New Grant Program Promotes Increased Integration of Transportation Systems with Community Needs

Under a new pilot program managed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), up to $25 million annually will be awarded over the next 5 years to help State and local governments plan and implement programs that better integrate transportation services with community needs. As communities place more of an emphasis on managing growth, reducing traffic congestion, and preserving green space, the Transportation and Community and System Preservation (TCSP) program will bolster these efforts by funding proposals that balance transportation initiatives with community development, environmental protection, and access to jobs and markets.

To provide managers, planners, and others in State and local agencies and metropolitan planning organizations, as well as their nongovernmental partners, with the chance to learn more about the TCSP program and the opportunities it presents for their communities, FHWA sponsored a 2-day workshop on May 11–12 in Denver, Colorado.

Workshop participants were provided information that will be useful in preparing TCSP grant applications. The call for proposals for fiscal year 2000 grants will be announced in the Federal Register this spring, and proposals will be due sometime this summer.

The TCSP program was created by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). It is designed to encourage activities that meet the following goals:

• Improve the efficiency of the transportation system


• Reduce the impact of transportation on the environment


• Reduce the need for costly future public infrastructure investments


• Provide people with better access to jobs, services, and trade centers


• Encourage private-sector development patterns that achieve the above goals

In 1998, the first year of the grant program, more than 500 proposals were submitted. Thirty-five grants totaling $13.1 million were awarded this spring. The grants will fund programs ranging from waterfront redevelopment in Troy, New York, to a transportation and community sustainability plan in Laurel, Montana. Other grant recipients include Kansas City, Missouri, Dayton, Ohio, and Johnson City, Tennessee.

The amount of TCSP funding for fiscal year 2000 could double to $50 million under the Clinton administration’s new "Livability Agenda," which focuses on identifying tools and resources to preserve green space, ease traffic congestion, and pursue regional "smart growth" strategies.

FHWA’s partners in implementing the TCSP program are the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Office of the Secretary, and Research and Special Programs Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

For more information on the TCSP program, call the TCSP hotline at 800-488-6034 or visit the TCSP Web site at tcsp-fhwa.volpe.dot.gov/index.html.

As communities place more of an emphasis on managing growth, reducing traffic congestion, and preserving green space, the TCSP program will bolster these efforts.