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The U.S. House and Senate have announced an agreement on a 5-year roughly $300 billion surface transportation bill!  This is the first transportation agreement to come out of Congress in 10 years.  Below are some highlights of the aptly-named “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act” or FAST Act:

Fully funds all public transportation programs for five years at growing levels;

Increases overall public transportation funding by 18 percent and dedicated funding for buses and bus facilities by 89 percent over the life of the bill;

Continues current formula funding and creates new, discretionary competitive grants under the bus and bus facilities program;

Provides funding stability for the Transit Cooperative Research Program;

Authorizes increased funding for Amtrak and competitive grants for intercity passenger rail; and

Provides funds for implementation of positive train control (PTC) systems on commuter railroads.

This is an important achievement for our transportation infrastructure, and represents a slight shift in federal priorities towards better funding transit and alternatives to single occupant vehicle oriented projects.