Transit leaders urge Congress to restore grants for projects

The Trump administration should rethink its plan to eliminate grants for new transit projects, a group of transit administrators from across the country said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference in Washington, D.C., organized by the American Public Transportation Association, the administrators said federal funds play a vital role in constructing transit projects. Those projects have a variety of benefits, including aiding the movement of freight by trucks, reducing air pollution and sparking economic development, they said.

The administration’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2019 eliminates money for the Department of Transportation’s Capital Investment Grants and Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program. The association said its members have applications pending for 53 projects at a cost of $52 billion, including a request for $100 million as part of the proposed $195.5 million Bus Rapid Transit project connecting Oakland and Downtown Pittsburgh.

Paul Skoutelas, a former Port Authority CEO who is the association’s president and CEO, said he was “very discouraged and quite concerned” that transit grants were eliminated from the budget. The association is working with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to restore the grants, said Mr. Skoutelas, who estimated the proposed projects would create 500,000 construction and 300,000 permanent jobs.

“We need to have a federal partner that has a robust funding source,” Mr. Skoutelas said.

Cam Basile, CEO of the Capital District Transportation District in Albany, N.Y., said his agency had federal funding requests pending for two Bus Rapid Transit projects.

“I think we’re all losing momentum [as projects are delayed for lack of funding],” Mr. Basile said. “There’s an expectation in our riders when we announce a project that it will move ahead. We’re all at crossroads here.”

Port Authority CEO Katharine Eagan Kelleman said during the news conference that local BRT project not only would connect the state’s second- and third-ranked job centers, but moving drivers to transit also would create more room for bike lanes and other motorists. Federal money would allow the project to move ahead sooner, she said, although Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald has said the county would find a way to fund the project if federal funds were unavailable.

In Pittsburgh, Mayor Bill Peduto said providing a “critical portion” of funding for transit projects is part of the federal government’s role. The grants, which improve mobility for residents and ease congestion across the country, bolster public transit that’s become “absolutely critical to the survival of cities,” he said.