Transbay Blog
Economic Stimulus
Is the Oakland Airport Connector Dead?
Last week brought the great news that FTA refused to disburse $70 million of ARRA federal stimulus dollars to the BART Oakland Airport Connector. The natural follow-up question is one I have now been asked numerous times by friends and blog readers: is the Connector dead? Have we at last melted the Wicked Witch of the West? … Continue reading
FTA Rejects Federal Stimulus Funding for BART Oakland Airport Connector
The big news from the day: even though BART and FTA have been working the past couple weeks on a plan to correct the Title VI deficiencies in BART’s Oakland Airport Connector project, today Peter Rogoff sent a letter (PDF) to BART and MTC announcing that BART’s corrective action plan for the OAC has been … Continue reading
High-Speed Rail Stimulus Grants Announced
After almost a year of anticipation throughout the United States, the recipients of the discretionary high-speed rail stimulus grants have finally been announced, to time with President Obama’s State of the Union address. California has been especially excited by the opportunity to obtain much-needed federal money to add to the portfolio of funds that will … Continue reading
FTA Holds Back on BART OAC Funding
After months of disheartening news in 2009 in which agency after agency rubber-stamped BART’s ill-conceived Oakland Airport Connector project, it was welcome news to learn that the Federal Transit Administration decided to withhold $70 million of ARRA stimulus funding, which BART needs to build the OAC. This announcement comes just a few months after Public … Continue reading
FTA and TIFIA Funds for AC Transit, Central Subway, and Transbay
This week, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced various grants, including money that will be coming to the Bay Area. One pot of money in the ARRA federal stimulus bill that we have not yet discussed here are the Transit Investments for Greenhouse Gas and Energy Reduction (TIGGER) grants. Not to be confused with the … Continue reading
Is the Oakland Airport Connector a Good TIGER-TIFIA Project? (Part 2)
In Part 1 of this post, we gave a little background on the TIFIA and TIGER federal funds that BART will pursue so that it will have enough money to build the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC). In order to tap into both the TIGER and TIFIA pots of money, the OAC will have to pass … Continue reading
Is the Oakland Airport Connector a Good TIGER-TIFIA Project? (Part 1)
Short answer: not exactly. But with the suspense now cleared from the air, let’s back up a bit. As we’ve discussed here a few times before, BART is about $100 million short of the funds it needs to build the Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), a gap which accounts for approximately 20% of the total capital … Continue reading
Catch a TIGER by the Toe
The SFCTA and MTC are hoping to score $50 million of TIGER funds for Doyle Drive. Rendering courtesy of SFCTA. Certain pots of money in the ARRA federal stimulus bill that have been earmarked for transportation, like the $8 billion of grants for high-speed rail, have gotten a lot of attention. Other pots of money, … Continue reading
Peninsula Investments
It’s funny how things sometimes turn out. In terms of funding, BART has long been the Bay Area’s favorite son. Year after year, BART is allocated a major piece of the region’s transit funding pie, a piece that is disproportionately large for the number of people it moves. Meanwhile: slow, antiquated, dirty, screechy Caltrain has … Continue reading
BACEI Releases Workplan
The Bay Area Council Economic Institute (BACEI), in response to a request from the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, has released its Bay Area Economic Recovery Workplan. This is essentially a compendium of regional priorities and projects (submitted by MTC and local governments) that strategizes potential targets for ARRA stimulus money. The proposals fall … Continue reading
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