USDOT issues $28.5 million NOFO for grants through Pilot Program for TOD Planning
The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued a $28.5 million notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) designed to make mass transit more affordable and accessible. Funding is coming via the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)’s Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Planning grant program. USDOT says it is looking to partner with communities with proposals that advance safety, innovation and make commuting easier.
“Why should airports be the only places we make travel more family friendly? Under President [Donald] Trump’s leadership we will make it easier and more affordable to get where you need to go,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. “This revamped program will invest in transit corridors that connect families to jobs, education and healthcare, which can improve regional mobility, growth and prosperity.”
The department notes that pilot program supports FTA’s goal of improving America’s communities through public transportation by providing funding to local communities to integrate land use and transportation planning with a new fixed-guideway or core-capacity transit capital investment.
The NOFO focuses on several priority considerations for funding, including:
- Safety: How a project advances safe journeys along corridors and at stations and encourages a safe route to services along corridors, such as school, childcare, recreation and social services.
- Innovation: How a project fosters innovative approaches, partnerships with transit agencies and advocates and promotes research, innovation and demonstration of new technologies and policies that stimulate private sector participation, private investment and public-private partnerships to deliver infrastructure and TOD in the corridor.
- Benefits for families and communities: How a project increases transit access for families at the proposed transit station or along the corridor and how it integrates childcare and recreation near public transportation hubs.