Dallas, Fort Worth win FTA grants

None for Houston

Jon Boyd, Jul 09, 10.

Dallas and Fort Worth won grants from the Federal Transit Administration for urban circulator projects, and Brownsville won a grant for its proposed multimodal bus terminal. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the winners of the competitive FTA Urban Circulator Grant Program in a press release yesterday. Fort Worth will receive nearly $25 million for its proposal to construct a 2.5 streetcar loop to connect the Trinity Rail Express to the Intermodal Transportation Center. The Dallas grant for nearly $5 million will fund Olive/St. Paul circulator, proposed to link the McKinney Trolley and the St Paul DART light rail station. Brownsville’s $3.8 million Bus and Bus Livability grant will fund a new terminal to be a hub for local, rural, intercity and international transit services.

Update, July 13th: Off the Kuff posted this morning about the Fort Worth streetcar project, which he has been covering since December 2008. His February 2010 post refers to Vilas Bhuchar’s article in Houston Tomorrow.

The Fort Worth project received the largest grant ($24,990,000) for this round of funding in the program, tied with grants for urban circulator projects in Cincinnati and Charlotte.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s press release described this round of FTA grants:

A $293 million investment announced today by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood means that residents in dozens of communities nationwide will soon enjoy major transit improvements, including new streetcars, buses, and transit facilities.

The nearly $300 million investment is part of the Obama Administration’s livability initiative to better coordinate transportation, housing and commercial development investments to serve the people living in those communities. It is being made through two competitive grant programs, the Urban Circulator Grant Program and the Bus and Bus Livability Grant Program.

“This investment by the Obama Administration in our nation’s communities will create jobs, boost economic development and recovery, and further reduce our dependence on oil,” Secretary LaHood said. “Our goals are to provide cleaner, safer, and more efficient ways to get around.”

Update July 13, 2010: The Urban Circulator Grants are funded by section 5309 funds, otherwise know as New Starts, the program that specializes in funding fixed-guideway transit, such as light rail, streetcar, and bus rapid transit. The criteria for selection can be found in the Notice of Availability. All of the grants are less than $25 million, which allows these projects to be exempt from a NEPA Alternatives Analysis. The Dallas and Fort Worth streetcars were selected for the grants, but the project sponsor must apply for the money and demonstrate a financial commitment to the project.

Update July 12, 2010 (via fortworthology):
Fort Worth City Councilmember Jungus Jordan expressed uncertainty about applying for the $24.9 million grant, according to an article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Jordan stated that the urban connector would cost $53 million, implying a local funding match of $28 million. Councilmember Joel Burns, also quoted in the story, says the next step is a feasibility study in order to determine funding, but he believes the local match would come through Tax Incremental Reinvestment Zones (TIRZs), not general revenue.

Several officials cited priorities, like the Tower 55 freight rail project near downtown Fort Worth. Kevin Buchanan claims that the urban connector and Tower 55 are not likely to compete for the same buckets of money. He also argues that streetcars in Portland, Tampa, Little Rock, and Kenosha, WI are adding value multiples greater than the preliminary $53 million price tag for the Fort Worth urban connector.