Washington, DC – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) awarded nearly $20 million in grants to the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) that will support the connectivity of the South Capitol Street Trail as well as the clean energy transition of DDOT’s bus fleet.
“This critical federal funding will help us build a greener, safer, and more connected DC,” said Mayor Bowser. “We know that President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is going to transform cities and states across the nation, and we are eager to get these dollars out the door and into projects that move DC forward.”
The South Capitol Street Trail project will receive $10 million from DOT’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant program. This program aims to help urban and rural communities move forward on projects that modernize roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports, and intermodal transportation and make transportation systems safer, more accessible, more affordable, and more sustainable. The South Capitol Street Trail will complete an important missing link in the National Capital Trail Network, providing more options for District residents to walk and bike in the city. It will be approximately 3.8 miles long, starting at the South Capitol Street and Firth Sterling Avenue SE intersection and terminating at the Oxon Hill Farm Trail along DC Village Lane in Ward 8. The trail will extend the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail network into the southernmost areas of the District.
DDOT will also receive $9.59 million to purchase an additional 17 electric buses for the DC Circulator fleet from the federal 2022 Low-No Grant Program and Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program Discretionary Grant. The 17 electric DC Circulator buses will be procured through the grant which is designed to assist in the financing of buses and bus facilities capital projects and support the transition of the nation’s transit fleet to the lowest polluting and most energy efficient vehicles. The grant will continue DDOT’s transition of the DC Circulator fleet away from fossil fuels, resulting in the remaining active fleet being either electric, hybrid, or clean diesel powered. This will advance the District’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the sustainable transportation goals found in the Clean Energy Omnibus Act of 2019, the Sustainable DC 2.0 Plan, the moveDC plan, and the Washington Metropolitan Council of Government’s Visualize 2045 Long-Range Transportation Plan.
“DDOT has been very proactive and intentional about securing all federal funding opportunities available for projects that aim to promote a better quality of life for all our residents,” said DDOT Director Everett Lott. “Thanks to Mayor Bowser’s support and the support of the federal government, we are making investments that will result in projects connecting all our residents to more sustainable transportation options.”
The full list of RAISE awards can be found HERE. This year’s RAISE allocations include more than $2.2 billion thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which provides an additional $7.5 billion over five years for the RAISE program to help meet the strong demand for projects nationwide. To maximize that the District’s effectiveness in securing and deploying federal dollars available from the law, in March 2022, Mayor Bowser created the DC Build Back Better Infrastructure Task Force. The Task Force consists of experts from District agencies and external partners who are advising on priority projects to be funded through BIL. The Task Force is finalizing a list of recommendations that is expected to be presented to the Mayor later this summer.
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