TRPA seeks a qualified consultant team or individual consultant(s) to develop a Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan and Regional Emergency Communications and Transportation Strategy for the Lake Tahoe Region. The project will include robust stakeholder and community engagement, professional facilitation, assessment of existing hazard mitigation plans and risk assessments, and project identification and prioritization. Plan development is being funded through the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program. In July 2024, The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency was awarded a planning grant through the federal Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) program. This grant is awarded through the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The funding provides support to states, metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), local governments, special purpose districts, Tribal governments, and federal land management agencies (FLMAs) to ensure surface transportation resilience to natural hazards including wildfire, sea/large lake level rise, flooding, extreme weather events, and other natural disasters through support of planning activities, resilience improvements, community resilience and evacuation routes, and at-risk coastal infrastructure. Through this project, TRPA, regional partners, and a consultant team will: 1. Review all state, local, and regional hazard mitigation and resiliency plans and conduct an audit of responses to historic hazards and emergency events, including, but not limited to, response and evacuation to the Angora Fire (2007), Caldor Fire (2021), Tamarack Fire (2021), and the regional response to past major winter storms. 2. Conduct community and stakeholder outreach, including facilitated workshops, meetings, and engagement efforts. 3. Develop a Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan (TRIP) in accordance with 23 U.S.C. Section 176(e) to outline strategies and actions to enhance the resilience of the transportation system in the face of wildfires, extreme winter weather events, and other emergencies. 4. Develop a Regional Emergency Communications and Transportation Strategy for the Lake Tahoe Basin to identify intelligent transportation systems (ITS) needs and facilitate coordination of multi-jurisdictional emergency services to protect residents, visitors, and local assets in the event of a wildfire, extreme weather, or other emergency incidents. This task will be informed by the ITS plan and Transportation Systems Management and Operations (TSMO) plan being developed concurrently (RFP#260001).
