On April 8th, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla announced that California will receive $60.6 million to help communities across the state better prepare for and respond to extreme weather events like wildfires, flooding, and extreme heat. This funding was made available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which established the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Grant Program. Learn about the PROTECT Grant Program here.

The list of project applicants receiving funding in California includes: 

  • City of Davis (in Yolo County) — $23,989,290: The City of Davis will receive nearly $24 million to install cool pavement technologies and replace roadway underlayment to rehabilitate several portions of roadways across 15 project locations. The project will help guard against extreme heat conditions and combat heat island effects, enhance roadways, and make other safety improvements that will benefit all road users, but especially active transportation users. 
     

  • County of Tulare — $5,340,000: The County of Tulare will receive over $5.3 million to improve an approximately two-mile segment of Avenue 56 to protect a critical evacuation route for the community. Recent historic rainfall caused significant flooding that prompted the evacuation of the rural Alpaugh community and the construction of a temporary elevated roadway. This project will construct a permanent elevated roadway and widen the roadway to ensure it will be operational during future flooding events. 
     

  • California Department of Transportation — $4,100,000: The California Department of Transportation will receive $4.1 million to develop a plan that identifies evacuation route improvements for State Routes 96 and 169, focusing on resilience elements against wildfire, extreme weather impacts, and other climate related events. This project will improve and protect access for disadvantaged communities, including Hoopa, Karuk, Yurok and Tsnungwe Tribes, to obtain goods, services, and medical care, connection to cultural resources, and emergency access in and out of the region. 
     

  • Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (in Placer County) — $1,749,955: The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency will receive over $1.7 million to develop and implement a Resilience Improvement Plan that assesses the transportation system’s vulnerabilities in the face of wildfires, extreme winter weather events and other emergencies. The project also will upgrade the region’s communications infrastructure to ensure that transportation and utility entities, fire service, law enforcement, environmental organizations and community-based groups can benefit from an integrated, efficient, safe evacuation during emergencies.