TIGER Grant Cycle

[kermit]

Could this money go to funding the Rail Trail projects?

 

Sure, but since it parallels the LRT I am not sure that would easily meet the "innovative and intermodal" criteria of the program.

[ah59396]

What exactly can TIGER Grants go towards?  I'd love to see more funding dedicated solely towards improving our cycling infrastructure.  We have a notoriously poor network that has seen recent improvements, but in my opinion requires dedicated focus and funding as opposed to our "add as we go" mentality.  I don't expect Charlotte to become a cycling mecca like a Portland or Minneapolis, but realistically I think we can at least become the cycling destination of the sunbelt with just a little bit of focus!

 

http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/04/now-paris-wants-to-become-the-world-capital-of-cycling/389724/ This article shows the type of focused development I'm referring to.  Certainly, Paris is a completely different animal, with the population (aka tax base) to fund the type of project that requires a $150m investment (along with the cultural attitude towards cycling found in European cities)  I just wish Charlotte city leaders were progressive enough to devise something similar on a smaller scale to help bridge the community together.  Can a specific TIGER grant assist in this?

[dubone]

Plus, the government has already done the lion share of the effort with respect to the "South End Rail Trail" by already building the trail.   The whole point, I thought, of the resurgence of the term and efforts was to focus on embellishing it, and adding art and points of interest, and improve connections between businesses and parcels to the trail that already exists.  

 

That is all necessary and good, but not a federal grant project.

 

The grant projects and funding efforts should be in extending the bones of the trail system to more neighborhoods and greenways, and completing the cross-city trail, etc. 

 

Asking for a federal project to embellish the South End Rail trail that they already paid for not be very competitive against other new infrastructure.   

[southslider]

Filling in more expensive gaps of the Cross Charlotte Trail would be a good grant candidate, and free up bond money for other gaps.

[kermit]

TIGER VII decisions are trickling out now. Charlotte applied again for the smartcard fare collection system for CATS. They said that last year the proposal made it to the final round. http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/citymanager/CommunicationstoCouncil/Documents/Memo 31 April 29, 2015.pdf (see page 5). While I certainly appreciate the city following up on a solid funding request in last-years program, this particular grant request seems a bit like a missed opportunity for something more transformative. The lack of energy and vision around revisiting our long-term transit plan continues to really bug me. 

The recipients announced so far appear to be biased towards repair projects: http://www.progressiverailroading.com/federal_legislation_regulation/news/USDOT-begins-notifying-states-cities-of-TIGER-VII-grant-awards--46255?

 

 

 

[dubone]

The long term reviews are coming up now.  Flowers mostly was near-term focused with evolutionary steps for our system.  In a way, it was fine because we are lucky to have had so many near term projects needing to get off the ground.   

 

Now, we can take steps to figure out the long term in a few years when we see if the pull back in state funding will be relatively permanent. 

 

I just hope the smart card is compatible with smart phones.  I don't want to carry around a card just for transit.  :{sodEmoji.|}

[kermit]

The 2016 TIGER grant time has arrived, applications are due by April 29. Traditionally winners are notified around September / October. We have been fairly successful with these grants, getting the Blue Line capacity enhancement money 5 or 6 years ago and $25 million (the upper limit) for some Gateway Station trackwork last year. It does appear that congressional support helps and we are mostly SOL with that (FU Pittenger). There is no doubt that Anthony Foxx can do a little steering.

Uptownliving has told us about an application for a ped bike bridge over the Independence rats nest interchange for LSC Greenway (in the greenway thread). This is something that has been much discussed here and would be transformative in the sense it would connect two separate portions of our growing trail network. I hope the grant application includes mention of the planned bcycle expansion to the Plaza Central area.

other projects that the city has applied for in the past include new fare card equipment (which CATS has now budgeted for and is on the way) and some streetcar extension money (now obviated by the SSGA the city has received). I gotta assume that there is no more fed money for streetcar stuff until phase two has been executed.

Real time transit tracking is another frequently requested item, but we have heard from many sources that the city is about to roll this out, but it still aint here......

What else would we like to see for this round of TIGER? 

Given the currently poor state of freight railroading (carloads are down by more than 30% and shareholders at NS and CSX are getting restless) it might be a very good time to study regional commuter rail on shared tracks. A small grant ($500,000?) to study the feasibility of commuter rail options beyond the red line (Mt. Holly / Lincolnton, Gastonia / Kings Mtn, Rock Hill / Chester, Monroe, Albemarle, Salisbury) might be a smart move. If this was submitted as a regional proposal (rather than from the city or CATS) it would have a better chance of success.

[Nick2]

Real time tracking is something that needs to be done. Columbia has it and it's amazing when actually using the busing system. Being able to pull up a map and see exactly where the bus is and how long it will take is awesome. Modernizing and doing as much as possible to remove the negative image most people have of the buses is really important. With today's technology, it shouldn't be very difficult to do.

[southslider]

Real-time app is already happening without TIGER.

[Third Strike]

13 hours ago, kermit said:

other projects that the city has applied for in the oast include new fare card equipment (which CATS has now budgeted for and is on the way) and some streetcar extension money (now obviated by the SSGA the city has recieved). I gotta assume that there is no more fed money for streetcar stuff until phase two has been executed.

Any chance this new fare card equipment will be compatible with NFC payment systems, like Apple Pay and Android Pay? Very recently, Apple has stated that they are interested in opening their system up to transit operators, and has teamed up with the APTA to get more local transit agencies on board. 

[Deleted.]

6 hours ago, Third Strike said:

Any chance this new fare card equipment will be compatible with NFC payment systems, like Apple Pay and Android Pay? Very recently, Apple has stated that they are interested in opening their system up to transit operators, and has teamed up with the APTA to get more local transit agencies on board. 

Yeas, eventually. I think it was mentioned in the Long Term Transit thread as well. 

[kermit]

TIGER VIII announcements are trickling out now. Still no word about our ped / bike bridge application. Several all-bike plans have hit in this cycle including in Cleveland. We will probably need to wait for the official announcement since none of our congressional delegation has much investment in TIGER.

[kermit]

No ped / bike bridge over Independence for us (from this funding source anyway)

https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/TIGER Fact Sheets - 7-28.pdf

 

 

[pathb]

Anyone heard updates on our second application for this TIGER grant?  Anyone expect Trump/Chao to fund our XCLT bridge this year? 

[kermit]

3 minutes ago, pathb said:

Anyone heard updates on our second application for this TIGER grant?  Anyone expect Trump/Chao to fund our XCLT bridge this year? 

applications to the current TIGER cycle were due two weeks ago, I don't know what Charlotte submitted. Unfortunately its gonna be an uphill climb for any of our projects. The current DOT Sec has made clear that the TIGER program will have a more rural focus this year and I suspect (for similar political reasons) bike infrastructure will be at the bottom of the list.

But if anyone here happens to live next door to Robert Pittenger then you two should spark one up and then let him know that the bike bridge would look awfully sexy with his name on it.

[Spartan]

Charlotte submitted the XCLT bridge across independence again. As far as I know, its the only Charlotte submittal. In the past, Charlotte has submitted multiple entries and supposedly that has worked against us. That being said, if there is going to be a rural bent this year, then I wouldn't get your hopes up about Charlotte getting an award based on any objective criteria from the Camacho administration.

[kermit]

On 11/1/2017 at 10:14 PM, Spartan said:

Charlotte submitted the XCLT bridge across independence again. As far as I know, its the only Charlotte submittal. In the past, Charlotte has submitted multiple entries and supposedly that has worked against us. That being said, if there is going to be a rural bent this year, then I wouldn't get your hopes up about Charlotte getting an award based on any objective criteria from the Camacho administration.

2018 TIGER announcements should be out before the end of the week. Given the new republican-rural focus of the current program I would not expect much for Charlotte. 

