Purpose: Norfolk Light Rail Transit Project
Grant No.: VA-03-0107-03 ($41,938,912)
Released: April 21, 2008
The Transportation District of Hampton Roads received $41,938,912 for the construction of the The Tide, Norfolk's light rail transit project. The amount includes $23 million originally appropriated for the project in Fiscal Year 2008, plus an additional FY2008 amount of $18.9 million provided by the FTA out of its discretionary funds.
Last year, the FTA signed a full funding grant agreement that committed the federal government to provide $128 million for the project through 2010. The agreement allocated $57 million to the project for fiscal year 2008, but that amount was trimmed to $23 million during appropriations. Today’s grant restores some of what was cut in the federal budget process, bringing FTA’s contribution to the project to $75.7 million to date.
The Tide is a 7.4 mile system that runs from the Eastern Virginia Medical Center, east through downtown Norfolk to Norfolk State University, and continues along the Norfolk Southern right-of-way adjacent to I-264 to Newtown Road.
The $232.1 million project includes 11 stations, three new park-and-ride structures, a maintenance facility, and the purchase of nine rail vehicles. Hampton Roads Transit plans to begin operating the line in early 2010, with service at seven-and-a-half minute intervals during peak periods. The Tide will serve between 6,000 and 12,000 riders per day.
|
