President Biden’s FY2024 Budget includes $4.45B CIG Program request

The U.S. Department of Transportation is requesting 18 transit projects be allocated $4.45 billion through the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Capital Investment Grants (CIG) Program and Expedited Project Delivery (EPD) Pilot as part of President Joe Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Budget.

The total budgetary resources request for projects in the CIG and EPD programs is approximately five percent above FY22 enacted levels of funding and more than 15 percent over FY22 actual funding levels. The request includes $2.85 billion in annual appropriations requested from Congress and $1.6 billion in FY 2024 funding provided through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

"Transit connects people to jobs, schools, loved ones and more," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "We're proud to deliver this funding to expand transit across the country, which will create good-paying construction jobs and provide better options for people to get where they need to go."

The release of the President’s Budget request is the first step in the federal budget process that will require action from Congress before funding for programs is enacted. Additionally, projects in the CIG and EPD programs must meet several requirements before a Full Funding Grant Agreement is executed between a project’s sponsors and FTA.

Nine projects are recommended to receive funding for the first time, including:

• $14 million for the Monterey-Salinas Transit SURF! Highway 1 Busway and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in California
• $45.3 million for the Metropolitan Council METRO F Line Bus Rapid Transit project in Minnesota
• $77.8 million for the Wake BRT Southern Corridor in Raleigh, N.C.
• $100 million for the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments' Lowcountry BRT project in South Carolina
• $118.8 million for the Regional Transportation District East Colfax Avenue BRT project in Denver, Colo.
• $150 million for the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County's University Corridor BRT project in Houston, Texas
• Utah has two projects with requested funds, including $54.7 million for the Utah Transit Authority Midvalley Connector BRT project and $316.8 million for the Utah Department of Transportation FrontRunner Strategic Double Track project
• $350 million for the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line Extension to the city’s far south side

Five projects that received partial funding in prior budgets also have requests in the FY 2024 budget:

• $500 million for the BART Silicon Valley Phase II Project
• $167 million for the East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor Phase I Project through FTA’s Expedited Project Delivery Program
• $28.8 million for Rochester BRT project in Minnesota;
• $700 million for the proposed Hudson Tunnel Project
• $496.8 million for the proposed Second Avenue Subway Phase II Project.

The third group of projects to have funding requested for them includes four projects with existing Full Funding Grant Agreements that would see payments accelerated under the President's FY 2024 Budget in a move the FTA says will save the project sponsor’s financing costs. They include:

• $165 million for the Los Angeles Westside Subway Section 2 and $478 million for the Westside Section 3 rail projects
• $291.9 million for the Minneapolis Southwest Light Rail Transit project
• $250.7 million for the Seattle Lynwood Link Light Rail extension project

"Transit is a great equalizer for our nation," said FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez. "For the men and women who will use these systems, this investment will open doors to opportunities they may otherwise never have had. For the communities where they'll be built, every dollar we provide will result in five dollars, or even more, of economic growth."

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