FTA Awards $11MM in TOD Grants

San Diego Association of Governments has been awarded $405,000 for TOD planning at four stations along the Trolley’s Blue Line.

Twenty projects—10 rail-specific—will share $11.03 million in Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grants through the Pilot Program for Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Planning.

The FY21 project funding “supports local planning and strategies to increase transit access and encourage ridership through mixed-use and mixed-income development near public transportation projects,” FTA reported on Jan. 20. “Comprehensive planning funded through the program must examine ways to improve economic development and ridership, foster multimodal connectivity and accessibility, improve transit access for pedestrian and bicycle traffic, engage the private sector, identify infrastructure needs, and enable mixed-use development near transit stations.”

Following are the rail-specific project awards:

• Phoenix (Ariz.) Public Transit Department, $920,000 for TOD planning at 11 stations proposed along a five-mile streetcar line connecting activity centers in Mesa.

• Los Angeles (Calif.), $405,000 to support the creation of a transit neighborhood plan focused on TOD at 14 stations on the nine-mile East San Fernando Valley light rail corridor.

• San Diego (Calif.) Association of Governments, $405,000 for TOD planning at four stations along the Trolley’s Blue Line.

• Miami-Dade (Fla.) Department of Transportation and Public Works (DTPW), $405,000 for TOD planning along 10 miles of the proposed North Corridor heavy rail line, including station-area plans.

• Hillsborough Transit Authority (Fla.), $300,000 for TOD planning at four proposed stations along Tampa’s planned streetcar extension and HART’s bus rapid transit line that will link downtown Tampa and the University of South Florida.

• Chicago (Ill.) Transit Authority, $800,000 for TOD planning at four proposed stations along 5.6 miles of the Red Line subway.

• Charlotte (N.C.), $405,000 for TOD planning along the proposed 29-mile LYNX Silver light rail line, which will connect Charlotte to surrounding cities.

• Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Tex.), $750,000 for TOD planning at eight proposed stations along the 6.5-mile Orange Line South light rail corridor in Austin.

• North Central Texas Council of Governments-Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), $800,000 for TOD planning at nine DART Silver Line regional rail stations that will connect major centers around Dallas.

• Fort Worth (Tex.) Transportation, $405,000 for TOD planning around five stations on the TEXRail line, including identifying development opportunities in Fort Worth.

“Equitable transit-oriented development helps those at the local level respond to climate change and affordable housing challenges, particularly in underserved communities,” FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez said. “I hope that communities will join with FTA to accelerate transit-oriented development by addressing zoning and planning changes that will increase mixed income and affordable housing around transit hubs and stations.”

The TOD Pilot Program was created under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) authorization and amended by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, the last transportation authorization law before the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

To view information on awarded proposals and the respective planning studies since 2015, visit FTA’s new TOD Planning Program GIS dashboard.