Regional Transportation Improvement Program (RTIP)

The Inyo County LTC is responsible for the preparation of the Regional Transportation Improvement Program (RTIP), in collaboration with Caltrans, and submitted for adoption by the California Transportation Commission (CTC). Inyo County LTC submits its RTIP to the CTC for potential inclusion in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). The RTIP, at its core, specifies project cost amounts by project components and the fiscal year in which funds are available.

 The STIP is a biennial document adopted no later than April 1 of each even numbered year. Each STIP will cover a five year period and add two new years of programming capacity. Each new STIP will include projects carried forward from the previous STIP plus new projects and reserves from among those proposed by regional agencies in their RTIPs and by Caltrans in its interregional transportation improvement program (ITIP). The Caltrans Division of Local Assistance provides guidelines for local agencies to deliver projects included in the STIP.

 The STIP consists of two broad programs, the regional program funded from 75% of new STIP funding and the interregional program funded from 25% of new STIP funding. The 75% regional program is further subdivided by formula into county shares. County shares are available solely for projects nominated by regions in their RTIPs. The Caltrans ITIP will nominate only projects for the interregional program. The Inyo County LTC has entered into MOUs with the Mono County LTC, Kern Council of Governments, and San Bernardino Associated Governments to leverage ITIP funds on regionally important projects.

The current structure of the STIP was initiated by SB 45 in 1997. The STIP is constrained by the amount of funds estimated to be available for the STIP period in the fund estimate, which is developed by Caltrans and adopted by the Commission every other odd year. The amount available for the STIP is then constrained by formulas for regional and interregional shares per Streets and Highways Code.

Inyo County LTC 2022 RTIP

The Inyo County LTC approved it's 2022 RTIP during the November 17, 2021 meeting. The Inyo County LTC approved the following priorities in the development of the 2022 RTIP in accordance with the guidelines:

1. Program, or set aside RIP funds, for MOU projects on the State Highway System (The
   program strategies will be dependent on the capacity of the Caltrans Programming Office and
   MOU partners to bring these projects forward); and

2. Program local projects that leverage federal funding; and

3. Program the preliminary components for new local road projects.

MOU’s on the State Highway - The Inyo County Local Transportation Commission (LTC) entered into MOUs in 1998 and 2001 for several projects on the US Highway 395/State Route 14 Corridor. The MOU was updated in 2013. The signatories to this MOU are the Inyo County LTC, Mono County LTC, and Kern Council of Governments (Kern COG). These agencies commit to use Regional Improvement Program (RIP) shares programmed in each agency’s RTIP. The purpose of the MOUs is to move forward regionally significant projects that leverage state controlled Interregional Improvement Program funding to be used in the US 395/SR 14 corridor.

ITIP - The 2022 Draft Interregional Transportation Improvment Program (ITIP) has been released by Caltrans for public review and comment.