It's only the third full funding grant administration signed by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. The $149 million capital investment grant will help fund the 4-mile modern streetcar line from Santa Ana to Garden Grove in Orange County, Calif.
The site for Friday's signing ceremony by Federal Transit Administration Acting Administrator K. Jane Williams and Orange County Transportation Authority CEO Darrell E. Johnson was the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center, which serves Amtrak, Metrolink commuter rail, Greyhound and Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) bus lines.
The $149 million capital investment grant (CIG), along with other federal funding, should pay for about half of the $408 million cost for what will be the first modern streetcar line in the state's third most populous county.
"It’s the third such agreement signed under the Trump administration, and comes days after FTA announced funding for five other transit projects," reports Sam Mintz for Politico Morning Transportation on Monday. The Trump administration has been delaying the release of transit funding authorized by Congress.
The administration's first full funding grant agreement (FFGA) was the Caltrain electrification project in the Bay Area announced in May 2017. The 16-mile light rail Purple Line in Maryland received a $900 million FFGA in August 2017.
According to USDOT's news release on Nov. 30, the "FTA has advanced funding for 17 new CIG projects throughout the nation under this administration since January 20, 2017, totaling approximately $4.8 billion in funding commitments. The present administration will have executed 13 CIG funding agreements by Dec. 31, 2018 for $3.3 billion in CIG funding."
Local and state funding sources include Orange County Measure M2 sales tax and the California Air Resources Board's Low Carbon Transportation Investments which assigns funding from the nation's only state-run cap-and-trade program. See related post, "Big Payoff for Transit from California Cap-and-Trade Program," August 19, 2016.
The groundbreaking also took place at the transit center. The 4-mile line will run from Santa Ana, the nation's fourth densest city with a population exceeding 300,000, to Garden Grove, population 174,000.
"A fleet of eight streetcar vehicles will serve the route making stops at 10 stations every 10 to 15 minutes, carrying up to 180 passengers at a time," according to OCTA. Service is expected to begin in 2021.
Related in Planetizen:
- Streetcars Coming to the OC, January 16, 2018
- Plans Advance for Orange County Streetcar, April 2, 2016
FULL STORY: OC Streetcar Construction Begins in Orange County, Calif. with $149M Federal Grant
Plans Advance for Orange County Streetcar
The $289 million streetcar would serve the cities of Santa Ana (population 329,00), county seat and second densest in California after San Francisco, and Garden Grove (population 170,000) on a 4.1-mile route. Service could begin 2020.
Orange County Streetcar Project Ignoring Equity Issues, Say Activists
Critics say transportation officials have failed to address the potential equity and displacement effects of the Southern California streetcar project.
Streetcars Coming to the OC
The conservative bastion of Orange County will soon begin on construction on the mode of transit favored by the Obama Administration: the "modern streetcar."
New York Governor Advances Housing Plan Amid Stiff Suburban Opposition
Governor Kathy Hochul’s ambitious proposal to create more housing has once again run into a brick wall of opposition in New York’s enormous suburbs, especially on Long Island. This year, however, the wall may have some cracks.
Rethinking the Role of Parking in the American City
In cities big and small, the tide is turning against sprawling parking lots, car-centric development, and minimum parking mandates.
Friday Eye Candy: 20 AI-Generated Cityscapes
AI-generated images are creating new landscapes and cityscapes, capable of inspiring awe or fear.
Biden Designates a New National Monument in West Texas
The Castner Range National Monument in West Texas is the second of two new national monuments announced by President Joe Biden this week.
Study: Autonomous Cars Won’t Solve the Parking Problem
In hyper-dense cities where incentives to reduce car use and eliminate parking are already high, mass adoption of AVs won’t significantly reduce parking demand.
Proposed Pool Would Make an Olympic-Sized Play Area in the San Francisco Bay
The San Francisco Bay is usually an undesirable place to swim, except for a hearty few. A development proposal seeking assistance at the state level would add a pool to the Bay’s waters to make the idea of going for a swim more appealing.
Princeton Planning
City of College Park
Houston-Galveston Area Council
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Spearfish
City of Lomita
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
