California has been awarded four grants totaling a nation-leading $40 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT), as announced this past week by the U.S. DOT and by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). The grants are part of the U.S. DOT’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Program, or TIGER.
“These grants reflect an important investment in California’s modern transportation system,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “They not only ensure that Californians will continue to enjoy safe roads, but will allow for greater access to transit.”
The grants include:
$6.3 million to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) for the “Gateway to Oakland Uptown” (GO Uptown) to modernize the 19th Street/Oakland station – including major interior station upgrades, such as new glass fare barriers and new energy-efficient LED lighting, new art features throughout the station and expanded and reconfigured fare gates. These upgrades will significantly expand station capacity and enhance the passenger experience. The grant will also implement the 20th Street BART to Lake Merritt Urban Greenway “complete streets” project, which will provide an enhanced multimodal transportation corridor between BART and nearby housing, employment and retail.
$15 million to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to help build a grade separation at the Rosecrans and Marquardt Avenue intersection in the City of Santa Fe Springs. Over 45,000 vehicles and 130 trains cross the area every day, including Amtrak, BNSF and Metrolink, and the project will improve safety by separating pedestrians and vehicles from the railroad. Caltrans has partnered with Metro, California High Speed Rail and others in the development of this project.
$10 million to the City of Live Oak to construct Phase 1 of the Live Oak Streetscape Project, which includes improvements to State Route 99, the main street of the community.
$8.7 million to San Bernardino County for the Redlands Passenger Rail project, which will bring nine miles in new passenger rail service between the San Bernardino Transit Center and the University of Redlands. The new route is expected to benefit an initial ridership of between 1,600 and 1,800 passengers daily.
The TIGER discretionary grant program funds capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure and is awarded on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant impact on the nation, a metropolitan area or a region. The 2016 program provided $500 million nationwide.
