TPO staff opens 2026 TIP project call, outlines funding, scoring and cost-estimate guidance

Transportation Planning Organization staff on Thursday walked members through the 2026 Transportation Improvement Program project call, projected federal funding levels and changes to application and cost-estimate procedures ahead of the draft TIP due back to technical committees in June.

The presentation laid out federal-program totals, rollover programming expectations and a new request that all project cost estimates be submitted in current-year (fiscal 2025) dollars. Staff said they will apply TDOT-prescribed inflation factors to grow those figures to the years projects are programmed, and urged agencies to re-evaluate legacy cost estimates rather than simply inflating older numbers.

The guidance matters because the new TIP’s programmed dollars typically take effect Jan. 1 after adoption; staff told members they are targeting a June draft review by technical committees and executive board, with adoption expected in September or October and new project programming active beginning Jan. 1, 2026.

Staff presented high-level funding numbers and contingency planning. The region’s STBG (Surface Transportation Block Grant) project-call total discussed in the meeting was roughly $126,000,000 in federal revenue. Staff said the TPO’s current ending balance across accounts was about $55,700,000. Under the existing contingency-reserve approach (previously shown at 9 percent), staff proposed moving to a 10 percent contingency reserve—which staff estimated would add about $1,200,000 to the reserved amount and reduce immediately available programming funds by a similar amount.

Program-specific amounts discussed included a TAP (Transportation Alternatives Program) available balance of about $3,300,000 after reserves and a Carbon Reduction Program balance in the same approximate range. Staff reported there was no formal CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality) programming table available at the meeting; informally they estimated roughly $5 million per year if the TPO were able to program CMAQ in future years, which could aggregate to around $20 million over the TIP period—but staff stressed that programming CMAQ for fiscal year 2026 and beyond is contingent on having written programming authority from the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and consultation with TDOT’s Air Quality Office.

On CMAQ and air-quality questions, Mr. Mike Conger, a TPO staff member, said the region is currently attaining the existing federal PM2.5 standard and that Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation maintenance plans account for source changes when demonstrating future attainment. Conger noted EPA is tightening PM2.5 standards, that some Tennessee areas are close to new thresholds, and that exceptional events such as last year’s wildfire smoke complicate year-to-year readings: “...there’s still another year of data to come to see where we land on that,” he said.

Staff described application and scoring changes linked to the recently updated mobility plan. New projects that have not been rolled forward will use a somewhat fuller application form, but staff said they have simplified narrative requirements because the updated scoring largely uses a GIS-based rubric drawn from the mobility plan. The scoring and priority adjustments were described as derived from that GIS scoring and a consultant-supported “massage” of priorities; staff said they will share the application form and project-tracking spreadsheets with agencies and send current TIP pages for projects to help complete rollover forms.

Key cost-estimate instructions emphasized by staff included: submit all cost figures in current-year (fiscal 2025) dollars regardless of the programmed year; include engineering, inspection and TDOT oversight costs in construction estimates; and avoid recycling old, unvetted construction numbers simply by applying an inflation factor. Staff recommended jurisdictions obtain updated preliminary construction estimates from consultants or in-house engineers to improve accuracy and comparability across submissions.

Staff also advised realistic project delivery schedules and cautioned against overly aspirational timelines that compress design and construction into the same federal fiscal year. Examples discussed included projects pushed repeatedly to later horizon years, where inflation growth on cost estimates can outpace revenue growth and widen funding gaps.

Next steps listed by staff were a project-call packet to be emailed (staff said it would likely be sent on Friday), a roughly six-week application window, and subsequent review and scoring. Staff encouraged jurisdictions to submit CMAQ project lists for consultation even though formal programming authority for CMAQ funds beyond FY2026 remains to be confirmed by TDOT.

The meeting included a number of clarifying exchanges on how obligation dates are recorded: staff and participants noted federal obligations are counted in the federal fiscal year when the obligation occurs (Oct. 1–Sept. 30), not necessarily the year in which local work began or local budget years.