Transportation: Clean Freight Corridor Efficiency Assessment.

Existing law imposes various limitations on the emissions of air contaminants for the control of air pollution from vehicular and nonvehicular sources. Existing law establishes the California Transportation Commission and requires it to advise and assist the Secretary of Transportation and the Legislature in formulating and evaluating state policies and plans for transportation programs in the state. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to update the California Transportation Plan every 5 years and ensure that the plan addresses how the state will achieve maximum feasible emissions reductions. Existing law also requires the Transportation Agency to prepare a state freight plan on or before December 31, 2014, and every 5 years thereafter, with specified elements to govern the immediate and long-range planning activities and capital investments of the state with respect to the movement of freight. This bill would establish the Clean Freight Corridor Efficiency Assessment, to be developed by the California Transportation Commission, in coordination with other state agencies. In developing the assessment, the bill would require the commission to identify freight corridors, or segments of corridors, throughout the state that would be priority candidates for the deployment of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The bill would require the commission to submit a report containing the assessment's findings and recommendations to certain committees of the Legislature by December 1, 2023. The bill would require the assessment's findings and recommendations to be incorporated into the development of the California Transportation Plan. The bill would require the state freight plan to include a description of needed infrastructure, projects, and operations for the deployment of zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and the development of freight corridors identified in the assessment. Existing law requires the California Transportation Commission, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to allocate certain revenues deposited in the Trade Corridor Enhancement Account and certain federal funds for eligible infrastructure projects, including truck corridor improvements to mitigate emissions from trucks, located on or along specified transportation corridors. This bill would make projects that employ advanced and innovative technology to improve the flow of freight and also environmental and community mitigation or efforts to reduce environmental impacts of freight movement eligible for this funding.