KC Light Rail

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TIGER: Winners/losers, streetcar (not) in play?

While some media outlets thought otherwise, it's not entirely clear after today's TIGER announcement that the downtown streetcar is completely unfunded. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of math to deduce where the entire $50 million award will go. The full request [PDF] was $88.761 million.

In practical terms, the entire amount will go to MARC to be distributed to various agencies who handle the Green Impact Zone of Missouri (GIZMO) and transportation services in the metro — the latter being handled exclusively by KCATA, The JO, and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County.

Of the $50 million awarded to KC today, however, GIZMO and bus corridor improvements cover only about $48 million. The Bike KC, Front Street interchange, and West Bottoms freight rail projects were not specifically mentioned, which leaves the remaining transit project — design and engineering for the downtown modern streetcar — up in the air. We have yet to hear from KCATA about their take on today's event.

Streetcar awards were confirmed for Dallas, Tucson, New Orleans, and Portland. Streetcar requests that didn't make the cut were Cincinnati, Boise, Fort Worth, Salt Lake City, and Atlanta.

Another smaller round of streetcar-specific funding using unspent transit dollars — not stimulus — will be awarded later this year; Kansas City is unable to apply for that program because it has not delivered the local match required.

As for the other nationwide winners and losers in today's announcement [PDF], Streetsblog, The Infrastructurist, and The Transport Politic have excellent posts that cover the big picture.

Hope you enjoyed our live tweets. We also finally figured out video (see above), and MARC has plenty of pictures.

UPDATE: KCATA confirmed Thursday morning that the streetcar element was not funded. Their site has been updated with details about the bus corridor improvements.

6 Comments so far

  1. ron mclinden February 18th, 2010 12:44 am

    there’s no chance that the downtown streetcar is still “in play” in today’s tiger grant. maybe somebody is actively dreaming about it, but nobody is actively working on it.

    btw, thanks for live-tweeting — though i was there taking notes and not following along.

  2. Streetsblog New York City » Rounding Up More TIGER Coverage February 18th, 2010 10:49 am

    […] KC Light Rail and Let’s Go KC both posted on the awards going to Kansas City, Missouri, which got money for suburban transit and the improvement of conditions for pedestrians in the city’s Green Impact Zone (KC Light Rail wonders if some funds might end up going to the downtown streetcar as well). However, as KCBike.info posted, the region got no funds for bicycling improvements. […]

  3. Streetsblog Capitol Hill » Rounding Up More TIGER Coverage February 18th, 2010 10:56 am

    […] KC Light Rail and Let’s Go KC both posted on the awards going to Kansas City, Missouri, which got money for suburban transit and the improvement of conditions for pedestrians in the city’s Green Impact Zone (KC Light Rail wonders if some funds might end up going to the downtown streetcar as well). However, as KCBike.info posted, the region got no funds for bicycling improvements. […]

  4. Streetsblog San Francisco » Rounding Up More TIGER Coverage February 18th, 2010 12:07 pm

    […] KC Light Rail and Let’s Go KC both posted on the awards going to Kansas City, Missouri, which got money for suburban transit and the improvement of conditions for pedestrians in the city’s Green Impact Zone (KC Light Rail wonders if some funds might end up going to the downtown streetcar as well). However, as KCBike.info posted, the region got no funds for bicycling improvements. […]

  5. Streetsblog Los Angeles » Rounding Up More T.I.G.E.R. Coverage February 18th, 2010 12:36 pm

    […] KC Light Rail and Let’s Go KC both posted on the awards going to Kansas City, Missouri, which got money for suburban transit and the improvement of conditions for pedestrians in the city’s Green Impact Zone (KC Light Rail wonders if some funds might end up going to the downtown streetcar as well). However, as KCBike.info posted, the region got no funds for bicycling improvements. […]

  6. Tony: Clay Chastain Still Crusading For His Transit Plan | KC Confidential.com February 19th, 2010 5:18 pm

    […] over the designs of the far more politically connected Jackson County Executive Mike Sanders. As Obama transit money is now in play, Clay is taking on one of the area’s most seasoned, experienced and powerful […]

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