U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced the availability of approximately $3 billion to strengthen the resiliency of public transportation systems affected by Hurricane Sandy, which triggered the worst transit disaster in U.S. history just over a year ago. The funds will be awarded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on a competitive basis for projects that protect critical transit infrastructure from being damaged or destroyed by future natural disasters.

“We’ve made great progress in the year since Hurricane Sandy devastated transportation systems in New York, New Jersey, and other states in the storm’s path,” said Secretary Foxx. “With this funding, the Obama Administration is making good on its promise to the millions of transit riders throughout the region that we will continue to rebuild their roads, bridges and subways stronger than before.”

Public transportation providers serving portions of the states where President Obama issued a major disaster declaration in the wake of the October 2012 storm are eligible to apply for funding through FTA’s Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program. This covers Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The Notice of Funding Availability for Resiliency Projects in Response to Hurricane Sandy is available here.

“The $3 billion in resiliency funds announced today will go first and foremost to reinforce the critical infrastructure necessary to support public transportation systems damaged by Hurricane Sandy,” said FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff. “Our goal is to advance the best regionally coordinated projects, so taxpayers won’t have to pay to restore the same transit services a second or third time.”

The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2012 provided $10.9 billion for FTA’s Emergency Relief Program for recovery, relief, and resiliency efforts in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. That total was subsequently cut by almost $545 million due to sequestration. FTA is allocating the remaining $10.4 billion in multiple tiers for response, recovery, and rebuilding; for locally prioritized resiliency projects; and for competitively selected resiliency work. Apart from today’s funding announcement, FTA has made available roughly $5.7 billion to help transit systems in the affected states. The work now under way includes reconstruction of the Montague and Greenpoint subways tubes, Hoboken Terminal, and other critical infrastructure.

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