Transit Cost & Project Delivery
This page is the central location for our ongoing work on transit cost and project delivery in the United States.
Metropolitan areas across the United States are looking to invest in a range of mass transit projects in order to connect people to jobs and economic opportunity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, and shape development patterns in cities and suburbs. While support for new transit investments is high, there is also considerable scrutiny about their costs and the time they take to construct. A few very visible projects reinforce the narrative that both heavy and light rail investments have endemic issues specific to the United States, especially when compared to Western Europe.
Some stakeholders are concerned that regulatory reform in the name of cutting red tape may undo necessary policies that protect public interests. Although some work has been undertaken to understand transit project delivery in individual metropolitan areas, the work is too disparate for the national examination needed now and fail to recognize the onerous policies and processes that transit project delivery operates under.
ANALYZE
Eno is undertaking a research, policy, and communications project to analyze current and historical trends in transit project delivery
CONVENE
The research includes convening a high level-set of advisors and conducting in-depth interviews
COMPARE
The research will compare investments between U.S. cities and peer metropolitan areas in Western Europe
RECOMMEND
Ultimately, Eno's research will provide actionable recommendations to inform policy change and practice on the ground
Eno’s research on transit cost and project delivery is funded by The Merck Family Fund, TransitCenter, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Barr Foundation, and the John Merck Fund, as well as the Federal Transit Administration.
External Resources
Federal Transit Administration Could Improve Information on Estimating Project Costs (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
STATION TO STATION: Why Subway-building Costs Have Soared in the Toronto Region (RCCAO)
Building Rail Transit Projects Better for Less (RPA)
Why the Bay Area Struggles with Transit Project Delivery, and How to Fix It (SPUR)
Streetsblog USA
Study: The U.S. Can Afford to Build More Rail
Planetizen
New Database Quantifies the Costs of Transit Construction in the United States
The New York Times
Why Does Subway Construction Cost So Much? Congress Wants to Find Out
The Washington Post
Why second phase of Metro’s Silver Line has been more problem-plagued than the first
VICE
Why the US Sucks at Building Public Transit
The Transport Politic
A generational failure: As the U.S. fantasizes, the rest of the world builds a new transport system