City to get just $25M of $75M federal grant it expected for streetcar
by Garry Duffy on Dec. 13, 2008, under Local, SpecialTucson’s modern streetcar project will receive $25 million through a federal grant instead of the $75 million that planners had expected.
City Council members will hear an update Tuesday on the streetcar, which voters approved in 2006 as part of the $2.1 billion Regional Transportation Authority 20-year plan.
The project would be built in phases and eventually run from Avenida de Convento downtown to near the Arizona Health Sciences Center off Campbell Avenue.
Since the RTA vote, city transportation officials have been working with Federal Transit Administration staffers to secure grant money to start and build the project.
The $162 million streetcar system, to be completed in 2011, called for the RTA to fund $87.7 million of the cost.
The remainder was anticipated to come from “up to $75 million” in federal transit Small Starts program grants.
“We’re going to continue to pursue federal funding in other areas,” Shellie Gin, project manager for the Tucson Transportation Department, said Thursday. “The goal is to keep this project moving forward.”
Among the issues between federal staffers and city transit officials is whether the streetcar system meets required FTA cost-effectiveness criteria to qualify for up to $75 million in grants.
Mayor Bob Walkup and city transportation officials met with federal transit representatives in Washington, D.C., in June to discuss the funding.
The mayor wrote a letter July 10 to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, stating local officials’ belief that the city had met all requirements for the anticipated $75 million grant.
The mayor followed up with a July 22 letter to FTA Administrator James S. Simpson, saying federal Small Starts evaluation methods do not “adequately nor accurately capture” the full benefits of streetcar investments.”
Federal transit staffers continue to disagree with Walkup’s assessment.
The federal officials Thursday said the $25 million grant is being provided to the streetcar project under an exemption through a different grant category, New Starts.
“The request is small enough so it doesn’t have to meet the stringent requirements of the New Start process,” Paul Griffo, an FTA spokesman, said Thursday.
Griffo said the city can submit grant applications for later phases of the project.
At the council study session Tuesday, city transportation officials will provide an update on the anticipated release of the $25 million federal grant on Dec. 20.
The streetcar project was a central feature of the 2006 Regional Transportation Plan. Backers cast it as both a mass transit amenity that would reduce traffic and air pollution, and an economic driver that would attract high-quality development along its almost 4-mile route.
