The Last 15 Years of New Start Grant Agreements

We put this list together in response to a question from a reporter, but it may be worth posting online as well. We went back through the annual Capital Investment Grant annual reports and their predecessor New Starts annual reports (on the Federal Transit Administration website, here) and put together list of every multi-year full funding grant agreement (FFGA) for a new subway, light rail, or bus rapid transit system or extension that was signed by the Federal Transit Administration in at least the last 15 years.

(The FY 2006 and prior reports don’t give the total capital costs of the project, so we stopped at the 2007 report to keep the data consistent).

The table below shows the projects, alphabetized by state postal code, with the date that the FFGA was signed, the estimated total project capital cost, the amount of funding to be provided from the new start/CIG program, and the new start/CIG program share of that total capital cost.

The list does not include core capacity projects or one-off small starts, as those are not consistent with the older new starts program structure.

At the end of the list, we have appended the totals for the One That Got Away (ARC) and every proposed new start project from the FY 2021 report that is currently in either the Project Development phase or the Engineering phase of the CIG program.

(This list goes back so far that a few of the projects had CIG shares of up to 80 percent, far higher than what is being allowed today.)

The grant agreements funded since 2006, along with the pending section 3 of the L.A. Purple Line extension, delivered or promised a total of $31.9 billion in federal appropriations, for systems with an estimated capital cost of $78.0 billion, for an aggregate new start/CIG program share of 40.8 percent.

It cannot be emphasized enough that the total capital costs are the estimates at the time the FFGA was signed, not the final capital cost once the project was completed. The LIRR East Side Access project, for example, is currently about $5 billion over that budget, and we have lost track of what is up with Honolulu. However, under the CIG program structure, any cost overruns are borne exclusively by the local/state transit agency and are Not. The. Federal. Government’s. Problem.

