MTC’s One Bay Area Grant program — or OBAG — is a funding approach that aligns the Commission's investments with support for focused growth.
Established in 2012, OBAG taps federal funds to maintain MTC's commitments to regional transportation priorities while also advancing the Bay Area's land-use and housing goals.
OBAG includes both a regional program and a county program that:
- Targets project investments in Priority Development Areas, or PDAs
- Rewards cities and counties that approve new housing construction and accept allocations through the Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) process
Cities and counties can use these OBAG funds to invest in:
- Local street and road maintenance
- Streetscape enhancements
- Bicycle and pedestrian improvements
- Transportation planning
- Safe Routes to School projects
- Priority Conservation Areas
OBAG 2
MTC in late 2015 adopted a funding and policy framework for the second round of OBAG grants.
Known as OBAG 2 for short, the second round of OBAG funding is projected to total about $800 million to fund projects from 2017-18 through 2021-22.
More information about OBAG 2 can be found here.
OBAG 1
Information on the first round of OBAG funding can be found here.
MTC distributes OBAG funds to county Congestion Management Agencies, or CMAs, in each of the nine Bay Area counties.
In OBAG 2, some $354 million in federal funds will be directed to CMAs.
The CMAs are responsible for soliciting, evaluating and selecting eligible projects within their counties.
Projected to total roughly $800 million over five years (2017-18 through 2021-22), milestones for the second round of OBAG grant funding include:
November 2015
MTC approval of OBAG 2 funding and policy framework
February 2016
Discussion by Programming and Allocations Committee of potential anti-displacement and affordable housing policies
March 2016 - January 2017
County congestion management agencies' Call for Projects
March 2017
MTC approval of OBAG 2 projects
May 2017
Federal TIP amendment
October 2017
First OBAG 2 grant funding
MTC distributes OBAG funds to each county based on several factors. For OBAG 2, counties will receive funds based on their share of:
- Population - 50 percent
- Total housing production - 12 percent
- Affordable housing production - 18 percent
- Total future housing commitments - 8 percent
- Future affordable housing commitments - 12 percent
