On Board With… Darwin Moosavi and the Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure
Darwin Moosavi was appointed Deputy Secretary for Environmental Policy and Housing Coordination at the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) in August of 2019 by Governor Gavin Newsom. In this role, he serves as a key advisor for issues related to reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) and vehicle miles traveled (VMT), climate change adaptation, environmental protection, and land use policy that fall under the purview of CalSTA.
Before joining the team at CalSTA, Darwin served as Sustainability Project Manager at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), leading initiatives to champion walking, bicycling, and transit use, promote zero emission vehicles and integrate equity considerations into the Department’s work. Under the administration of Governor Brown, Darwin was appointed as a Senior Planner at the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), where he worked on various transportation policy issues centered around building sustainable communities and reducing VMT. Darwin spent several years helping build the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) program, and later served as its Program Manager at the Strategic Growth Council.
In March CalSTA unveiled the draft Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure (CAPTI). Here Darwin discusses the draft plan to aggressively combat and adapt to climate change, while supporting public health, safety, and equity.
This interview was adapted from Darwin’s presentation at our 2021 Spring Legislative Conference.
Transit California:
How did CAPTI come about?
Darwin Moosavi:
CAPTI was born out of Governor Newsom’s Executive Order (EO) N-19-19, issued on September 20, 2019, which directed CalSTA to help meet California’s ambitious climate goals.
The Executive Order asks CalSTA to: align transportation spending with the State’s Climate Change Scoping Plan where feasible; direct investments to strategically support smart growth to reduce VMT and increase infill housing production; reduce congestion through strategies that encourage a reduction in driving; invest further in walking, biking, and transit; and ensure that overall transportation costs for low income Californians do not increase as a result of these policies.
EO N-19-19 specifically calls on CalSTA to leverage $5 billion in annual discretionary transportation infrastructure funding. The funding identified in EO N-19-19 includes the following programs: Active Transportation Program (ATP), Interregional Transportation Improvement Program (ITIP), Local Partnership Program (LPP), Solutions for Congested Corridors (SCCP), State Highway Operations & Protection Program (SHOPP), Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (TCEP), and Transit & Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP).
The intent here is not to change or shift resources away from these programs, but instead to look at each of the various funding programs that we have and think about how we can maximize our climate benefits, related health and equity benefits and the outcomes that we get from these projects.
Transit California:
Why is CAPTI considered so critical?
Darwin Moosavi:
As the largest contributor to California’s GHG emissions, reducing emissions throughout all aspects of the transportation sector is urgently needed to address the climate crisis. Even under the most aggressive scenarios for zero-emission vehicle adoption and a transition to cleaner fuels, California cannot meet its climate goals relying solely on a shift in transportation technologies.
This means we must work to reduce our dependence on driving and reduce overall vehicle miles traveled to meet our climate goals. Moreover, reducing our dependence on driving is also key to our state’s equity, health, and safety goals.
Transit California:
Who contributed to the CAPTI draft?
Darwin Moosavi:
CalSTA convened an Interagency Working Group to coordinate throughout the Administration. The Working Group included staff from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the California Transportation Commission (CTC), the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), the California Air Resources Board (CARB), the Department of Finance (DOF), the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), the Strategic Growth Council (SGC), and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz).
The Interagency Working Group collaborated to draft the guiding principles of the CAPTI Investment Framework aimed at reducing GHG emissions from the transportation sector and mitigating the impacts of climate change on our transportation system. During the first half of 2020, CalSTA held individual meetings with more than 200 public and advocacy stakeholders to get their input on the draft Investment Framework. Stakeholders were asked for their feedback via an online survey. The survey responses and letters included more than 300 action item ideas and 150 additional comments and suggestions regarding the Investment Framework and approach.
The Interagency Working Group continued to refine the Investment Framework, as well as integrate stakeholder suggestions for strategies and action items from a public workshop held in October 2020. Additionally, CalSTA presented the draft Investment Framework to the joint CARB-CTC-HCD meeting in November 2020 for review, feedback, and guidance on the direction of the CAPTI effort.
In early 2021, CalSTA continued to meet with a range of transportation stakeholders — from local and regional government agencies to climate, health, and equity advocates — to solicit feedback to help further refine CAPTI’s strategies and actions.
In March we finally reached the point where we released a draft CAPTI and have been taking public comments for the last couple of months. The comment period ended on May 19. The expectation is to finalize CAPTI in early summer 2021.
Transit California:
How would you summarize CAPTI?
Darwin Moosavi:
We view CAPTI as a holistic framework and statement of intent for aligning state transportation infrastructure investments with state climate, health, and social equity goals. Built on the foundation of the “fix-it-first” approach established in SB1, CAPTI proposes a suite of changes to state transportation planning, programming, and mitigation activities to align within the CAPTI framework.
As we implement CAPTI, we want to make sure we do this in a balanced way so that all areas of the state can benefit from these changes, and to acknowledge the need for a range of solutions in different contexts.
Transit California:
What are the 10 Guiding Principles of the Investment Framework?
