On February 17, 2010, U.S. Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, announced the award of a $59 million grant in stimulus transportation funding for a network of priority bus corridors and a transit center in the Washington, DC, region.  The Priority Bus Transit in the National Capital Region project will provide more efficient bus service along 13 transit corridors in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC.  The project will improve the efficiency of the corridors by investing in a bus transitway, bus-only lanes, queue jump lanes, transit signal priority technology, traffic signal management technology, bulb outs, real-time arrival technology, and other enhancements.  The project also includes construction of a new transit center at the intersection of University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue on the border of Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland.  The new transit center will consolidate currently scattered bus stops at a heavily used bus transfer point into one facility.  This project will successfully improve the livability, sustainability, and safety of the area’s transportation system. 

Altogether, the bus priority corridor improvements will decrease travel time and improve quality of bus service on approximately 75 bus lines throughout the region.  This will provide benefit to more than 260,000 current daily riders, and more than 400,000 riders by 2030.  Ultimately, this project will result in air quality and climate change benefits, reduced congestion and even reduced accident costs, which will all contribute to improved livability and sustainability of the region.

Project owners and grantee sub-recipients include: City of Alexandria, Virginia; District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT); Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT); Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC); and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). 

DDOT	$13,091,190
MDOT	$14,119,880
PRTC	$9,365,525
Alexandria	$8,856,913
WMATA	$11,068,550

The USDOT has designated the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) as the modal administrator for the TIGER Program Grant awarded to the TPB. Administration of the grant will follow the standard guidelines and requirements for programs currently administered by the FTA, along with specific guidelines and requirements being developed for the TIGER Program.  Performance monitoring and reporting of the project will also be required to meet ARRA and TIGER objectives.  COG will be managing the grant over the five year duration of the project (through to September 30, 2016).