U. S. Transportation Secretary Slater Announces $47 Million in Grants To Help Make Communities More Livable

Topics:  Rodney E. Slater

Federal Highway Administration
October 27, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 27, 2000
Contact: Jim Pinkelman
Tel.: 202-366-0660
FHWA 65-00

U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced that 80 projects totaling $47 million in 34 states will receive funding through the Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot program (TCSP), a grants program that serves as a key component of the Clinton-Gore Administration’s livability agenda.

"These grants will help communities become more livable by preserving green space, easing traffic congestion and employing smart growth strategies," President Clinton said. "They demonstrate how we can safeguard the environment while promoting strong, sustainable economic growth."

Vice President Gore in January 1999 launched a comprehensive agenda to strengthen the government’s role as a partner with state and local efforts to build livable communities for the 21st century. TCSP is an initiative that will assist communities as they work to solve interrelated problems involving transportation, land development, environmental protection, public safety and economic development. It was established in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the six-year surface transportation law signed into law by President Clinton on June 9, 1998.

"In partnership with communities throughout America and through investments like these, we can continue to protect the environment while demonstrating the President Clinton and Vice President Gore’s commitment to putting people first," Secretary Slater said. "This program is an excellent tool for improving transportation efficiency, reducing the need for future costly infrastructure investments and helping to ensure that all have access to jobs, services and the marketplace."

TCSP funds are used to help achieve locally determined goals such as improving transportation efficiency; reducing the negative effects of transportation on the environment; providing better access to jobs, services and trade centers; reducing the need for costly future infrastructure; and revitalizing underdeveloped and brownfield sites. Grants also can be used to

examine urban development patterns and create strategies that encourage private companies to work toward these goals in designing new developments.

TCSP is administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department’s Federal Transit Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, and Research and Special Programs Administration.

Following is a list of the states that received grants and the amounts allocated.

Fiscal Year 2001 Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot Program Grants

A fact sheet showing the projects to be funded by these grants is on the Internet at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov.