FTA, DOT Unveil $300M in Transit Grants

WASHINGTON — The Federal Transit Administration and Department of Transportation today announced $300 million in competitive grants to cities and local agencies to pay for 53 transit proposals including bus, streetcar and trolley projects. The vast majority of grants went to so-called livability projects, which the Obama administration has said it wants to support.

Recipients include a number of municipal bond issuers, although it was unclear how many of the projects involve bond financing.

The largest grants, for $25 million each, went to St. Louis to build a two-mile streetcar line through a public-private partnership; Charlotte, N.C., to build a 1.5-mile streetcar starter route; Cincinnati, to build a six-mile streetcar line; and the city of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, to build a 2.5-mile one-way streetcar loop that will be the hub of a system connecting six “urban villages” in the city, according to the FTA.

The next-largest grant, for $24.7 million, went to the Chicago DOT to create a so-called bus transitway running through several downtown districts.

In addition, the Chicago Transit Authority was awarded $11 million for a bus transit project to link up to the central business district.

The New York City DOT received $18.4 million for the 34th Street Transitway project, a bus and pedestrian facility.

Other recipients include the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Phoenix, the Broward County, Fla., Transportation Department, and the Albuquerque Transit Department.