U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) officials said the agency has allocated approximately $6.2 million to nine projects in seven states to support comprehensive planning efforts improving public transportation access.
The funding allotment is via the DOT’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA)Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Planning.
“We are proud to support local transit agencies as they plan for TOD that better connects residents to jobs, education, and essential services,” FTA Deputy Administrator K. Jane Williams said. “This funding will encourage economic development and capture the value transit brings to communities as they respond to and recover from the public health emergency.”
TOD funds comprehensive planning projects near public transportation, improving access, encouraging ridership, and spurring economic and mixed-use development, officials said, noting planning projects were selected for funding based on criteria described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.
Selected projects, per authorities, include the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA) in Florida receiving $877,068 to plan for TOD at four stations in the initial phase of the proposed 38.4-mile First Coast commuter rail project in Northeast Florida and the Town of Chapel Hill Transit Department in North Carolina being awarded $592,500 to plan for TOD at 16 stations of the proposed 8.2-mile North-South BRT project running along one of the busiest thoroughfares stretching from Eubanks Road in the north to the Southern Village in the south.