Today, U.S. Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) released the following statement after the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced an additional $80.02 million in FY2018 Capital Investment Grant (CIG) funding to San Diego’s Mid-Coast Light Rail Project. 

“I have been a strong advocate for public transit in San Diego and securing federal funding for the Mid-Coast Trolley extension from my time on City Council to today. This additional funding helps keep construction on track and the light rail on pace to begin service by its 2021 goal.

Once completed, the new rail line will provide a backbone transportation service through the 52nd Congressional District, linking northern communities and Downtown San Diego, which is expected to attract 20,000 new riders per day. It will improve connectivity in our region, accommodate San Diego’s projected growth, and help us meet our Climate Action Plan goals.

This cash infusion is the result of valuable teamwork among our office and the Department of Transportation, Senator Feinstein, SANDAG, and other partners in San Diego and Washington, D.C. I look forward to continuing our partnership and working together to ensure Mid-Coast’s success. We will keep fighting every year to see that San Diego gets the money we’re owed and the federal government honors their agreement.”

Since 2015, Rep. Peters supported an agreement between the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and the Department of Transportation, which matches local funding provided by TransNet, with federal funding each year. The additional funding corrects a shortfall in the FY2017 appropriations funding, which was $74 million less than anticipated, and saves SANDAG $25 million in financing costs. The Mid-Coast project previously received $100 million in March of this year.