Transit Briefs: Project Connect, OC Transpo, Sound Transit, VTA

Rendering of a new light rail bridge crossing Lady Bird Lake, courtesy of Austin Transit Partnership.

Austin’s Project Connect enters the development phase. Also, debit card payments are now available on OC Transpo; Sound Transit’s Federal Way Link Extension (FWLE) project earns an Envision Platinum Sustainability Award; and the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) receives regional funding to move transit-oriented development (TOD) projects forward.

Project Connect

The Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) announced May 28 that phase one of Project Connect’s light rail program has officially entered development through a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) program, “paving the way for possible federal funding to help bring the system to life,” according to a KXAN report.

According to the report, the project development phase is overseen by the FTA’s Capital Investment Grants New Starts program, which serves as a “competitive” process with funding allocations to various transit projects.

The project development phase, KXAN reports, is part of a series of steps to secure a final agreement with the FTA, according to an ATP news release. ATP has historically estimated approximately 50% of funding for the initial light rail system would come via federal dollars.

“This milestone signals federal support for this voter-approved project and brings Austin Light Rail one step closer to delivering billions in infrastructure investments and jobs to Texas,” said ATP Executive Director Greg Canally. “Our extensive work with our community, along with the expertise and diligence of the ATP team and partnership with FTA, has allowed us to reach this important milestone.”

According to the KXAN report, the news comes roughly two months after ATP submitted phase one of the light rail project to the FTA program for project development consideration. Now approved for project development, ATP officials said the organization is “eligible for future reimbursement considerations on planning and design work for the project.”

During the next two years, ATP will “finalize and wrap the project development phase,” which will include the completion of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements, according to the report. Projects receiving federal funding must complete a NEPA review to outline the possible environmental, social and economic impacts of the project as proposed.

Alongside finishing project development work and the NEPA process, ATP staff will continue working on the architectural and design elements of the light rail system, according to the report.

“ATP is ready for this moment—we have both national and small business firms to help advance through the Process Development process,” said Jennifer Pyne, ATP’s Executive Vice President of Planning, Community and Federal Programs, in the release. “We look forward to working with the community and FTA as, together, we continue to advance Austin Light Rail.”

At the local level, ATP officials will meet in court with a team of plaintiffs in June regarding an ongoing dispute against the mass transit plan. The trial, initially scheduled to begin Tuesday, was postponed to June 17, according to the KXAN report.

The trial comes after ATP filed a bond validation petition and lawsuit in the Travis County District Court in February, “in the hopes of having ATP’s bond program reaffirmed as a legitimate funding source,” according to the report.

“That legitimacy question is posed amid ongoing legal issues surrounding Project Connect, and more specifically, its light rail plan,” according to the report. Back in November, a group of plaintiffs sued Austin City Council and ATP over Project Connect’s “replacement transit plan,” arguing the property tax increase voters approved in November 2020 was for a substantially different plan than the current version moving forward.

More details are available here.

OC Transpo

As of May 28, OC Transpo riders can begin using debit cards at all fare gates at train stations and readers on buses.

OC Transpo introduced “O-Payment” in September 2023, allowing riders to use Visa or Mastercard, along with mobile wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Wallet. Testing to allow payment with debit cards had been ongoing for several months.

“Millions of people use Interac Debit cards every day. Some people may not have a credit card, and casual riders may not have a Presto card. Adding Interac Debit provides our residents with a convenient choice for everyday purchases like riding OC Transpo,” said Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe in a news release.

More information on O-Payment is available here.

Sound Transit

Parsons Corporation on May 28 announced that Sound Transit’s FWLE project has earned an Envision Platinum Award from the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI).

This award is the highest possible Envision award level for achievements related to sustainable transportation, mobility and access, stakeholder engagement, infrastructure integration, and multiple other areas of sustainability. FWLE is only the seventh transit project in the U.S. to earn Envision Platinum.

Parsons is lead designer for this 7.8-mile-long design-build project that expands light rail access in the Seattle area, extending the existing line south from the Angle Lake Station terminus of Sound Transit’s Central Link system to the Federal Way Downtown Station (FWDS). The extension travels within the cities of Seattle/Tacoma, Des Moines, Kent, and Federal Way in King County and includes three stations.

In addition to being the project’s lead designer, Parsons supplied sustainability management services, including the development of a detailed sustainability management plan. This, the company says, served as a roadmap for the team and included Sound Transit’s own sustainability design criteria along with three different third-party certifications (LEED for the Federal Way Transit Center and End-of-Line Facility and Envision certification for the entire corridor, inclusive of the three station buildings). The LEED certifications are on track to achieve Silver certification for the FWDS and the End of Line (EOL) Facility, according to Parsons.

“As a global leader in infrastructure, Parsons is transforming the rail and transit sector by providing innovative, tailored solutions that modernize transportation systems and deliver long-lasting, sustainable benefits to our clients,” said Parsons President, Infrastructure North America Mark Fialkowski. “Our contribution to the Federal Way Link Extension project represents both Parsons’ engineering capability and enterprise-wide commitment to sustainability. We are honored to be part of the team that achieved this award by creating a lasting, valuable public asset for the region and community.”

“We are proud that our team’s commitment to innovation throughout the Envision process helped achieve this unique milestone,” said Catherine T. Sheane, Senior Technical Director, ESG, Sustainability & Resilience, Parsons. “This project represents how Parsons’ core values informed our team’s vision to deliver a sustainable and resilient transportation project which will connect communities by improving mobility and efficiency.”

VTA

VTA’s Transit-Oriented Communities team announced May 28 that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has awarded $500,000 in technical assistance for the agency’s Great Mall and River Oaks TOD sites, with an additional $125,000 of potential funding for the Hostetter TOD site.

MTC is the planning organization that coordinates between the nine-county Bay Area and disperses state and federal funding for planning projects throughout the region. Last year, MTC announced the Priority Site pilot program, “which seeks to support the development of affordable and mixed-income housing on underutilized land,” including publicly owned sites and former malls or office parks. This program, VTA says, “aims to provide pre-development funding and technical assistance for affordable and mixed-income housing developments located on properties designated as Priority Sites.” Twenty-one of VTA’s TOD sites, including Great Mall, River Oaks, and Hostetter, were designated as Priority Sites by MTC in 2023.

According to VTA, these Technical Assistance awards will go towards site planning, initial design, due diligence, community engagement, and solicitation support as the agency prepare these sites to be released to the developer community for proposals. This funding, VTA adds, “will support vitally important tasks to ensure that sites are attractive and well-positioned for future development, allowing our developer partners to create thoughtful, inclusive projects with substantial amounts of greatly needed affordable housing next to transit stations, increasing ridership, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and working to address the regional housing crisis.”

The three sites have a combined capacity of more than 950 housing units, including more than 200 affordable units for households earning 60% of area median income (AMI) and below. In 2023, 60% AMI is a household income of $107,040 or less for a family of four.

“The VTA Transit-Oriented Communities Policy, revised in 2024, requires that at least 25% of units in any housing development on our land must be affordable at 60% AMI and below, and at least 40% of the units across the portfolio must be affordable at 60% AMI,” according to the agency. “Further, at least half of all affordable units must be affordable to households earning 50% AMI and below. The Transit-Oriented Communities program projects that at full build-out, VTA’s portfolio will generate millions of dollars in annual revenue from development to support transit operations.”