FTA recommends more funds for North, Southeast Lines

University Line not yet funded

Jay Blazek Crossley, Feb 04, 10.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) released its recommendations for the President’s FY2011 Budget, which include $75 million each for Houston’s North (pdf) and Southeast Light Rail Lines (pdf), continuing the funding that began in the previous year.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) plans to pay for the Uptown and East Light Rail Lines with local funding. The University Line (pdf), for which METRO has just released the Final Environmental Impact Statement that will have to be followed by a Record of Decision, has not yet received a recommendation for funding.

The recommendations include all the transit projects across the country considered in the new starts and small starts programs as well as Project Profiles, which for the first time use new transit funding criteria that have expanded to include livability, environmental, and accessibility concerns, as opposed to the previous auto-centric criteria, which focused on reducing freeway congestion.

Other Texas projects receiving funding include $86 million for Dallas’s Northwest / Southeast Light Rail Lines (pdf), which have been receiving funds for several years, and two new MetroRapid Bus Rapid Transit in Austin. The entire BRT project will cost $47 million and will eventually receive $38 million in federal funding, $24 million of which is in this year’s recommendations. The lines will run north - south from N. Austin Medical Center to Westgate and Parmer Lane to Slaughter Lane, converging in downtown Austin along Guadelupe and both connecting to Austin’s new commuter rail line at certain points.

The Tranport Politic notes that the recommendations reflect a stronger preference by the FTA for projects with substantial local funding. Streetsblog DC notes that BRT made a strong showing and considers how these recommendations fit into the President’s transportation and livability agenda, and Streetsblog New York highlights BRT plans there.