Feds open up funding for Atlanta streetcar project

By Ernie Suggs

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Less than a year after Atlanta was awarded a $47 million federal grant to carve a 2.6-mile streetcar route through the heart of downtown, the check is now in the mail.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced this week that the Federal Transit Administration would make the funds available for the project, essentially giving Atlanta the greenlight to begin construction.

Last October, Atlanta's streetcar proposal was were one of 75 transportation projects from across the country chosen to share the $600 million federal TIGER II grant, which is designed to upgrade transportation networks and create jobs around the United States.

Atlanta's $47 million was the largest gift in the country. The city will be able to start collecting on the grant as soon as work begins.

The project, which has a total price tag of $72 million, will stretch from Centennial Olympic Park to the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site on Auburn Avenue.

The winding route will serve as a kind of tourism loop, hitting two of the city's most visited areas. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site routinely draws more than 700,000 visitors annually, according to the National Park Service. More than 8.3 million people annually visit Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia World Congress Center, the Georgia Dome and Philips Arena.

LaHood said the project would create 930 jobs while under construction and 5,600 over its first 20 years of operation.

"This streetcar project will give people the option to leave the car at home and get to where they need to go in downtown Atlanta," LaHood said in a statement released by the FTA. "In addition to providing safe, clean and affordable transportation options, this project will create jobs, reduce congestion downtown and connect university and hospital resources to public transit stations.”

As part of the awarding of the grant, Atlanta was required to come up with matching funds to cover the remaining costs. The project is expected to cost the city $18 million in capital funds, not including ongoing operational costs once the system is up and running.

The Atlanta City Council has already approved $10 million to build the project. The $47 million award is less than the $56 million Atlanta applied for in August.

To make up the difference, the city was asked to approve $5.6 million more toward the project, with the remaining $2.8 million being shifted in the city budget from other transportation-related projects within the same corridor. Earlier this year, an internal audit showed that the $5.6 million the City Council originally allotted for the project came out of a fund that did not exist.

City officials were able to recover the project by selling city-owned property near the Atlanta Civic Center.

In promoting the project, Atlanta officials argued the streetcars would draw more tourists who will shop, eat and patronize new restaurants, clubs and stores along the route. More than 2,330 riders -- tourists, students and locals -- are expected to use the streetcars daily, spending $2 a ride.