WASHINGTON — Four light rail projects are among the 22 which have received a total of $250 million in funding under the Federal Transit Administration’s Capital Investment Grants program. Rail projects receiving grants are:
— $20.7 million to Seattle’s Sound Transit for the 2.4-mile Hilltop extension of the Tacoma Link light rail project.
— $17.4 million to Phoenix-area agency Valley Metro for the Tempe Streetcar project, a 3-mile, 14-station line which will connect downtown Tempe, Arizona State University, and the Rio Salado Parkway to the existing light rail system.
— $15.7 to TriMet in Portland, Ore., for the MAX Red Line Extension and Reliability Improvements project, a 7.8-mile extension of the Red Line from Beaverton to downtown Hillsboron.
— $11.1 million to the Charlotte (N.C.) Area Transit System for phase two of the CityLYNX Gold Line streetcar project, a 2.5-mile extension west to Johnson C. Smith University and east to the Sunnyside neighborhood.
The full list of projects receiving grants is available here.
What on earth are you talking about? It’s ALL OF OUR money. That’s what the Federal government means.
This whole “I don’t want to pay for improvements to another part of the country that I’m not going to use” attitude is really tedious. Improvements to transit nationwide impact the national economy by making it more efficient and less polluting.
Thank you Mike, well said!
MIKE – It’s not interstate transportation so the Feds have no business funding it.
The reason the feds fund everything – schools, parks, bike trails, city buses, is that the federals can print money whereas the states and localities cannot.
When a town, city, county, state, school board, water district etc. says the budget is “balanced” that’s a total lie, repeated every day in every jurisdiction across the country. The budget isn’t balanced, it’s based on fiat money that someone else conjures up.
Well stated Mr. Landey.
I am not as careful with borrowed money, but extremely cautious with my cash. I wonder if the same is true here. The cash of these cities is not spent for these projects that may have some benefit. But given someone else’s money, they do not seem as careful.