$293m for transit improvements across US communities

Investment made through Urban Circulator Grant Program and the Bus and Bus Livability Grant Program.

A $293 million investment is to benefit dozens of communities across the United States with major transit improvements.

The investment is part of the Obama Administration’s livability initiative to better coordinate transportation, housing and commercial development investments to serve the people living in those communities.

It is being made through two competitive grant programs, the Urban Circulator Grant Program and the Bus and Bus Livability Grant Program.

The winners of the two competitive grant programs were announced by U.S Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff.

Six new streetcar and bus rapid transit projects will be funded with $130m from the Federal Transit Administration's Urban Circulator Program, and 47 additional projects aimed at upgrading bus services and facilities are slated to receive more than $163m from the FTA's Bus and Bus Livability Program.

The six cities that submitted successful Urban Circulator proposals include Dallas and Fort Worth in Texas, Chicago in Illinois, St. Louis in Missouri, Charlotte in North Carolina and Cincinnati in Ohio, selected from 65 applications.

Construction of bus facilities and new bus and bus-related purchases will move forward in the 31 states where 47 Bus and Bus Livability projects are located, selected from 281 applications.

Winning projects include $24,990,000 for a St. Louis Loop Trolley Project in Missouri, which will see the City of St. Louis build a two-mile, nine-stop urban streetcar route which would connect a neighborhood in need of revitalisation with a thriving college village and a major regional destination.

The circulator route would connect University City, Forest Park and the City of St. Louis together and tie into an existing light rail line.

Rogoff said: "These streetcar and bus livability projects will not only create construction jobs now, they will aid our recovery by creating communities that are more prosperous and less congested."

Further information:
U.S. Department of Transportation