No formal action is expected at this Work Session. However, this item is scheduled for the April 10th City Council Regular Business Meeting and staff will bring a recommendation to City Council to approve the 2020-2024 TIP Amendment 4 and forward that recommendation to the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC) through the Council designee, Mayor Cole. The PCC is scheduled to meet on April 18th for action on this item.

Federal regulations require that Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) review and update their Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) periodically. Given some timing and funding adjustments with several transportation projects, the current Billings 2020-24 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 timing and cost updates to several projects. Staff has attached a quick reference guide to this memo indicating project changes that are included.
 

Public comment will be held during this work session and the public is able to speak on April 10th during the council's regular meeting. Additionally, this item will have been considered at regularly scheduled public meeting by City Council, the Board of County Commissioners and the Yellowstone County Board of Planning.

The current TIP includes updates of federal funding for several projects in the Billings area. When the Council considers this item at its April 10 meeting, it may:

• Recommend approval to the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC) of the 2020-2024 TIP Amendment 4 as drafted in order to continue the implementation of federally funded transportation projects in the Billings MPO area; or
• Recommend modifications to the proposed 2020-2024 TIP Amendment 4 and present these recommendations to the Policy Coordinating Committee for further consideration. Not approving the 2020-2024 TIP Amendment 4 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 MPO area for the purposes of funding transportation system improvements. A list of those sources is shown in the TIP. There is no known direct impact to City or County funds in budgeting for these projects given the use of federal funding sources. Projects in the TIP that are not federally funded have already been identified in other programming documents, like the City's Capital Improvement Program.