Program Overview
As a result of Hurricane Sandy, President Obama declared a major disaster in late 2012 for areas of 12 states and the District of Columbia affected by Hurricane Sandy. Public transportation agencies in the counties specified in the disaster declaration are eligible for financial assistance under FTA’s Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program.
Under the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 113–2), Congress provided $10.9 billion for FTA’s Emergency Relief Program for recovery, relief and resilience efforts in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. Approximately $10.2 billion remained available after implementation of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 2011 (Pub. L. 112–25) and after intergovernmental transfers to other bureaus and offices within DOT. FTA has allocated approximately $10.1 billion in multiple tiers for response, recovery and rebuilding, for locally prioritized resilience projects, and for competitively selected resilience projects.
This program helps States and public transportation systems pay for protecting, repairing, and/or replacing equipment and facilities that may suffer or have suffered serious damage as a result of an emergency, including natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. The program can fund capital projects to protect, repair, or replace facilities or equipment that are in danger of suffering serious damage, or have suffered serious damage as a result of an emergency. The program can also fund the operating costs of evacuation, rescue operations, temporary public transportation service, or reestablishing, expanding, or relocating service before, during or after an emergency.