Federal Transit Capital Investment Grants

IIJA includes three categories of eligible projects under the Capital Investment Grant Program, referred to as New Starts, Core Capacity, and Small Starts projects. New Starts projects are those whose sponsors request $150 million or more in Capital Investment Grant Program funds or have an anticipated total capital cost of $400 million or more. Core Capacity projects are substantial investments in an existing fixed-guideway corridor that is at capacity today or will be in ten years, where the proposed project will increase capacity by not less than 10 percent. Small Starts projects are defined as those whose sponsors request less than $150 million in Capital Investment Grant Program funds and have an anticipated total capital cost of less than $400 million. The Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Planning, authorized under Section 20005(b) of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), Public Law 112-141, July 6, 2012, with funding provided under 49 U.S.C. 5338(a)(2)(B), as amended by the Section 30009 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, enacted as the IIJA (Pub. L. 117–58), provides grants for comprehensive or site-specific planning activities conducted in conjunction with the development of new fixed-guideway or core capacity improvement projects. The comprehensive or site-specific planning work must help to enhance economic development, ridership, and other goals established during the project development and engineering processes; facilitate multimodal connectivity and accessibility; increase access to transit hubs for pedestrian and bicycle traffic; enable mixed-use development; identify infrastructure needs associated with the eligible project; and include private sector participation. The Expedited Project Delivery (EPD) Pilot Program, authorized by Section 3005(b) of the FAST Act, as amended by the IIJA, is aimed at expediting delivery of new fixed guideway capital projects, small starts projects, or core capacity improvement projects. These projects must utilize public-private partnerships, be operated and maintained by employees of an existing public transportation provider, and have a federal share not exceeding 25 percent of the project cost. In FY 2023, a total of $3.8 billion was appropriated for the Capital Investment Grants Program, that included a total of $483.4 million for the EPD Pilot Program, and a total of $13 million was appropriated for the Pilot Program for TOD Planning. In addition, a total of $425 million was appropriated as additional funding for CIG projects that had already received Full Funding Grant Agreements.

CIG funding may be used only for transit capital projects, specifically: 1. Project Development and Engineering
Planning, environmental review (NEPA), project management, preliminary engineering, design work, cost estimation, and development of financial plans
2. Capital Construction - Guideway construction or expansion (rail, BRT, streetcar, ferry terminals), stations, platforms, and associated structures, track, power systems, signaling, and control systems and 3. Vehicles and Equipment, Railcars, buses (BRT-quality), streetcars, or ferry vessels and maintenance equipment and system-wide technology needed for the project; 4. Real Estate Acquisition, right-of-way acquisition and related relocation costs (Uniform Relocation Act) and 5. Project-Related Infrastructure - maintenance facilities, utilities relocation
and pedestrian or bicycle improvements only if directly necessary for the CIG project.