Background:

In July 2025, the Board approved a $1.5 million FY2026 work program amendment, adding project 26-33-300 Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan (TRIP) and Technical Assistance - New Jersey (4 Years), using previously unallocated FHWA Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation Program (PROTECT) Formula funds from NJDOT.

On September 4, 2025, NJDOT informed DVRPC of the availability of additional PROTECT Formula funds totaling $1,057,741 that must be obligated by the end of the current federal fiscal year on September 30, 2025. 

DVRPC proposes to add the funds to the existing project, 26-33-300 Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan (TRIP) and Technical Assistance - New Jersey (4 Years), with the additional funding being used to expand the capacity for Part II of this project, which is the provision of local technical assistance to develop and scope resilience improvement projects in priority New Jersey locations. This action will result in the text changes highlighted in yellow in the attached work program description, which include:

• Expanding Technical Assistance to NJ: DVRPC will provide targeted technical assistance to partner agencies and member governments in NJ to assist them with developing and scoping resilience projects, as well as identifying additional projects and/or enhancements to existing TIP and LRP projects that address vulnerabilities and risks identified in the TRIP. Tasks will include reviewing priority locations for recurring or emerging problems such as roadway overtopping, washouts, erosion, etc., to determine and evaluate what kinds of interventions are most effective. Interventions may include new or resized drainage infrastructure, roadway elevation, streambank hardening, changes to stream geomorphology, or green stormwater infrastructure. These will be based on hydrologic modeling, flow data, and site investigations. This technical assistance work will serve as the basis for conceptual designs and cost estimates, and ultimately, result in fundable and implementable projects. Services supplied may include DVRPC staff time, consultant support services, and/or pass-through funding to support project development and scoping, in order to develop a pipeline of specific mitigation projects to advance to final design and construction. 
• Regionalizing the TRIP: A complementary work program project (26-33-310) is proposed to be added to the FY26 Work Program at the October 2025 Board meeting. This action will allocate $500,000 of PROTECT Formula funds from PennDOT to make the development of a TRIP into a regional effort by including the DVRPC's Pennsylvania counties.
• Updated NJ Budget by Task: 

$750,000 - Regional Vulnerability Assessment and TRIP development

$1,807,741 - Technical assistance for local resilience project development in NJ

Cost and Source of Funds:

$2,557,741 PROTECT Program IIJA Fund- 80% FHWA and 20% NJDOT Toll Credit; The Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-saving Transportation (PROTECT) Program.

The Board approves amending the FY26 UPWP by adding $1,057,741 to the following project:

• 26-33-300 – Transportation Resilience Improvement Plan and Technical Assistance - New Jersey (4 Years)