Public Transportation

The New Starts program is an important source of new capital investment in mass transportation. To be eligible for fed. funding, a project must advance through the different project development phases of the New Starts program, including alternatives analysis, preliminary engineering, and final design. The Fed. Transit Admin. (FTA) evaluates projects as a condition for advancement into each project development phase of the program. FTA has acted recently to streamline the process. This report discusses the: (1) Time it has generally taken for projects to move through the New Starts process and what Congress and FTA have done to expedite the process; and (2) Options that exist to expedite the process. Includes recommendations. Illus.