The Local Lead Program is intended to provide an opportunity for the subregions to apply for federal funding for the advancement of projects through final design, right-of-way, and/or construction. This is a competitive program. Each project is reviewed and rated by members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization Technical Review Committee using the criteria listed below.
Project Selection Criteria
In order for a project to be considered as a Local Lead Project it must meet the following requirements.
- Projects must be located on roads with functional classifications other than rural minor collector, rural local collector, or urban local or part of the National Highway System (NHS)
- Projects must be transportation related
- Bridges must be included on the most recent National Bridge Inventory, Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation List
- Design costs should exceed $100,000 (related projects can be combined)
- Construction costs should be a minimum of $250,000
- A project must have received a current Categorical Exclusion,
a Finding of No Adverse Affect, or a Record of Decision from
the FHWA; or actions that are included in the "Programmatic
Agreement for Approval of Certain Categoral Exclusions"
can be found in the Federal
Aid Handbook (pdf 480k).
Transit projects are not eligible
To ensure that proposed projects protect the environment, the sponsor is responsible for securing all applicable environmental approvals. Local Lead projects must conform to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (Section 106) and Section 4(f).
