The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) this week announced it has awarded a total of $22.97 million to 23 organizations around the country to support comprehensive planning projects that improve access to public transportation.
The funds are from FTA’s Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Planning, which assists communities that are developing new or expanded mass transit systems.
"We are proud to support our local partners as they plan for transit-oriented development that better connects residents to jobs, education, and services," FTA Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams said in a statement. "This funding will help improve the quality of life of riders in communities across America."
FTA says the Pilot Program for TOD Planning funds comprehensive planning projects near public transportation that improve access, encourage ridership, and spur economic and mixed-use development. Planning projects were selected for funding based on criteria described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.
Examples of selected projects include:
- Miami-Dade County, Florida will receive $1.04 million to plan for TOD along the 20-mile South Dade Transitway Corridor Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project that is anticipated to begin service in 2022.
- Port Authority of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania will receive $682,500 to plan for TOD at stations along the Downtown-Uptown-Oakland-East End BRT project that runs on the Martin Luther King, Jr. East Busway in the City of Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg Borough.
- The City of Raleigh in North Carolina will receive $600,000 to plan for TOD along the proposed 5.1-mile, 10-station Wake BRT project in the New Bern Avenue corridor.
FTA’s TOD Pilot Program was established under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) in 2012 and amended by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act in 2015. The program is authorized through fiscal year 2020.
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SOURCE: Federal Transit Administration
