Federal Transit Administration Invites Public Input on Proposed Policy Changes for Major Capital Grant Program

U.S. DOT

WASHINGTON – To continue advancing transit projects that have a transformative impact on American communities, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is inviting public comment on revisions to policy guidance for the Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program.

The program is the federal government’s primary way to support large, locally driven transit projects.

“The Capital Investment Grants program is one of the best opportunities for us to leverage significant Federal investment into projects that are going to improve the lives of everyday Americans,” said FTA Acting Administrator Veronica Vanterpool. “FTA is on a path to invest in more than 60 projects from coast to coast, in communities large and small. This guidance will help ensure that we are building good projects well and transforming communities for decades to come.” [See Proposed Capital Investment Grants Policy Guidance here]

Project sponsors – including transit agencies, cities, or other eligible recipients – with projects that progress through the multi-year, multi-step CIG process receive federal support for high‑capacity transit projects. This can include new and expanded subway, light rail, commuter rail, streetcar and bus rapid transit projects. Thanks to increased funding in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Administration recommended 14 large transit projects in 11 states to receive nearly $4 billion in federal support through the CIG program as part of President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request to Congress.  

FTA implements the CIG program, in part, through policy guidance that includes the process applicants must follow to be considered for discretionary funding. That includes procedures and criteria FTA uses to evaluate and rate projects. Revisions, intended to amend FTA’s CIG Policy Guidance most recently updated in January 2023, would: 

• incorporate feedback received from the public to FTA’s Request for Information published in July 2021;
• update data used for CIG project evaluation and rating;
• incorporate priorities for equity, resilience and affordable housing;
• implement a new “bundling” provision for project sponsors pursuing multiple CIG projects at the same time; and
• improve overall readability of the document. 

Comments to the proposed CIG Guidance are due by June 4, 2024 in the Federal Register docket.