Program Overview
The Transit Within Reach Program funds design and preliminary engineering projects to help improve bike and walk connections to existing high-capacity transit stations or stations that will be open to riders by 2030. The program places emphasis on projects that improve access in TPB Transit Access Focus Areas (TAFAs), which have been identified as prime locations for small capital improvements— such as sidewalks, trails, crosswalks— that will make it safer and easier to walk or bike to train stations and bus stops.
Moving beyond conceptual planning, Transit Within Reach funds can help projects achieve up to 30 percent design and otherwise make progress toward construction/implementation (see categories listed below). Local governments that are members of the TPB are eligible to apply. Services are provided by consultants on a short-term basis— typically one year or less. To be eligible, projects must have already undergone a local planning process and be ready to move toward implementation.
Project Categories
Include (but are not limited to):
- Cost estimates of improvements
- Engineering systems description and analysis
- Preliminary or schematic drawings with site plans and elevations
- Renderings of site massing, elevation, or facility interior/exterior spaces
- Site surveys
Any TPB member jurisdiction or agency that is a member of the Transportation Planning Board is eligible to apply. This solicitation will be conducted every two years between FY 2021 and FY 2026. Approximately $80,000 will be available per project; for each biennial solicitation approximately $250,000 will be allocated to three projects. Recipients will receive short-term consultant services, not direct financial assistance.
The TPB approved three FY 2024 Transit Within Reach projects at the October 18, 2023, meeting.
Approved FY 2024 Transit Within Reach Projects
- 9th Street NW Sidewalk (District of Columbia)
- Old Towne to Washington Grove Shared-Use Path (City of Gaithersburg)
- Prosperity Avenue Safety Project (Fairfax County)
Read the news release.
Background
The Transit Within Reach program advances a regional policy priority to improve walk and bike access to transit, which was one of seven Aspirational Initiatives approved by the TPB in 2018.
The program complements the Transportation Land-Use Connections (TLC) Program, which also funds technical assistance for local governments throughout the region. But unlike Transit Within Reach, the TLC Program funds planning projects, as well as design. And, while the TLC Program also promotes access to transit, it projects typically address other topics as well.
Read more about the Transit Within Reach Program.
CONTACT:
John Swanson, jswanson@mwcog.org
2023 Program Application Email Photo Credit: Crystal City Courtyard Metroway BRT stop (Beyond DC/Flickr)