Kilmer Announces Grant To Help Expand Tacoma’s Link Light Rail Line
Tacoma, WA – Today, Representative Derek Kilmer (D-WA) announced that the city of Tacoma won a $15 million grant for the expansion of the Link light rail. Tacoma applied for and will receive a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) award to help expand the existing light rail line through the city. The Department of Transportation (DOT) oversees the TIGER grant program.
The TIGER grant will be used to support the doubling of the Tacoma Link streetcar line to 4 miles. The project is also expected to add an additional six stations along the new route and the stations will include measures to ensure pedestrian and bicycle access. Construction on the Link expansion is slated to start in 2017 or 2018.
“This is a great day for Tacoma,” said Representative Kilmer. “The continued expansion of light rail will better connect all corners of the city, help locals and visitors get around, and make Tacoma an even more vibrant place. Doubling the line will also help us attract new businesses and opportunities for growth throughout the city. Today, the federal government has teamed up with partners on the local level who have a clear vision of how to improve our region’s mass transit system and keep Tacoma – and its citizens – moving forward.”
First established in 2009, the TIGER Discretionary Grant program invests in local rail, road, and port projects with national significance. TIGER has provided more than $4.1 billion in investments around the United States. The DOT selects recipients of TIGER grants by evaluating hundreds of applications that seek to improve local infrastructure critical to transportation networks.
Earlier this year Kilmer sent a letter to DOT in support of the City of Tacoma’s TIGER grant application. On September 14, 2015 Kilmer joined Tacoma Mayor Marilyn Strickland and other local officials to announce a $2 million Federal Transit Administration grant for the Tacoma Link expansion. The grant went to Sound Transit and the city of Tacoma to help with improving economic opportunities in neighborhoods the rail line serves.
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