She warned, however, that a schedule change unbundled the TLC and PBTF decisions from OBAG. That leaves the project with construction money but no preconstruction funding, making it look not fully funded to MTC.

Kelly responded that TLC was listed as an unsecured match but staff consider it secured, and MTC accepts listed sources. He said WCTAC's board will have "its TLC funding approved ahead of the rest of the TLC funding decisions."

What's next: Regional transportation planning committees and CATAC will rank TLC and PBTF projects this fall, with final board approval expected in winter. The informational item drew no committee questions.

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$2.04M Bets on Student Bay Passes, Safe Routes

Why it matters: The pilot tests unlimited transit passes for some of Central County's most vulnerable students. CCTA sees it as a model to scale countywide.

Where things stand: Director of Programs Nikki Folletta presented TransPAC's Sept. 10 selections under Measure J Program 21A:

• Student Transit Pass Program, $1,310,000: $540,000 for a nine-month pilot plus $770,000 for an additional year
• Walk and Roll, $600,000: expands from 17 to all 36 Central County schools
• Bike Family Fest: $80,000
• Bike parking: $50,000

The pilot gives Clipper Bay Pass cards to SOAR and Newcomer students in Mount Diablo Unified at a tentative $25 per student per month. "So that program has 2,000 students, so we'd be handing out passes to 2,000 students, and the Mount Diablo School District has 30,000 students," said Folletta.

The other side: Members asked about transfer travel times, pass counts and whether $25 is enough. A staff member said the pass is unlimited and compared it with West County paper passes: "Those passes are between $37 and $41 a month just for one provider. So economically, we're getting a lot more out of it." Staff said rider data will be anonymized and aggregated, and that MTC may renegotiate the rate annually.

Decisions and stakeholder impacts: Resolution 2647G passed (For: 5, Obringer, Meadows, Carlson, Armstrong, Xavier; Against: 0; Absent: 0). There was no public comment.

Tim called the pilot a testbed for a multipronged approach to school congestion that complements programs like Pass to Class and yellow school buses. Carlson agreed, saying CCTA should "not want to have competitive programming, we should have complementary programming."

What's next: CCTA will convene a countywide youth transit working group. Obringer asked whether board members would serve on it and requested a Walk and Roll school rollout list. Tim offered to explore an Authority Board subcommittee on youth transportation.

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Minor Items

• TFCA bikeway grants: Resolution 2648G funds eight projects, including $609,000 for Cowell Road design. It passed 3-0, with Meadows and Xavier absent.
• Iron Horse Trail: The double-tracking project is covered by $150,000 in TFCA and $3.531M in proposed TLC, pending TransPAC approval.
• Consent numbers check: Obringer flagged mismatched Concord grant invoicing ($4.576M vs. $3.62M) and a $5.4M cap below roughly $6M in allocations. Staff will clarify, and both items passed.
• Concord Naval Weapons Station: The Navy signed its profit-sharing agreement, clearing Brookfield to begin specific plan work, with activity expected from January 2027.
• Schroeder Bridge: Carlson said the bridge will close for several weeks through year-end for buttress work, with night work and possible Treat Boulevard closures.

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Looking Ahead

The OBAG 4 list heads to the Authority Board ahead of MTC's Oct. 31 deadline. The committee next meets Nov. 5, 2026.