The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration has awarded Kansas $50.8 million in grant funding for the Kansas City Streetcar Main Street Extension project, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) announced Thursday.
“These new resources from the federal government will help build on the already successful streetcar extending the line to UMKC, connecting neighborhoods and businesses along the way,” Moran said. “I was pleased to join my colleagues in advocating for this grant and look forward to seeing the new opportunities and economic growth this project will bring to the Kansas City area.”
The project, which will create a 3.5-mile extension for the Kansas City Streetcar Authority’s streetcar to run from Union Station to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, is one of four projects totaling more than $400 million in federal funding to projects in Arizona, Indiana Missouri and New Jersey.
“This $400 million federal investment will help ensure that critical updates can be made to our country’s public transit systems, so they remain safe and operational,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
The grants are part of the Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) under the FTA’s Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program, which provided funding for major transit infrastructure capital investments nationwide. These projects are multi-step, multi-year projects and are required to meet additional criteria before they can receive further funding.
The project must still meet statutory and program requirements before the FTA can approve the grant agreement.