Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
The funding in the Covid bill is only going to projects that have received an FFGA* - essentially these are projects that are all underway or about to start. Meaning, all the planning work has been done, all the engineering has been completed, and FTA has issued a formal green light. The funding in the bill is covering the local match portion - basically it is the Federal government agreeing to fund a larger portion of the total cost than they otherwise would, freeing up valuable state/local money for other purposes.
The only FFGA project that Chicago has right now is the RPM project on the North Side. Everything else is too undeveloped. The rub there is that the local portion of RPM is funded by a dedicated transit TIF. I think legally those funds can't be used for anything else.
The upcoming transportation bill is more open-ended and could potentially benefit Chicago projects. However, our city will be harmed by the fact that we really don't have anything queued up. The cities that have been most successful with expansions of transit or roads are the ones who have developed plans ready to dust off, which in turn requires a dedicated source of funding for planning/engineering and politicians who will go to bat for transit. A dotted line on a map doesn't cut it.
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I think it is important to state what the FTA programs are and how projects proceed through the process to get Federal funding.
Per
https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/.../about-program
Discretionary & Competitive Federal Grant Program
Roughly $2.3 billion appropriated each year
Funds light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail, streetcar, and bus rapid transit projects
Eligible Projects
New Starts
Total project cost is equal to or greater than $300 million or total New Starts funding sought equals or exceeds $100 million
New fixed guideway system (light rail, commuter rail etc.)
Extension to existing system
Fixed guideway BRT system
Small Starts
Total project cost is less than $300 million and total Small Starts funding sought is less than $100 million
New fixed guideway systems (light rail, commuter rail etc.)
Extension to existing system
Fixed guideway BRT system
Corridor-based BRT system
Core Capacity
Substantial corridor-based investment in existing fixed guideway system
Project must:
Be located in a corridor that is at or over capacity or will be in five years
Increase capacity by 10%
"not include project elements designated to maintain a state of good repair"
Approval Process
New Starts
1) FTA approval: Project Development
Complete environmental review process including developing and reviewing alternatives, selecting locally preferred alternative (LPA), and adopting it into the fiscally constrained long range transportation plan
2) FTA evaluation, rating, and approval: Engineering
Gain commitments of all non-5309 funding
Complete sufficient engineering and design
3) FTA evaluation, rating, and approval:
Full Funding Grant Agreement
Construction
Small Starts
1) FTA Approval: Project Development
Complete environmental review process including developing and reviewing alternatives, selecting locally preferred alternative (LPA), and adopting it into fiscally constrained long range transportation plan
Gain commitments of all non-5309 funding
Complete sufficient engineering and design
2) FTA evaluation, rating, and approval:
Construction Grant Agreement
Construction
Core Capacity
1) FTA Approval: Project Development
Complete environmental review process including developing and reviewing alternatives, selecting locally preferred alternative (LPA), and adopting it into the fiscally constrained long range transportation plan
2) FTA evaluation, rating, and approval: Engineering
Gain commitments of all non-5309 funding
Complete sufficient engineering and design
3) FTA evaluation, rating, and approval:
Full Funding Grant Agreement
Construction
FAST Evaluation and Rating Criteria
New and Small Starts
Project Justification:
mobility
environmental benefits
congestion relief
economic development
cost effectiveness (cost per trip)
land use
Core Capacity
Same as New and Small Starts, except replace land use with capacity needs of the corridor
All
Local financial commitment:
acceptable degree of local financial commitment including evidence of stable and dependable financing sources
Funding Recommendations
FTA’s decision to recommend a project for funding in the President’s Budget is driven by a number of factors, including:
the “readiness” of the project for capital funding
the project’s overall rating
geographic equity
the amount of available funds versus the number and size of the projects in the pipeline
Receipt of Construction Funding
To receive a construction grant agreement a project must:
Complete the Planning, Project Development, and Environmental Review Processes
Meet Project Readiness Requirements (technical capacity, firm and final cost estimate, all funding committed)
Receive a “medium” or higher overall rating
Meet all other federal requirements
My thoughts
The entire process for New and Small Starts takes nearly a decade to complete just to reach the Full Funding Grant Agreement stage. The Full Funding Grant Agreement is the last step in the process before construction can even begin. It is the point where the project is construction ready.
Core Capacity projects are hard to rank high on the evaluations mainly because state of good repair associated costs are eliminated from this grant program. The FTA expects the local transit agencies to maintain their fixed guideways with their own money. If you can't take care of what you have, why give you more of it? If what you have is in good shape but is no longer able to meet the demand in traffic, then core capacity grants can be gained. Making station platforms longer, adding platforms to stations, adding more stations, adding more interlockings, etc. Not adding brand new transit lines, nor rebuilding a station in poor shape, that is not what this program is for.
With more money being given to these programs, more projects will be allowed to move through the entire process faster. Local match percentages can be lower only because more projects with lower rankings will get funded. Transit agencies paying 10% more of the capital costs to get higher rankings above other projects will not be as common when your project will probably get funded at the 10% lower match anyways.