The Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) was established under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21^st Century Act (MAP-21) in 2012. The TAP Program is now called the Transportation Alternatives (TA) Set-Aside Program and is funded through the Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) Program. The current Federal infrastructure program passed in November 2021 is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). 

The Seaboard Coastline Trail is an example of a project selected for funding. Photo: City of Suffolk

TA Set-Aside eligible activities include:

• On- and off-road pedestrian and bicycle facilities
• Infrastructure projects for improving non-driver access to public transportation and enhanced mobility
• Community improvement activities, such as historic preservation and vegetation management
• Environmental mitigation related to stormwater and habitat connectivity
• Recreational trail projects
• Safe routes to school projects
• Projects for planning, designing, or constructing boulevards and other roadways largely in the right-of-way of former divided highways.

HRTPO staff coordinates with VDOT Hampton Roads District and Local Assistance Division (LAD) staff, Hampton Roads localities and agencies, Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) District representative, and other stakeholders in carrying out the project selection process for Hampton Roads. In Virginia, District members of the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) are each provided $1 million per year ($2 million per cycle) in TA Set-Aside funds to allocate to projects in their districts. 

After meetings of the HRTPO Board, HRTPO advisory committees, and with the Hampton Roads CTB representative, the following eight new candidate projects within the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Area (MPA) have been selected to receive a total of $5,707,135 in TA Set-Aside funding in FY 2023-24. The HRTPO Board approved the allocation of $3,707,135 in funding for the FY 2023-2024 TA Set-Aside Project Selection Process at the March 17, 2022 meeting.

For more information on the TA Set-Aside Project Selection Process please visit the HRTPO website at:

https://www.hrtpo.org/page/transportation-alternatives-(ta)-set_aside/

To view the March 17, 2022 presentation to the HRTPO Board on TA Set-Aside please visit:

https://www.hrtpo.org/events/details/974/hrtpo-board/