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About the Program

Overview

Discretionary & Competitive Federal Grant Program

  • Authorized up to $4.6 billion per year, subject to Congressional appropriations
  • Funds light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail, streetcar, and bus rapid transit projects

BIL outlines: Multi-year, multi-step process projects must follow to receive funds

  • Points during process when FTA must evaluate and rate projects
  • Evaluation criteria that must be used
  • 5 point scale from low to high for ratings
  • Annual Report to Congress that must include ratings for each project and the Administration’s funding recommendations

BIL Eligible Projects

New Starts

  • Total project cost is equal to or greater than $400 million or total New Starts funding sought equals or exceeds $150 million
  • New fixed guideway system (light rail, commuter rail, etc.)
  • Extension to existing system
  • Fixed guideway BRT system

Small Starts

  • Total project cost is less than $400 million and total Small Starts funding sought is less than $150 million
  • New fixed guideway systems (light rail, commuter rail, etc.)
  • Extension to existing system
  • Fixed guideway BRT system
  • Corridor-based BRT system

Core Capacity

  • Substantial corridor-based investment in existing fixed guideway system
  • Project must:
    • Be located in a corridor that is at or over capacity or will be in ten years
    • Increase capacity by 10%
    • "not include project elements designated to maintain a state of good repair"

Bundling

  • BIL establishes a process for bundling of projects to allow sponsors to move multiple projects through the CIG pipeline simultaneously.