A tri-county partnership credited with funding a large portion of the Highway 49 bypass and other local transportation projects may be coming to an end unless its partners decide they have more influence on state funding decisions together.

In a brief mention at the end of Wednesday night's Amador County Transportation Commission meeting, Executive Director Charles Field brought the board of directors' attention to an agenda item that will garner more consideration in the next two months.

"We're giving this to you to start thinking about it," Field said of the three-page staff report outlining a list of state transportation improvement program projects and the shrinking pool of resources to fund them.

Field said the board's prioritization of regional STIP projects could decide the fate of the program locally, as well as set the stage for the next 10 to 20 years worth of transportation goals.

The Sutter Hill Transit Center, Pine Grove bypass and local road improvements top the current list of priorities, along with the possibility of redistributing STIP dollars among the three partnered counties - Amador, Calaveras and Alpine.

Preliminary estimates show that the tri-county partnership can expect to receive about $5.85 million for the next STIP cycle, which runs through the 2012-13 fiscal year. No money will be available until then because of state budget issues and the diversion of certain funding sources to the state's general fund, according to the staff report.

On its own, Amador County's share would fall somewhere between $1.16 million to $3.08 million.

A current STIP project that just had its groundbreaking last month was the Angels Camp bypass in Calaveras County.

ACTC Commissioner and Jackson City Councilman Al Nunes attended the ceremony, which he said brought out about 60 people, including local dignitaries, among them Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi and Amador County Supervisor Rich Escamilla.

"I did let them know that for about nine or 10 years now, we have been working together," Nunes said Wednesday, adding that the partnership has been successful within the state transportation system. "We should be together because we get somewhere with all of us."

One STIP project that's progressed smoothly is the planned transit center in Sutter Hill. The Amador Regional Transit System Board of Directors on Wednesday gave its staff the go-ahead to complete design work based on a revised concept design for the first phase of the project.

Phase 1 would include the construction of a short term transit station along with 15 to 18 parking spaces by Valley View Drive, according to Field. The reconceived transit center will be able to accommodate up to six ARTS vehicles, rather than the three to four buses as originally conceived.

The board also designated the transit center as its No. 1 priority for funding available through Proposition 1B, a procedural move Field said was important to getting a grant application out before the Nov. 30 deadline. Field said the county's share of the Prop. 1B money, estimated at $2 million, should be available next year in time for construction to begin on the first phase by summer 2008. The entire $6 million project is expected to be completed around May 2009.

In other transportation news, Foothill Rideshare coordinator Renee Chapman was given the OK by ACTC directors to secure park and ride leases with various shopping centers within the county.

The agreements would allow those interested in carpooling a place to park their cars as long as businesses signed off, something both Nunes and commission Chair Louis Boitano called a great idea for the 1-year-old program.