With a Complete Streets resolution passed by the City Council, Tulsa will be incorporating biking, walking and public transit into plans for street projects.
A session Friday at City Hall provided tips to local and regional agency staff members on ways to secure federal funding for biking and pedestrian projects.
James Wagner is with INCOG, which helped put the session together.
“Really the goal here is to educate people about different funding programs that are available that may be being used for highway projects or some other kind of projects at this point,” he said, “but are eligible for bicycle, pedestrian projects, but maybe they just don’t know about it.”
“Most of these programs,” he explained, “fund 80 percent of your project, so the cities only have to come up with 20 percent of the funding to actually do the project.”
That funding could be from state, municipal or local governments, as well as private donors—anything that isn’t federal.
The federal law, known as MAP-21, provides biking and walking funding through the Transportation Alternatives Program.
Starting in March, agencies will be able to apply for TA funding through INCOG.
“We’ll have two funding categories, one for large projects, and another one for smaller projects,” Wagner said.
The City’s Fix Our Streets package is up for renewal, and Wagner expects bicycle and pedestrian projects to be part of the discussion on what to include in Fix Our Streets.