The case for TIGER
Post Note: The following was prepared July 20, 2009. Since that time, much has transpired and congratulations are in order to everyone who debated, collaborated and reached a consensus on this important submission to benefit the region. The Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance supports the application and while our focus is public transit, we also support improvements to citizen mobility, livable communities and commerce. Best wishes and good luck.
Translation of the Landscape
Anytime anyone publishes, makes testimony, or states an opinion about transit and/or transportation in the Kansas City area, it stirs a passion unlike any other topic. The Kansas City metropolitan area need for seamless regional transportation for its citizens is an open wound seeking any form of antiseptic. Just the fact that it takes so long to come to consensus, much less get voter approval and actually build something threatens to put this region on a respirator. It’s time to act. It’s time to harness the will to succeed. It’s time to get it started.
Background
The upcoming Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant application stemming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has communities across the nation scrambling for what could potentially be up to 100 percent funding for transportation and infrastructure. With only 1.5 billion available, the requirements and selection criteria are tight. Use of US Department of Transportation’s credit financing program (loans) in the past show previous grants have funded primarily highway projects. A combination of the request of grant funding and loan guarantees is therefore highly plausible. No one state will be awarded more than 20 percent of the funds available. That means no more than 300 million for any one state can be requested. The minimum request is 20 million although waivers below that figure are discretionary. Keep in mind that the use of these funds can only be for capital investments in surface transportation projects. That means that operating funds have to be identified, preferably prior to submission of the grant. The grant deadline is September 15, with notification at anytime between then and February 17, 2010. For more information about the selection criteria, visit http://www.dot.gov/recovery/ost/faqs.htm.
The Position and Why
While presentations before the city of Kansas City, Mo.'s, Transportation and Infrastructure Committee have so far included the Port Authority and a downtown streetcar between Crown Center and the River Market, the Mid-America Regional Council’s regional bus rapid transit system (BRT) clearly has an advantage based not only on the selection criteria but the tremendous demand for citizen transportation. However, jurisdictions would have to commit to operating funds and economic development incentives and that is challenging in the current economic environment. But the Kansas City region is better off than many U.S. communities and has just as good a chance as any other community. In addition, a more robust BRT system serving high density bus corridors could eventually evolve into rail transit corridors. The primary and secondary selection criteria are located at http://www.dot.gov/recovery/ost/.
In Closing
We definitely have to apply for the TIGER grant with our best and most likely to succeed proposal. Some of us will have to swallow our pride and resist the temptation to apply for so much that we sell ourselves out of the running. There are additional opportunities before us to bolster the business climate and put us on a better footing for economical and regional competitiveness.
Kitty McCoy, Chair
Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance
