Comments on: Metro Misses Out on Federal “New Starts” Funding http://la.streetsblog.org/2010/02/04/metro-misses-out-on-federal-new-starts-funding/ Covering Los Angeles's livable streets movement Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:06:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dana Gabbard http://la.streetsblog.org/2010/02/04/metro-misses-out-on-federal-new-starts-funding/comment-page-1/#comment-143221 Dana Gabbard Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:13:32 +0000 http://la.streetsblog.org/?p=31351#comment-143221 ds, spot on! These things work in cycles. And really the political climate (and passage of Measure R) dictated when the new projects could be advanced. We should remember all through the 80s, 90s and into this decade Metro reaped hundreds of millions of New Starts funds for the initial segments of the Red Line and the Gold Line eastiside extension. The folks in Metro's Government Relations Dept. are expert in advocating for us, so I am confident in a few years we'll again be getting our share. Albeit that depends on our friends in D.C. finally dealing with the Transportation Trust Funds long-term funding issues. ds, spot on! These things work in cycles. And really the political climate (and passage of Measure R) dictated when the new projects could be advanced. We should remember all through the 80s, 90s and into this decade Metro reaped hundreds of millions of New Starts funds for the initial segments of the Red Line and the Gold Line eastiside extension. The folks in Metro’s Government Relations Dept. are expert in advocating for us, so I am confident in a few years we’ll again be getting our share. Albeit that depends on our friends in D.C. finally dealing with the Transportation Trust Funds long-term funding issues.

]]> By: ds http://la.streetsblog.org/2010/02/04/metro-misses-out-on-federal-new-starts-funding/comment-page-1/#comment-143191 ds Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:38:56 +0000 http://la.streetsblog.org/?p=31351#comment-143191 My understanding is that both the Gold Line Foothill extension and the Expo line didn't receive a high enough rating from the FTA to be eligible for New Starts funding. Both the Westside subway and the regional connector will likely get a good rating by the FTA, but the planning for both projects will take at least a few more years to complete. They have to finish their environmental reports before they can even get preliminary engineering funds. It looks like LA is going to go through a federal funding drought, partly because of the FTA's cost-effectiveness rubric, but mostly because LA wasn't strategic enough to start planning for it's biggest projects early enough. My understanding is that both the Gold Line Foothill extension and the Expo line didn’t receive a high enough rating from the FTA to be eligible for New Starts funding.

Both the Westside subway and the regional connector will likely get a good rating by the FTA, but the planning for both projects will take at least a few more years to complete. They have to finish their environmental reports before they can even get preliminary engineering funds.

It looks like LA is going to go through a federal funding drought, partly because of the FTA’s cost-effectiveness rubric, but mostly because LA wasn’t strategic enough to start planning for it’s biggest projects early enough.

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