[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 158 (Tuesday, August 19, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40463-40465]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-15795]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Transit Administration
[FTA-2025-0069]
Request for Information Concerning the Capital Investment Grants
Program
AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Department of
Transportation (DOT).
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is seeking
suggestions from all transit stakeholders (transit authorities,
planning officials, States, cities, the private sector, and the public)
on ways to streamline and enhance the Capital Investment Grants (CIG)
Police Guidance while increasing the accountability of project sponsors
and ensuring federal investment in the most successful projects.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 18, 2025. Late-
filed comments will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to DOT docket number FTA-2025-0069
by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to https://www.regulations.gov and
follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
U.S. Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Room W12-140,
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200
New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140,
Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays.
Fax: 202-493-2251.
Instructions: You must include the agency name (Federal Transit
Administration) and docket number (FTA-2025-0069) for this notice at
the beginning of your comments. You must submit two copies of your
comments if you submit them by mail. If you wish to receive
confirmation FTA received your comments, you must include a
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self-addressed, stamped postcard. Due to security procedures in effect
since October 2001, mail received through the U.S. Postal Service may
be subject to delays. Parties submitting comments may wish to consider
using an express mail firm to ensure prompt filing of any submissions
not filed electronically or by hand.
All comments received will be posted, without charge and including
any personal information provided, to http://www.regulations.gov, where
they will be available to internet users. You may review DOT's complete
Privacy Act Statement published in the
Federal Register on April 11, 2000, at 65 FR 19477. For access to
the docket and to read background documents and comments received, go
to http://regulations.gov at any time or to the U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Docket Management Facility,
West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590,
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal
holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark Ferroni, FTA Office of Planning
and Environment at [email protected], or 202.366.3233.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
FTA seeks feedback from interested parties, on ways to streamline
and enhance the CIG Policy Guidance, last published in December 2024,
(https://www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grants/grant-programs/capital-investments/2024-cig-policy-guidance)--specifically, ways to increase
the accountability of project sponsors and ensuring federal investment
in the most successful projects. FTA seeks comment on project rating
and evaluation criteria and the CIG process, to inform development of a
potential future comprehensive update to the CIG policy guidance FTA
would propose for public comment.
FTA requests commenters refrain from providing feedback requiring a
statutory change to implement, as FTA does not have authority or
discretion to change statutory requirements. Respondents may respond to
any question and do not need to respond to all questions. FTA looks
forward to receiving feedback from all interested parties.
Economic Development Criterion (New Starts, Small Starts, and Core
Capacity Projects) and Land Use Criterion (New Starts and Small Starts
Projects)
Currently, FTA evaluates the Economic Development criterion for New
Starts, Small Starts, and Core Capacity projects based on the extent to
which a proposed project is likely to induce additional transit-
supportive development in the future. The evaluation examines: (1)
Supportive zoning in station areas, including zoning for universal
design; (2) Performance and impacts of transit-supportive plans and
policies (e.g., growth management, transit-supportive corridor
policies, tools to implement transit-supportive plans and policies, and
potential impact of the transit project on station area development);
and (3) Tools to maintain or increase the share of affordable housing
in station areas (e.g., evaluation of affordable housing needs and
supply specific to station areas, plans and policies to preserve and
increase affordable housing, adopted financing tools and strategies to
preserve and increase affordable housing, and developer activity to
preserve and increase affordable housing).
FTA currently evaluates the Land Use criterion for New Starts and
Small Starts projects by examining what exists in the project corridor
today. The evaluation examines the average existing population density
across all station areas in the project corridor, total existing
employment served by the project, the proportion of existing legally
binding affordability restricted (LBAR) housing within a \1/2\ mile of
station areas to the proportion of LBAR housing in the counties through
which the project travels, the level of community risk based on certain
census data characteristics, and access to essential services.
FTA seeks feedback from interested parties on the following
questions:
1. Should FTA consider under the Economic Development and/or Land
Use criterion ways to further capture population growth? If so, why and
how?
2. Should FTA consider under the Economic Development and/or Land
Use criterion ways to further capture transit-oriented development? If
so, why and how?
3. Should FTA consider under the Economic Development and/or Land
Use criterion ways to capture opportunity zones as defined by the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development? If so, why and how?
CIG Process (New Starts, Small Starts and Core Capacity Projects)
To receive discretionary funding under the CIG program, an
applicant must complete the multi-year, multi-step process outlined at
49 U.S.C. 5309 for the proposed major transit capital project.
The law establishes three categories of projects eligible under the
CIG program, referred to as New Starts, Small Starts, and Core Capacity
projects. The law specifies project justification and local financial
commitment evaluation criteria FTA must use to develop a project rating
on a five-point scale from low to high (49 U.S.C. 5309(d), (e), and
(h)). A project must receive a Medium or better overall rating to
advance to the Engineering phase (for New Starts and Core Capacity
projects) and to receive a construction grant award (for all three
types of projects). Each project type has a unique set of requirements
and evaluation criteria in law, although many similarities exist among
them.
4. How should FTA streamline and/or simplify the CIG process,
consistent with statutory requirements? Including:
a. Potential revisions to the factors and weighting FTA uses to
evaluate the statutorily required project justification and local
financial commitment criteria; and
b. Potential revisions and/or expansion to the project
justification warrants process.
Merits of CIG Projects
FTA is required to evaluate and rate the merits of proposed CIG
projects. Part of this process is to evaluate the reliability and
accuracy of the predictions for anticipated project ridership and
related impacts made by project sponsors. The CIG ratings process uses
projections made from travel forecasts to evaluate four of the six
project justification measures, including: mobility improvements, cost-
effectiveness, congestion relief, and environmental benefits. The
travel forecasting process is dependent on accurately isolating how the
CIG project will change the customer experience of travelers in the
project corridor.
In 2013, FTA released the Simplified Trips on Project Software
(STOPS) program as a streamlined travel forecasting methodology. FTA
has worked diligently to calibrate and validate this model based on
actual project experience obtained through FTA's Information Collection
and Analysis Plan (previously known as Before and After study). This
work has demonstrated when given actual, as-built project service
attributes, STOPS will generate an acceptably accurate ridership
forecast in a variety of contexts for all fixed-guideway modes.
FTA's Information Collection and Analysis Plan analyzes predicted
and actual outcomes for completed CIG projects in five topic areas,
including: capital-costs, operating and maintenance costs, physical
scope,
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service, and ridership. When the CIG project choice and operating
assumptions are inaccurate, it directly translates to inaccurate or
distorted estimates of project ridership and benefits from a Federal
investment.
5. How could FTA work with potential project sponsors to improve
the rightsizing of projects and accuracy of operating plans developed
to prepare the ridership projections for CIG projects?
Marcus J. Molinaro,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2025-15795 Filed 8-18-25; 8:45 am]
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