Staff recommends the City Council receive a presentation on the Transportation Alternatives (TA) Program and the two submitted applications. At the City Council's July 14 regular business meeting, staff will request the City Council recommend funding for both TA grant applications. 

The Transportation Alternatives Program (TA) is a set-aside program from the Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) program. Eligible uses of the funds include projects and activities that were previously eligible under the Transportation Alternatives Program under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21). This includes a variety of pedestrian and bicycle facilities, recreational trails, Safe Routes to School projects, and other community improvement projects. See the Billings Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) TA Instructions for eligible projects. The Billings MPO has been allocated $1,784,111 in Transportation Alternative Funds in 2025.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) allows for MPOs in Montana to administer their own competitive application process with approval and oversight from the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT).

Projects submitted must meet Federal and State guidelines for eligibility and must identify a local, Federal or State sponsoring agency. Private individuals and organizations may recommend a project if the project is sponsored by the government agency in which the project is located. Examples of a sponsoring agency may include, but are not limited to, City, County, Tribal, etc.

The MPO received two eligible applications for the Transportation Alternatives funds. The applications included:

• City of Billings Safe Routes to School 2025 TA sponsored by the City of Billings
  • Total Project Cost: $1,492,297.23
  • Federal TA Request: $1,292,030.94
  • Local Matching Funds: $200,266.29 

 

• Johnson Lane Sidewalk Connector Project, sponsored by Yellowstone County via the Lockwood Pedestrian Safety District (LPSD)
  • Total Project Cost: $250,660.00
  • Federal TA Request: $217,021.43
  • Local Matching Funds: $33,638.57

Together, these two projects request a total of $1,509,051.37 in federal TA funds, which is less than the $1,784,111 in funds the MPO has available. As a result, both projects could be funded with the available funding.

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is responsible for evaluating and scoring Transportation Alternatives (TA) applications through the Billings MPO process. The scores from TAC were translated into a list of recommended projects. TAC recommended full funding for both TA grant applications at its meeting on June 12, 2025. The MPO is presenting the list of recommended projects to the local governing bodies that make up the Policy Coordinating Committee (PCC). The PCC is made up of representatives of the Billings City Council, Yellowstone County Commissioners, Billings-Yellowstone County Planning Board, and MDT. Each entity (besides MDT) will review the projects recommended by TAC and can either make a recommendation of approval and forward it to PCC, or take a different action and forward that to PCC. PCC will take into consideration each recommendation, with MDT providing its recommendation at the PCC meeting, and make the final decision on which applications to fund. After the PCC takes action, the MPO TA Coordinator will then share the list of the PCC-approved TA projects from the MPO to the MDT TA Program Manager for MDT approval and, subsequently, Transportation Commission approval. 

 

Ultimately, the traveling public within the MPO Urban Area are stakeholders of the TA project and will benefit from the TA projects as they will add safety and access for many pedestrians, school students and others to safely navigate the transportation corridors in the MPO area.

• At its meeting on June 12, 2025, TAC members voted to recommend to the PCC both project applications for funding.
• At its meeting on June 24, 2025, the Planning Board voted to recommend to PCC both project applications for funding. 

This is a presentation only. No formal action is needed at this meeting. 

At the Council's regular meeting on July 14, 2025, the City Council may:

• Forward a recommendation for approval of the Transportation Alternatives grant applications to the PCC
• Not forward a recommendation for approval of the Transportation Alternatives grant applications to the PCC
• Forward an alternate funding option for the applications to PCC

If both applications are approved, $1,509,052.37 in TA funds will be allocated. TA funds are generally for non-motorized transportation projects, so this would be an appropriate use of these funds.

• A $200,266.29 in match for the City of Billings Safe Routes to School 2025 TA project will come from the City's annual Safe Routes to School allocation in the Public Works Department.
• A $33,638.57 in matching funds for the Johnson Lane Sidewalk Connector Project will come from the Lockwood Pedestrian Safety District's funds.

A total of $275,058 would be left after allocation to these projects, which could be used for future projects or to address eixsting project overages.