The first funded project to leak is refurbishing some rail bridges in Fort Smith Arkansas: https://www.progressiverailroading.com/federal_legislation_regulation/news/USDOT-awards-85-million-TIGER-grant-for-Arkansas-rail-bridge-projects--54125

Other leaked projects include ‘transformative’ things like a beltway in Nebraska, rural roads in Montana and some materials handling equipment for the port of Mobile.

[EllAyyDub]

I want that bridge so very badly.  

[Bikeguy]

While we spend enormous amounts of capital in time and money on a whimsical bridge, we're losing sight of a cheap and quick solution on the 7th Street Bridge.  

[dubone]

Not only are we not losing sight of the cheap and quick solution to the 7th Street bridge, the city has drawn it up and will pursue that as the official path of the XCLT.  

It's just that some of us have gone to western Europe and east Asia and briefly pretend we would deserve a bit of infrastructure beyond the boring basics.   But don't worry, our leaders know they're in the meager American, sneak-a-bit-of-concrete-down-on-the-side-of-the-road budgets.

We all know not only will we only get this little sidewalk, but we'll probably wait 5 years for it.  

http://charlottenc.gov/charlottefuture/CIP/Documents/XCLTMasterPlanChapter2.pdf

[Cadi40]

So no pedestrian bridge over 74?

[Bikeguy]

My point is simply that the 7th Street Bridge will be used  anyway for the Uptown protected bike lane that will connect the LSC and Irwin Creek Greenways.  So why not focus our energies on this connector in the short term.  Once across 7th, riders can simply go down McDowell to access the upper section of the LSC Greenway.  7th Street has more than enough room for a 2-way protected bike lane now, the Central Ave bridge will need to be retrofitted, forestalling the the XCLT even longer.. 

[dubone]

6 hours ago, Cadi40 said:

So no pedestrian bridge over 74?

They put in a proposal for the TIGER (stimulus) grants, but it did not win the money, and now the money will be political spoils to rural areas due to politics.  Do not count on that bridge, but the idea of it exists, so that sometimes helps things happen. 

Quote

So why not focus our energies on this connector in the short term.

They are.   They are making those plans now to connect the greenway into town to connect to the 6th Street bikeway.   All that is happening at normal local civic planning > plan > budget > prioritize > wait > if no better ideas have come up in 7 years while we had it on our plans and budgets, then build it.  

The TIGER grant for the big idea bridge was probably an attempt to gain stimulus money for a good looking pedestrian bridge, which could be funded in isolation.  But it didn't work out.    Nothing is actually taking away from all the normal expedient work going on my the XCLT team otherwise.   In fact, 2018 is pretty exciting for the XCLT because that long civic wait time is finally over for the southern Little Sugar Creek Greenway sections.  So by this fall, most of 7th Street to South Carolina state line will be either finished or under construction.   Nothing is stopping or getting delayed simply because they are submitting for grant competitions.

Also, 7th Street Bridge already has a wide bike lane.  It's got an unusual marking, though.   (But hey maybe I'm misinterpreting that bike lane, and it really is for cars to move out of normal traffic flow before turning left to careen off the bridge.)

[Spartan]

The bigger short term issue, IMO, is going to be funding. Wait until the City' s budget info becomes public... There isn't going to be enough bond capacity to pay for all the things people want with the upcoming round of bonds, plus City Council is committed to spending a lot more on affordable housing which means other projects and programs are going to have reduced funding or be eliminated entirely... or revenue will have to be generated some other way. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

[Bikeguy]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

The bigger short term issue, IMO, is going to be funding. Wait until the City' s budget info becomes public... There isn't going to be enough bond capacity to pay for all the things people want with the upcoming round of bonds, plus City Council is committed to spending a lot more on affordable housing which means other projects and programs are going to have reduced funding or be eliminated entirely... or revenue will have to be generated some other way. It's going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

you would think that with all of the development that is occurring within the city's limits, that the increase in property tax revenues would be filling up the city's coffer..  is this number anywhere available?