Darwin Moosavi:
I think of the first three as the “what” of the framework. “What” are we actually talking about? These include building toward an integrated, statewide rail and transit network; investing in networks of safe and accessible bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure around the state; and including investments in light, medium, and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) infrastructure.
The next seven guiding principles I think of as the “how” of the framework. As we do the three “what” – delivering on building transit and rail systems, bike/ped networks, and ZEV charging infrastructure – we need to be delivering on the following goals for Californians:
- Strengthening our commitment to social and racial equity by reducing public health and economic harms and maximizing community benefits
- Making safety improvements to reduce fatalities and severe injuries of all users towards zero
- Assessing physical climate risk on transportation assets
- Promoting projects that do not increase passenger vehicle travel
- Promoting compact infill development while protecting residents and businesses from displacement
- Developing a zero-emission freight transportation system
- Protecting natural and working lands
Transit California:
Of the seven strategies in the draft, in your opinion which one is the most pertinent to Association members?
Darwin Moosavi:
Each of the seven CAPTI strategy areas has specific actions that go under them. The one I would call out specifically for Association members is strategy number two, which recognizes the need for robust economic recovery by revitalizing transit. This is our direct acknowledgement of the current state the transit sector is in and the critical need to make sure that transit can recover in order to support our climate, health, and equity goals.
The complete list of seven strategies includes:
- Cultivate and accelerate sustainable transportation innovation by leading with state investments.
- Support a robust economic recovery by revitalizing transit, supporting ZEV deployment, and expanding active transportation investments.
- Elevate community voices in how we plan and fund transportation projects.
- Advance state transportation leadership on climate and equity through improved planning and project partnerships.
- Support climate resilience through transportation system improvements and protections for natural and working lands.
- Support local and regional innovation to advance sustainable mobility.
- Strengthen transportation-land use connections.
Transit California:
What are the actions associated with strategy number two?
Darwin Moosavi:
There are three actions that we think are critical. The first is to implement the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP), which focuses on providing transit operators with an easier and less expensive process to implement contactless payment to provide seamless and integrated travel to Californians. We wanted to highlight in CAPTI the importance of making sure that we actually implement and deliver on this program. [Editor’s Note: For more information on Cal-ITP, see ‘Member News’.]
Another action is to identify a long-term strategic funding pathway across all funding opportunities to realize the state rail plan – this is a longer term effort to think strategically about how we can deliver on the state rail plan and what funds need to be leveraged to get there.
Finally, accelerate TIRCP cycles to support transit recovery with deployment of ZEV transit/rail fleets and transit/rail network improvements. This is calling us to support the fact that we know many transit agencies need help with funding to meet their zero emission requirements and we want TIRCP to be a big supporter to help make it happen.
Transit California:
How will CAPTI help elevate equity and justice considerations to transportation priorities moving forward?
Darwin Moosavi:
This is really central to CAPTI and we tried to make it clear in the draft document that we don't think we can deliver on our climate goals unless we also deliver a more equitable transportation system for Californians. There are several actions that we highlight and identify that we want to undertake, but a key one is the equity and environmental justice advisory committee that CAPTI suggests that we implement. The vision is to create a space where we have community-based organizations and community members who represent and bring forward a social and racial equity, as well as an environmental justice, viewpoint and give them a direct avenue to provide input into the state’s transportation planning and programming decisions. Another important aspect is we are recommending this be coordinated between CalSTA, CTC, and Caltrans to provide one clear space to do this in. One thing we hear a lot from environmental justice and equity advocates is they have to run around to coordinate between all of us, which can be a barrier.
We are proposing this committee as an accessible venue for engagement with the state, and a way to bring the various issues together to provide a central place for input. That is not to say there aren’t additional avenues for input as well, but it will be a great starting point for discussions on how we can do better in incorporating equity and environmental justice considerations.
Transit California:
You mentioned Cal-ITP. Can you provide our members with a bit more information about how the project will proceed in the coming years as it becomes a more full-fledged program?
Darwin Moosavi:
Cal-ITP is developing a marketplace where multiple providers will be accessible to transit agencies statewide, should they choose the state’s contracts. The hope there is to provide easy access to make it simple for folks to access the services, in particular small and rural operators. There will be many components, and agencies may only adopt one or two. There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach in terms of what this might look like. We are developing products that we believe will be attractive to a broad cross-section of Californians. We are trying to create a menu of options for folks to use and we understand that not all of it will work for every agency.
The overall message with Cal-ITP is what leadership role can the state play in easing the various barriers to implement, so Californians can easily move around between transit services.
Transit California:
If readers want to know more about the CAPTI draft, what is the best way to do that?
Darwin Moosavi:
I encourage everyone to take a look. They can learn more, including reading all 30 of the CAPTI actions, by reviewing the draft or by visiting our website.
The plan at its core is trying to lift up and highlight the importance of transit and rail solutions to our state goals for climate, health, and equity. We would welcome everyone’s support and coordination as we move forward with this.
Transit California:
The final CAPTI release is planned for July 15, 2021 with implementations beginning shortly thereafter.