The T will be requesting $471 million from President Obama’s infrastructure stimulus plan to fund the Southwest-to-Northeast rail line.

The Fort Worth Transportation Authority submitted a request for $471 million to fund the Southwest to Northeast Rail project, which would add a commuter rail route on existing rail lines starting in southwest Fort Worth and ending at the north entrance to D/FW Airport.

Let’s hope SW2NE gets a win. Quite a few people have been expressing the desire that the infrastructure stimulus should go directly to cities, not state DOTs, and I think there’s a lot of merit to that idea. While the city is asking for its share of road money as well, the single biggest project on the city’s list is Southwest-to-Northeast. With concerns over the stimulus being dumped into state DOTs wanting billions for highway expansion, directing the stimulus to cities instead would be one of the most effective ways for the stimulus to support transit, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure, projects which cities have in spades.