Federal regulations require that Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) review and update their Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) periodically. Given some funding adjustments with several transportation projects, the current Billings 2015-19 TIP must be amended to maintain compliance with State and Federal requirements.

The Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is a short-range program of highway and transit projects in the Billings MPO area and is prepared by City-County Planning Division staff in cooperation with state and local agencies. The purpose of the TIP is to provide the mechanism for scheduling federal funds for surface transportation projects, indicate regional priorities, and demonstrate a short range transportation vision for the area. A secondary purpose of the TIP is to provide information about other transportation projects in the urbanized area that are exempt from the TIP approval process, such as projects that do not utilize federal funds.

This TIP amendment is being presented to the Council for review due to cost updates to several projects. The projects listed in the TIP that have cost updates include: Bench Boulevard, Zimmerman Trail, and several safety projects. Staff has attached the document for reference.

The current TIP includes updates of federal funding for several projects in the Billings area. The Council may:

• Recommend approval to the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC) of the 2015-2019 TIP Amendment I as drafted in order to continue the implementation of federally funded transportation projects as presented.
• Recommend modifications to the proposed 2015-2019 TIP Amendment I and present these recommendations to the Policy Coordinating Committee for further consideration.

Not approving the 2015-2019 TIP Amendment I would cause the Billings MPO to be out of compliance with State and Federal requirements and could affect the schedule and completion of transportation projects in the Billings MPO area.

 A range of federal funding sources is available to the Billings Urban Area for the purposes of funding transportation system improvements. A list of those sources is shown in the TIP. There is usually no direct impact to City funds in budgeting for these projects given the federal funding sources.

Staff recommends that the City Council approve the 2015-2019 TIP Amendment I and forward that recommendation to PCC through its designee. The PCC is scheduled to meet on June 23, 2015 for action on this item.