Background and Introduction

We initiated this proceeding by issuing Order Instituting Investigation (OII) 07-07-006 on July 12, 2007, to create the Grade Separation Program Priority List (List) for Fiscal Years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. The List establishes the relative priorities for allocation of funds to qualified projects for eliminating or altering hazardous railroad crossings under Streets and Highways Code section 2450 et seq. These projects include construction of new grade separations, alteration of existing grade separations, or elimination of grade crossings by removal or relocation of streets or railroad tracks. Section 190 of the Streets and Highways Code requires the State's annual budget to include $15 million for funding these projects.

Section 2450 et seq. set out the procedure for administering these funds. Section 2453 gives the California Transportation Commission (CTC) responsibility for allocating (distributing) the funds to qualified projects, but the CTC has delegated this responsibility to the Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Section 2452 requires this Commission to establish the priority list for projects and furnish it to the CTC by July 1 of each year for use in the fiscal year beginning on that date.

The procedure we have adopted is to promulgate the list for the first fiscal year by interim decision issued before that fiscal year begins, and then to revise the list for the following fiscal year by deleting projects for which funds were actually allocated in the first, adopting the revised list by final decision before the second fiscal year begins. The two-year funding cycle begins again with the issuance of an OII for the creation of a new list for the following two fiscal years.

Our procedure requires local agencies to furnish planned grade separation project nominations to this Commission in response to an announcement made early in the first year of the cycle. The Commission reviews each nominated project to ensure that it is eligible for the Grade Separation Program, and holds a series of hearings so that nominating agencies may present each proposal, answer questions about its content, and confirm its accuracy. Attendance and participation in these hearings is mandatory for any project proponent. The Commission's Consumer Protection and Safety Division (CPSD) staff (Staff) adjusts the draft priority list in accordance with evidence adduced at the hearings, and the list is presented to the Commission for adoption by interim decision. That is the task we undertake today.