U. S. Transportation Secretary Slater Announces $3.2 Million in Grants For the District, Maryland, Virginia |
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Topics: Rodney E. Slater
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Federal Highway Administration
17 March 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 17, 2000
Contact: Jim Pinkelman
Tel.: 202-366-0660
FHWA 18-00
U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater today announced that projects in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia will receive $3.2 million in federal funding under an innovative initiative called the Transportation and Community and System Preservation Pilot program (TCSP), a key component of the Clinton Administration's livability agenda.
"President Clinton and Vice President Gore are committed to making America's communities more livable by easing traffic congestion, preserving green space, and employing smart growth strategies," Secretary Slater said. "In partnership with the people of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, we can help protect the region's environment while continuing to grow the area economy."
The grants to the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia were part of $31.1 million in Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) grants for communities throughout the United States. This TCSP funding was announced by Secretary Slater during a tour of transportation systems in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
The District of Columbia will receive a $500,000 grant for a Howard University/LeDroit Park infrastructure project and $435,500 for measures to mitigate Pennsylvania Avenue traffic.
Maryland will receive a grant of $200,000 to assess the implication of transportation projects on land use entitled, "A Smart Growth Assessment for the I-270 Corridor."
Virginia will receive three grants: $435,500 for pedestrian, bicycle access and other transit improvements in Arlington County; $150,441 for a "Phase II - Impact Assessment of the Virginia Railway Express Commuter Rail on Land Use Development Patterns in Northern Virginia"; and $1.5 million for a Main Street intermodal facility in Richmond.
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 consists of grants and research 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.
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.
The District, Maryland and Virginia projects are among a total of 84 projects from communities throughout the nation selected from a pool of 327 applications. They were evaluated by a multi-disciplinary panel from the Department's Federal Highway, Federal Transit and Research and Special Programs Administrations and the Environmental Protection Agency.
TEA-21 authorized $25 million for the TCSP program in FY2001. As a key transportation component of its livability agenda, the Clinton Administration has requested an additional $25 million for the TCSP program for fiscal 2001 in response to overwhelming interest from communities around the country. Since its passage, more than $53 million in TCSP grants have been made across the country.
"TCSP is an exciting and innovative program that recognizes the close link between transportation and the environment, as well as the importance of overall development for a community," Secretary Slater said. "It supports the commitment by the Clinton administration to put people first."