Atlanta — Feds Fund Streetcar Project

Rail Transit Online, October 2010

The U.S. Department of Transportation will award a $47-million grant to Atlanta's proposed downtown streetcar project, according to local congressman John Lewis.

The 2.6-mi. (4.2 km) line, a severely truncated version of the city's original 9.2-mi. (14.8 km) Peachtree streetcar plan, will cost more than $70 million and run east-west along Auburn and Edgewood avenues between the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and Centennial Olympic Park. Local sources will provide the remaining $23 million.

"In my conversation with (Transportation) Secretary LaHood this morning he reiterated his belief that it was a good and necessary project and one that deserved federal funding," Rep. Lewis said in a statement released on Oct. 15.

The grant is part of the TIGER II federal transportation stimulus program and represents eight percent of the total to be awarded. As yet, there's been no official announcement from the Federal Transit Administration.