The City of Bakersfield receives federal funding for pavement rehabilitation projects through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) called the Regional Surface Transportation Program (RSTP), authorized through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Bipartisan Infrastructure Law). In order to qualify for federal funds, projects must be programmed in the Federal Transportation Improvement Program (FTIP). The FTIP is a federal document that is administered by the Kern Council of Governments (KernCOG). To start the process of placing projects onto the FTIP, KernCOG issues a Call for Projects every two years. KernCOG recently issued the Call for Projects for the federal Fiscal Years (FY) 2024-25 and 2025-26. Proposed projects for these two Federal Fiscal Years include:

Fiscal Year 2024-25: Pavement Rehabilitation: California Avenue from Stockdale Highway to Real Road.

Fiscal Year 2025-26: Pavement Rehabilitation: Ming Avenue from Buena Vista Road to Gosford Road.

Applications for the above referenced projects are due to KernCOG by July 17, 2023. These applications must include a resolution adopted by the City Council that commits the City to fund the required local match if the grant applications are successful.

The City will apply for $5,499,000 for FY 2024-25 and $5,496,000 for FY 2025-26 for a total of $10,995,000 in federal RSTP funding. The local match requirement is 11.47 percent of the total project construction costs. The local match requirement for FY 2024-25 is $712,454 and the local match requirement for FY 2025-26 is $712,066 for a total local match requirement of $1,424,520. Historically, gas tax revenues, and Senate Bill 1 (SB-1) funds have been used to fund the local match requirement for RSTP projects.

The resolution assures KernCOG that the City commits the required local match for the RSTP projects that are selected.