Transit elements included in four USDOT INFRA grant awards

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) intends to award more than $905 million through the Build America Bureau Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) discretionary grant program.

The grants will be awarded to 24 projects in 18 states, with four of the projects containing transit elements focused on improved bus mobility. The popular grant program received applications requesting seven times the available funding in this round of awards. USDOT says it evaluated 157 eligible applications from 42 states and Guam.

“These timely investments in our infrastructure will create jobs and support regional economies, while helping to spur innovation, confront climate change and address inequities across the country,” said Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

The project with transit elements include:

• The Los Angeles Department of Transportation will receive $18 million for the Community Infrastructure and Resiliency Zone (CIRZ) Project: Safe Streets Infrastructure Component. The project includes approximately 26 new traffic signals and leading pedestrian interval (LPI) signal enhancements at approximately 90 intersections. It also includes street transformations and hardscape improvements such as new separated bike lanes, high visibility crosswalk markings, a center median pedestrian refuge island, bus boarding islands, sidewalk improvements, curb extensions, upgraded curb ramps, pedestrian signals, new stormwater capture facilities and additional shade trees.
• The city of Henderson, Nev., will receive $39.9 million for the Reimagine Boulder Highway project, which includes reconstruction of approximately 7.5 miles of the highway to convert a section into a complete streets roadway, including altering the current six-lane highway into a four-lane highway with two dedicated bus lanes and a protected bike lane.
• The Yolo County Transportation District in California will receive $85.9 million for the Yolo 80 Corridor Improvement Project, which will improve traffic flow in the I-80 corridor on the west side of the Sacramento-Yolo metro area. The project utilizes several technological innovations implementing ITS traffic management and integrating with transit operators to provide schedule and routing data.
• The city of Wenatchee in Washington state will receive $92.4 million for the Apple Capital Loop (Segments 1, 2 and 4) project, which will construct a network of projects on an 11-mile loop. Among the state, county and municipal partners is LINK Transit.

USDOT explains this round of INFRA grants were selected based on several criteria including the positive impact to local economies, ability to create jobs and meet all statutory requirements and, for the first time in USDOT’s history, grants were considered by how they would address climate change, environmental justice and racial equity.

Additionally, projects were rated on the extent that they applied innovative technology and whether they could deliver projects in a cost-effective manner.

USDOT also notes approximately 44 percent of the intended grants will go to rural projects. The department is required by congressional statute to award 19 percent of grants to projects designated in rural areas.