Federal Transit Administration Awards $ 25 Million for Fort Worth Streetcar

July 8, 2010 at 10:50 am | Transit & Infrastructure | Tags: , ,

Incredible and extremely positive news for the Fort Worth Modern Streetcar project (city link / non-profit link) – the Federal Transit Administration announced today that they are awarding $25 million in funds for the Fort Worth streetcar project through their Urban Circulator Grant Program, part of a $293 million investment in urban transit announced today by the FTA.

The exact description of Fort Worth’s win from the FTA is as follows:

Project: Fort Worth Streetcar Loop (Urban Circulator) Sponsor: The City of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority Amount: $24,990,000 The City of Fort Worth and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority will construct a 2.5-mile one-way streetcar loop with between 20 and 25 stops and three vehicles to connect a Trinity Railway Express commuter rail station and Intermodal Transportation Center with the central business district. This will be the hub of a planned streetcar network connecting six designated “urban villages” targeted for redevelopment to the city’s major employment centers, such as downtown and the Near Southside Medical District. Ultimately, the streetcar system will connect residents in four economically disadvantaged areas to job opportunities in major employment centers, while stimulating the redevelopment of walkable urban neighborhoods with a variety of housing choices.

This is a major win for the streetcar project with a significant allocation of funds.  United States Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood had the following to say about the Urban Circulator Grant Program:

“This investment by the Obama Administration in our nation’s communities will create jobs, boost economic development and recovery, and further reduce our dependence on oil,” Secretary LaHood said. “Our goals are to provide cleaner, safer, and more efficient ways to get around.”
Federal Transit Administration Administrator Peter Rogoff further added:
“Streetcars are making a comeback because cities across America are recognizing that they can restore economic development downtown – giving citizens the choice to move between home, shopping and entertainment without ever looking for a parking space,”  said FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff.  “These streetcar and bus livability projects will not only create construction jobs now, they will aid our recovery by creating communities with the potential to be more prosperous and less congested.”
Other cities who got money besides Fort Worth for urban circulator projects include Dallas (for an extension of the McKinney Avenue streetcar), Chicago, St. Louis, Charlotte, and Cincinnati.

We’ll have more to come, certainly.  This is a great win for the streetcar project, and we can’t wait to see how things proceed from here.