CEO Darrell Johnson and OCTA staff met recently with newly appointed California Transportation Commission (CTC) Commissioner Michele Martinez on issues of importance for OCTA on the CTC’s October meeting agenda. Discussion items included the impacts to state and local revenues due to the coronavirus (COVID‑19) pandemic, a CTC comment letter on the draft California Transportation Plan (CTP), and efforts to develop a roundtable to advise the CTC on how to integrate equity analysis in its policies and programs.
During the briefing, OCTA representatives shared efforts at addressing equity issues at the regional level, OCTA’s comments on the draft CTP, and emphasized the need for close collaboration between local agencies and the state as impacts to funding programs are discussed to prevent impacts to programmed projects.
The CTC is responsible for programming and allocating funds for the construction of highway, passenger rail, transit and active transportation improvements throughout California. It also advises and assists the Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency and the Legislature in formulating and evaluating state policies and plans for California’s transportation programs.
OCTA works closely with the CTC in its role as the county transportation commission and serves as the transportation planning agency responsible for planning, developing and funding Orange County’s transportation programs and services.