What’s been going on over at the ATRC?
The ATRC is excited to be working with a number of partners on projects and initiatives that support ATP applicants, ATP recipients, and others working to improve active transportation across California. Current initiatives include non-infrastructure technical assistance, a new statewide active transportation data portal, piloting optional ATP performance measures called Counts+, updating the Active Transportation Benefit-Cost Tool, and more. Here’s an update on the ATRC’s current contracts with partners.
ATRC Administration – Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis (ITS-Davis) – The big news coming out of this partnership is a fully redesigned ATRC website and monthly newsletter. We hope these new resources will make it easier for ATP applicants to access information needed to be successful in project applications and implementation. ITS-Davis is also the facilitator of our ATP Technical Advisory Committee which meets quarterly with ATP implementors from across the state. Our next meeting is in November, and you can access agendas and meeting minutes here. Finally, for those of you who remember the ATP Symposium, it’ll be coming back in October 2025, and ITS-Davis is a key partner in planning and organizing this transformative event.
Non-Infrastructure Technical Assistance – California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Active Transportation Safety Program – Our partners at the CDPH continue to produce engaging webinars, resources, and technical assistance for non-infrastructure (NI) projects. Visit our new webinar webpage to catch up on content you may have missed, like last month’s Building Relationships with Community-Based Organizations/Nonprofits to Strengthen Your Active Transportation Program Project. If you have NI technical assistance needs, please contact us here.
California Active Transportation Data Portal – UC Berkeley SafeTREC – Development of a new data portal for active transportation counts is underway. The team is currently collecting implementer input to shape the final form of the data portal. We recently received a demonstration of the user interface and are excited to share this count reporting and collection tool with you all in the coming months.
Counts+ ATP Performance Metrics – Nelson/Nygaard – The team successfully completed a webinar introducing the Counts+ ATP Performance Metrics project and the first metric Partnerships with Local Organizations and Agencies last month and are preparing a webinar to introduce the next two metrics Program Participation and Driver Yield next month. Nelson/Nygaard continues to deliver project profiles for successfully delivered ATP projects.
Active Transportation Benefit-Cost Tool 2.0 – UC Davis BicyclingPlus Research Collaborative – We’ve kicked off our updates to the Active Transportation Benefit-Cost Tool. We’re happy to once again be working with UC Davis who created the original tool. The tool was built for the specific purpose of ATP project comparison but also serves as a tool for cities and counties to compare projects within their specific jurisdictions, and the California Transportation Commission (CTC) uses the tool for program-wide evaluation. The UC Davis team will not only be testing the validity of the tool and improving calculations, but they will be improving its usability as well.
ATP Disadvantaged Communities Technical Assistance – TBD – Stay tuned for more details about our Cycle 8 Technical Assistance Program as we approach its launch. This time around the program will work with three concurrent cohorts (Urban/Suburban, Rural, and Tribal) to better tailor assistance to recipient needs.
