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    1. Management

    More than $405 million in transit related projects included in FY23 congressionally directed spending

    Jan. 3, 2023
    The FY23 Omnibus Package signed by President Biden at the end of December includes designated funding for more than 140 transit, passenger rail and TOD projects.
    Caltrain
    Caltrain's electrification project received $10 million under designated community project funding/congressionally directed spending through the FY23 omnibus package.
    Caltrain's electrification project received $10 million under designated community project funding/congressionally directed spending through the FY23 omnibus package.

    President Joe Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, into law on Dec. 29, 2022, to fund government activities through Fiscal Year (FY) 2023. The act includes $21.2 billion for public transit and $16.6 billion for passenger and freight rail. The bill also includes specific funding for projects designated as “community project funding/congressionally directed spending,” a designation that returned under the FY22 appropriations process.

    The omnibus package included more than $406 million for more than 140 transit, passenger rail, transit access and transit-oriented development projects. The three accounts under the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) projects received designated funding includes Highway Infrastructure Programs, which included transit access projects, Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) and Transit Infrastructure Grants, which accounts for $360.5 million of the total transit related project spending. More than $13 million in funding for projects related to transit was included in the designations under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Fund.

    The project to receive the highest amount of designated funding is Connecticut Department of Transportation’s New Haven Line—Track Speed Improvement Phase 1 (TIME), which will receive $12 million through the CRISI account.

    Highlights from the projects to receive designated funding through the Transit Infrastructure Grants account include:

    • $10 million to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor
    • $10 million to Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board for the Caltrain Peninsula Corridor Electrification Project Signal System
    • $10 million to the Hawaii Department of Transportation for the State of Hawaii Zero-Emission Bus Program
    • $8.25 million to the City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services to expand the HOLO fare system;
    • $8 million to Chapel Hill Transit for bus replacement
    • $3.575 million to Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada for its Pedestrian Collision Avoidance System Project, as well as $1.96 million for its Standalone Solar Lighting for 500 Transit Stops Project
    • $2 million to the Gwinnett County Department of Transportation for the Buford-Suwanee Micro Transit Program

    Projects to receive funding through the Community Development Fund include transit-oriented development and feasibility studies, as well as $1.5 million to San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission for the Rail Academy of Central California—Rail/Transit Workforce Development Program and $750,000 to Capstone Community Action for Community Rides Vermont— Transit Properly Scaled for Rural Vermont, which aims to deliver improved zero-emission mobility options to rural Vermonters.

    The full list of projects to receive congressionally directed spending is linked here. 

    About the Author

    Mischa Wanek-Libman | Editor in Chief

    Mischa Wanek-Libman serves as editor in chief of Mass Transit magazine. She is responsible for developing and maintaining the magazine’s editorial direction and is based in the western suburbs of Chicago.

    Wanek-Libman has spent more than 20 years covering transportation issues including construction projects and engineering challenges for various commuter railroads and transit agencies. She has been recognized for editorial excellence through her individual work, as well as for collaborative content. 

    She is an active member of the American Public Transportation Association's Marketing and Communications Committee and serves as a Board Observer on the National Railroad Construction and Maintenance Association (NRC) Board of Directors.  

    She is a graduate of Drake University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with a major in magazine journalism and a minor in business management.

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    Connecticut Department of Transportation
    An Amtrak train makes its way across the Walk Bridge in Norwalk, Conn. The project to replace the bridge was one of several transit and passenger rail projects to be included for community project funding/congressionally directed spending in the FY22 Omnibus Package.