What is a Regional Transportation Plan?

The regional transportation plan (RTP) is a 20-year investment plan outlining how the region (e.g. cities, counties, Caltrans, and SRTA) intends to provide a transportation system that efficiently moves people and freight (goods) for all transportation modes.  The RTP includes short- and long-term goals and strategies to help guide the process.  We look at what the region's demographics (population, housing and employment) are today and forecast what it might look like in the future.  We then identify where gaps and needs are to meet future mobility needs.  A financial element is prepared to show where the region's transportation investments will go and includes a timeline for when those projects are anticipated to be built or implemented.

Why do we prepare an RTP?

The Shasta Regional Transportation Agency (SRTA) is the federally-designated metropolitan planning organization (MPO) and state-designated regional transportation planning agency (RTPA) for the Shasta County region.  SRTA is required by federal law (Title 23 U.S.C. Section 134) and state law (CA Government Code Section 65080) to prepare and adopt a comprehensive regional transportation plan covering a minimum 20-year planning horizon.  This plan must be updated every four years.  The most recent RTP was adopted in June 2015.

The Sustainable Communities Strategy

As part of the RTP, SRTA must develop a Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS)  - which is required under California Senate Bill 375, the Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008 (SB 375) - that addresses how the RTP will meet the region's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets.  Under SB 375, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) established GHG reduction targets for years 2020 and 2035 for California's eighteen MPOs in 2010.  Currently, SRTA's GHG reduction targets are 0% for years 2020 and 2035. Every eight years CARB is required to review and update the GHG reduction targets.  In 2017, CARB published a draft report proposing new targets of -4.0% for SRTA in years 2020 and 2035. Those targets were adopted by CARB on March 22, 2018.