All existing New Start FFGAs since FY 2007 report (Feb. 2006)
Ongoing projects in bold type, grants about to be signed in italic type
Total Cap. FTA CIG CIG
State Project FFGA Date Cost Share Pct.
AZ Phoenix Central/East Valley LRT Jan. 2005 $1,412.1 $587.2 41.6%
CA Los Angeles Regional Connector Feb. 2014 $1,402.9 $669.9 47.7%
CA L.A. Eastside Gold Extension June 2004 $898.8 $490.7 54.6%
CA L.A. Westside Purple – Section 1 May 2014 $2,822.0 $1,250.0 44.3%
CA L.A. Westside Purple – Section 2 Dec. 2016 $2,499.2 $1,187.0 47.5%
CA L.A. Westside Purple – Section 3 Mar. 2020 $3,599.3 $1,300.0 36.1%
CA Oceanside-Escondido Rail Corridor Feb. 2003 $351.5 $152.1 43.3%
CA Sacramento South Corr. Phase 2 Dec. 2012 $270.0 $135.0 50.0%
CA San Diego Mid-Coast Corridor Sept. 2016 $2,171.2 $1,043.4 48.1%
CA San Diego – Mission Valley East June 2000 $431.0 $330.0 76.6%
CA San Fran. 3rd St. LRT Phase 2 Oct. 2012 $1,578.3 $942.2 59.7%
CA San Fran. BART Airport Extension June 2000 $1,552.2 $750.0 48.3%
CA San Jose Silicon Valley Berryessa Mar. 2012 $2,230.0 $900.0 40.4%
CO Denver Eagle Commuter Rail Aug. 2011 $2,043.1 $1,030.4 50.4%
CO Denver Southeast Corridor LRT Nov. 2000 $879.3 $525.0 59.7%
CO Denver West Corridor LRT Jan. 2009 $709.8 $308.7 43.5%
CT Hartford – Britain Busway Nov. 2011 $567.1 $275.3 48.5%
FL Orlando Central FL LRT IOS July 2011 $357.2 $178.6 50.0%
FL Orlando Sunrail Phase II South Sept. 2015 $186.9 $93.4 50.0%
HI Honolulu Rapid Transit Corridor Dec. 2012 $5,121.7 $1,550.0 30.3%
IL Chicago Douglas Branch Jan. 2001 $482.7 $320.1 66.3%
IL Chicago Ravenswood Extension Jan. 2004 $529.9 $245.5 46.3%
IL Chicago UP West Line Extension Nov. 2001 $134.6 $80.8 60.0%
MA Cambridge-Medford Green Line Jan. 2015 $2,297.6 $996.1 43.4%
MD Baltimore Central LRT Double-Track July 2001 $153.7 $120.0 78.1%
MD Largo WMATA Metrorail Extension May 2000 $607.2 $364.0 59.9%
MD National Capitol Area Purple Line Aug. 2017 $2,407.0 $900.0 37.4%
MN Minneapolis -Big Lake Northstar Dec. 2007 $317.4 $156.8 49.4%
MN MSP Central Corridor LRT Apr. 2011 $956.9 $474.0 49.5%
NC Charlotte LYNX Blue Line NE Corridor Oct. 2012 $1,160.1 $580.0 50.0%
NC Charlotte South Corridor LRT May 2005 $426.9 $192.9 45.2%
NJ Hudson-Bergen MOS-2 Nov. 2000 $1,215.4 $500.0 41.1%
NY NYC LIRR East Side Access Dec. 2006 $7,386.0 $2,632.1 35.6%
NY NYC 2nd Ave. Subway Phase 1 Nov. 2007 $4,866.6 $1,300.0 26.7%
OH Cleveland Euclid Corridor Oct. 2004 $168.4 $82.2 48.8%
OR Portland Interstate MAX LRT Ext. Sept. 2000 $350.0 $257.5 73.6%
OR Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail May 2012 $1,490.4 $745.2 50.0%
OR Portland South Corridor LRT June 2007 $575.7 $345.4 60.0%
PA Pittsburgh North Shore Connector Sept. 2006 $435.0 $235.7 54.2%
PR San Juan Tren Urbano Mar. 1996 $1,653.6 $307.4 18.6%
TX Dallas NW/SR LRT MOS July 2006 $1,406.2 $700.0 49.8%
TX Ft. Worth TEX Light Rail Dec. 2016 $1,034.4 $499.4 48.3%
TX Houston North Corridor LRT Nov. 2011 $756.0 $450.0 59.5%
TX Houston Southeast Corridor LRT Nov. 2011 $822.9 $450.0 54.7%
UT SLC Mid Jordan LRT Jan. 2009 $535.4 $428.3 80.0%
UT SLC Weber to SLC Comm. Rail June 2006 $611.7 $489.3 80.0%
VA Norfolk LRT Oct. 2007 $232.1 $128.0 55.1%
VA WMATA Dulles Corridor to Wiehle Mar. 2009 $3,142.5 $900.0 28.6%
WA Seattle Central Link Oct. 2003 $2,436.9 $500.0 20.5%
WA Seattle Federal Way LRT Jan. 2020 $3,160.7 $790.0 25.0%
WA Seattle Lynnwood Link Dec. 2018 $3,260.4 $1,172.7 36.0%
WA Seattle University Link LRT Jan. 2009 $1,947.7 $813.0 41.7%
Grant Agreement Almost Signed but Canceled at Last Minute
NJ Access to Region’s Core $8,700.0 $3,000.0 34.5%
New Starts Currently Proposed to FTA
AZ Phoenix Northwest Ext. Phase II $401.3 $158.1 39.4%
AZ Phoenix South Central LRT Extension $1,345.2 $529.9 39.4%
CA San Jose Silicon Valley Phase II $5,581.0 $1,395.0 25.0%
IN Gary to Michigan City $456.0 $173.0 37.9%
IN Lake County West Lake Corridor $933.1 $354.6 38.0%
MN MSP Blue Line LRT Ext. $1,536.2 $752.7 49.0%
MN St. Paul METRO Gold Line BRT $460.9 $207.4 45.0%
MN MSP Southwest LRT $2,003.2 $928.8 46.4%
NJ-NY Hudson River Tunnel $12,127.2 $5,338.7 44.0%
NV Las Vegas Maryland Parkway $345.0 $170.8 49.5%
NY NYC 2nd Ave Subway Phase 2 $6,390.3 $2,000.0 31.3%
OR Portland SW Corridor LRT $2,700.0 $1,395.0 51.7%

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