Under SAFETEA-LU, FTA’s primary source of funding for new fixed- guideway capital projects or extensions to existing fixed-guideway-transit systems was the Capital Investment Grant program. Within the Capital Investment Grant program, project sponsors typically applied for funding as either a New Starts or Small Starts project. FTA’s New Starts projects under SAFETEA-LU were defined as new fixed guideway or extensions to existing fixed guideway capital projects with a total capital cost of $250 million or more or a Capital Investment Grant program contribution of $75 million or more. The Small Starts program was created by SAFETEA-LU in 2005 to provide a more streamlined evaluation and rating process for lower-cost and less complex projects, defined as new fixed-guideway projects, extensions to fixed guideways or corridor-based bus projects whose estimated capital cost was under $250 million and whose Capital Investment Grant program contribution was under $75 million. Within the Small Starts program, as defined in SAFETEA-LU, FTA created a category for very low cost Small Starts projects, known as Very Small Starts. These projects must contain the same elements as Small Starts projects and also contain the following three features: (1) location in corridors with more than 3,000 existing riders per average weekday who will benefit from the proposed project, (2) have a total capital cost of less than $50 million for all project elements, and (3) have a per-mile cost of less than $3 million, excluding rolling stock (such as train cars, buses, etc). As part of the application process, sponsors of New Starts, Small Starts, and Very Small Starts projects are expected to identify local sources of funding to contribute to the project along with federal funding provided through both the Capital Investment Grant program and potentially other sources of federal funding. The steps in the development process depend on whether a project is a New Starts project or a Small or Very Small Starts project (see fig.1). New Starts. Under SAFETEA-LU, sponsors of New Starts projects were required by statute to go through a planning and development process. In the alternatives analysis phase, project sponsors identified the transportation needs in a specific corridor and evaluated a range of alternatives to address the locally identified problems in that corridor. Project sponsors completed the alternatives analysis phase by selecting a locally preferred alternative (LPA). Subsequently, during the preliminary-engineering phase, project sponsors refined the design of the locally preferred alternative and its estimated costs, benefits, and impacts. Further, under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, and implementing regulations, New Starts project sponsors were required to complete the NEPA environmental review process to receive Major Capital Investment program funding. When the preliminary -engineering phase was completed and federal environmental requirements are satisfied, FTA may approve the project’s advancement into final design, if the project obtained an acceptable rating under the statutory evaluation criteria and met other readiness requirements. For a project to receive funding, FTA needed to recommend it for a full funding grant agreement (FFGA) in the President’s budget. Small Starts. Under SAFETEA-LU, the development process for Small Starts was condensed by combining the preliminary-engineering and final-design phases into one “project development” phase. When projects applied to enter project development, FTA evaluated and rated them according to the statutory criteria. Under SAFETEA-LU, there were fewer statutory criteria specified for Small Starts projects compared to New Starts projects. Either using annual appropriations or existing FTA appropriations that remain available, FTA provided funding for Small Starts projects in one of two ways: through project- construction grant agreements (PCGA) or single-year construction grants when the Small Starts funding request was less than $25 million. For a project to receive funding, FTA needed to recommend it in the President’s budget. Very Small Starts. Very Small Starts projects also progressed through a single-project development phase and were evaluated and rated on the same project criteria as Small Starts projects. However, they qualified for automatic medium or better ratings, which required submittal of less data to FTA, because they had sufficient existing transit ridership in the corridor and met low cost parameters to “warrant” them for satisfactory ratings. FTA provided funding for Very Small Starts projects through PCGAs or single-year construction grants. For a project to receive funding, FTA needed to recommend it in the President’s budget. Under SAFETEA-LU, any transit project that fit the definition of a new fixed-guideway capital project or extension to an existing fixed-guideway project was eligible to compete for funding under the Capital Investment Grant program that provides funding for New Starts, Small Starts, and Very Small Starts projects. Such projects included: Commuter rail—systems that operate along electric or diesel- propelled railways and provide train service for local, short distance trips between a central city and adjacent suburbs. Heavy rail—systems that operate on electric railways with high- volume traffic capacity and are characterized by separated rights-of- way, sophisticated signaling, high platform loading, and high-speed, rapid-acceleration rail cars operating singly or in multi-car trains on fixed rails. Light rail—systems that operate on electric railways with light-volume traffic capacity and are characterized by shared or exclusive rights-of- way, or low or high-platform-loading, single or double-car trains, and overhead electric lines that power rail vehicles. Streetcars—systems that are similar to light rail, but distinguishable because they are usually smaller and designed for shorter routes, more frequent stops, and lower travel speeds. Bus rapid transit (BRT)—bus systems that vary in design, but generally included service enhancements to attract riders and provide similar transit-related benefits as rail transit, characterized by improvements such as dedicated bus lanes, improved stations, improved vehicles, off-vehicle fare collection, special branding of the service, and frequent service, among other things. Pub. L. No. 112-141, § 20008, 126 Stat. 405 (2012). As noted previously, this report describes the project development process in effect from October 2005 through March 2013, prior to the implementation of changes from MAP-21. New Starts project. FTA has not yet implemented these changes fully, but has issued some guidance on how these changes will affect the program.in the future, though FTA officials told us that there is no firm date on when the various policy changes will take effect. FTA plans to conduct additional rule-making on MAP-21 topics FTA and its project-management oversight contractors are to provide oversight during the development process. FTA maintains its headquarters in Washington, D.C., with 10 regional offices throughout the continental United States, and employs about 500 employees to oversee and provide funding for a variety of transit programs and initiatives, including for New Starts, Small Starts, and Very Small Starts projects. FTA and its contractors are to conduct oversight reviews throughout the project’s planning and design as well as before FTA recommends a project for funding; these reviews are to include an evaluation of the project’s risk, scope, cost, schedule, and project management plan, as well as the project sponsor’s technical capacity and capability. Project sponsors also submit periodic updates to FTA on different aspects of major projects, such as the cost, expected schedule, and projected ridership of the project. In addition, proposed projects are required to complete the NEPA environmental review processes in order to receive federal funding. Specifically, NEPA and implementing regulations require, among other things, an environmental review document with information on alternative courses of action and a consideration of social, economic, and environmental impacts of the proposed transportation improvement. Among the 32 transit projects we reviewed, we found significant variation in the length of time sponsors of New Starts, Small Starts, and Very Small Starts projects needed to complete the development process (see fig. 2). Specifically, for the approved projects we examined, the development process ranged from 2 years for a 6.8 mile Bus Rapid Transit project in Monterey, California, to over 14 years for a 30 mile commuter rail project in Denver, Colorado. The wide range of time needed to plan, design, and secure funding for these transit projects prior to construction is similar to the range of time that is generally considered necessary to plan and design other types of capital projects. For example, studies have suggested that for major highway projects the activities leading up to the construction of a highway may vary from 1 year for a minor project to 7 to 14 years for a major project. The variation across projects is attributable, in part, to conditions and factors specific to each project. For some projects, the development process was lengthy. For example, for the Eagle Commuter Rail Line project, the development process, beginning with the selection of the locally preferred alternative in 1997 until the project was awarded an FFGA, lasted over 14 years. Project sponsors stated that they did not pursue entry into preliminary engineering until after completing further investment studies that expanded the scope of the project in the early 2000s and securing funding through a local referendum in 2004. In addition, prior to entering the Capital Investment Grant pipeline, officials worked to finalize the technology for the project and secure approval from the project sponsor’s board of directors. Officials stated that once the project was approved into the pipeline in 2009, the project progressed quickly through the remainder of the process, and the project sponsor secured an FFGA approximately two and a half years after acceptance into preliminary engineering.