DIVISIONS PLANNING
Congestion Management Process
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As a federally-designated Transportation Management Area, SBCAG is responsible for fulfilling federal congestion management requirements by implementing policies, programs, and projects in the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and Transportation Improvement Program (Title 23 Part 450 Section 320). The federal congestion management provisions utilize the RTP as the primary tool to provide solutions for congestion. The RTP includes identification and evaluation of anticipated performance and expected benefits of appropriate congestion management strategies (such as demand management, operational improvements, transit improvements, and systems management improvements).
In order to accomplish the data collection requirement under the federal requirements, SBCAG will be working to implement a dynamic, web-based congestion tool using data collected from the National Performance Monitoring Research Dataset (NPMRDS). The tool will report archived travel time and average speeds on the National Highway System (NHS) in the region. When complete, the web-based mapping tool will be available on the SBCAG webpage. The availability of the tool and reporting system will further align our region with the federal Congestion Management System requirement and the National Highway System Travel Time Reliability performance measure required through MAP-21. SBCAG was the designated as the Congestion Management Agency (CMA) for Santa Barbara County in 1991, after the passage of Proposition 111, which increased the state gasoline tax. In July 2018, the SBCAG Board directed staff to work with local jurisdictions to explore becoming exempt from the state’s Congestion Management Program statutes. The exemption process outlined in Assembly Bill (AB) 2419 (1996) requires “a majority of local governments collectively comprised of the city councils and the county board of supervisors, which in total also represent a majority of the population in the county, each adopt resolutions electing to be exempt from the congestion management program.” (Gov. Code § 65088.3). In October and November 2018, SBCAG staff coordinated with local public works staff to adopt local resolutions of support for exemption from the state CMP statute. In January 2019, the SBCAG Board approved a resolution exempting the region from the state CMP statute. |