FTA Announces $102.3M In Disaster Relief Funding

FTA HAS ANNOUNCED $102.3 MILLION IN funding to 17 public transit agencies, cities and planning councils in eight states and territories to help recover from recent natural disasters. The funding, provided through FTA’s Public Transportation Emergency Relief (ER) Program, will help repair damaged equipment and facilities and recoup costs for evacuation and rescue operations following floods, hurricanes and tornadoes that occurred in 2017 and 2020-22.

“As climate change accelerates, we are seeing floods, hurricanes and wildfires that used to be once-in-a-century events coming every few months and causing greater damage to our lives, communities and infrastructure,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Pub. L. 117-328), signed into law in December 2022, provided the funding for the ER Program’s support for 2017 and 2020-22 declared disasters. This announcement reflects a first round of grants through the ER Program. FTA will continue to accept applications from affected agencies and communities for another 90 days and APTA members are encouraged to apply.

“Americans cannot stop their lives because a disaster damages their transit systems,” said FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez. “We know it is critical to fund recovery efforts for these systems, so they can keep taking Americans to work, to school, to doctors’ appointments and for all the other important journeys that transit provides.”

Awards to be made include for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the New Orleans Regional Transportation Authority and the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Read about all the funding allocations at bit.ly/3OCDIDU. Learn more about FTA’s ER Program at www.transit.dot.gov/funding/grant-programs/emergency-relief-program.