Planning projects that will improve access to public transit will benefit from $22.97 million in federal grants through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Planning.
The Pilot Program for TOD Planning program assists communities that are developing new or expanded mass transit systems. This round of funds was awarded to 23 organizations based on criteria described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.
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. 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.
The grant amounts range from $250,000 up to $2 million each. Three projects were awarded $2 million and include:
- The city of Phoenix, Ariz., which will receive funding to plan for TOD at nine stations of the proposed 10-mile Capitol/I-10 West Extension light-rail project.
- The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), which will receive funding to plan for TOD at six existing heavy-rail stations in the Richmond BART corridor, with a focus on advancing development on BART land at the Ashby, North Berkeley, El Cerrito Plaza and Richmond stations.
- Sound Transit, which will receive funding to plan for TOD at six stations of the planned 6.3-mile project that extends light rail north from Lynnwood City Center to downtown Everett.
Examples of other selected projects include:
- Miami-Dade County in Florida will receive $1,040,000 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.
"We are proud to support our local partners as they plan for transit-oriented development that better connects residents to jobs, education and services," said FTA Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams. "This funding will help improve the quality of life of riders in communities across America."
