WASHINGTON, DC – At today’s meeting of the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB), members discussed and supported a plan to apply for funding under the third round of the federal Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program this October.
The TIGER program is a competitive, discretionary grant program of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) aimed at funding innovative transportation projects of regional scale that are ready to be implemented quickly and therefore have an immediate impact on creating jobs.
TPB members unanimously approved an application concept that focuses on improving access to six rail transit stations throughout the region as a means of promoting mixed-use development and a more efficient use of the region’s rail system. The total cost is approximately $20 million. Recommendations from the TPB’s Transportation/Land-Use Connections program, as well as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) recent study on improving bicycle and pedestrian access at its stations, will help determine which stations are chosen.
Expanding the Capital Bikeshare system to the selected stations was one of the specific recommendations offered by TPB members during the meeting and it will be considered in the application process. For a more detailed description of the TIGER grant program and the TPB’s approved application concept, click here. The TPB submitted a successful application in the first round of TIGER, receiving $58 million in funding for the creation of a regional priority bus network.
At the meeting, Board members also approved the TPB’s participation in a regional consortium led by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) that will create and submit an application for Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). For a more detailed description of the Sustainable Communities grant program and COG’s preliminary application concept, click here.