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FTA 48-03
Contact: Kristi Clemens
Tel.: (202) 366-4043
Thursday, October 09, 2003
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mineta Announces $21.6 Million to New Orleans Regional Transit Authority
Historic streetcar service will return to Canal Street in November with the assistance of a $21.6 million grant announced today by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta and U.S. Senator John Breaux.
“A safe, efficient and reliable public transportation system is an engine for economic growth. It connects people to jobs, customers to businesses, and communities to one another,” Secretary Mineta said. “The Bush administration is committed to common sense transit solutions that bring the many benefits of public transportation, including increased community mobility, reduced traffic congestion and pollution, and increased economic activity to communities everywhere. This grant is an investment to improve the quality of life in New Orleans.”
During an event at the future site of the service, inspection, and storage facility, with four newly completed streetcars in the background, Deputy Chief of Staff Martin Whitmer and Sen. Breaux presented a check to representatives from the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority. “We now have an infusion of badly needed federal money into New Orleans to expand public transportation on Canal Street for residents and tourists alike, together boosting economic development across the city,” said Sen. Breaux
For more than 200 years, Canal Street has been a primary urban thoroughfare, and streetcars were the principal mode of public transit in this corridor from 1861 until their replacement by buses in 1964. The $21,638,813 grant will help restore streetcar service on Canal Street from the Mississippi River to the Cemeteries, with a spur line to City Park.
The project includes constructing over five miles of track and designing the new streetcars, which will closely resemble the historic cars that ran on Canal Street until that line was discontinued. Twenty-four cars will be built for the new line. There will be 37 stops, with 26 stops on Canal Street, five stops on the City Park spur, and six stops on the Riverfront line. By 2015, it is projected that 31,400 people will ride this system daily, improving mobility in the district and reducing vehicle congestion and the accompanying pollutants caused by emission.
In addition, a major transfer station will be built on Canal Street at the entrance to City Park Avenue. This streetcar terminal will connect bus lines serving both Orleans and Jefferson parishes. The grant also will be used to build a service, inspection, and storage facility, and to renovate the historic Carrollton Barn where the streetcars are being manufactured and heavy maintenance will be performed.
The total project cost under the current proposed Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) is $161,308,763, with a federal share of $129,047,010. A FFGA is the federal government’s commitment to support a transit project over the course of several years, contingent upon the availability of funds. As funds are appropriated, the full funding projects receive priority consideration. The $21,638,813 grant will bring the total federal funding for this project to $89,578,927.
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