DDOT Accepting Applications for 2018 Transportation Alternatives Projects

Getting Money from the TAP
Image: Author

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) began accepting applications for the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP), which is a federal program under the 2015 FAST Act through the Federal Highway Administration that provides funding to projects considered “alternative” to traditional highway construction.

Approximately $1.1 million in funding will be available through a District-wide competitive process.

Transportation Alternative projects categories are geared towards bicycle and pedestrian activities, community improvements, environmental mitigation, and recreational trails. The projects must be consistent with the District initiatives like MOVE DC, Sustainable DC, and other plans.

The District’s Delegate to Congress, Elenor Holmes Norton, held a public meeting last October to discuss how TAP funds could be used in the District.

TAP program participants can include local governments, regional transportation authorities, transit agencies, natural resource or public land agencies, school districts, Tribal governments and other appropriate local or regional governmental entities. While non-profits are not eligible to be direct grant recipients of TAP funds they may partner with eligible participants such as a government agency as a co-sponsor.

According to the DDOT website, projects will be reviewed through a competitive process and selected based upon a number of criteria including the project’s expected benefits to the community, feasibility and project readiness, consistency with agency plans and missions, and the sponsor’s demonstrated ability to manage a federal-aid project.

TAP projects may support the following:

  • Facilities for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-motorized forms of transportation
    This includes the planning, design, and construction of on-road or off-road facilities. Projects may include sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, bicycle parking, pedestrian and bicycle signals, traffic calming techniques, lighting and other safety infrastructure, and upgrading facilities for compliance with ADA requirements.
  • Recreational Trails
    Eligible projects include the provision and maintenance of recreational trails for both motorized and non-motorized use. This includes pedestrian uses (hiking, running, wheelchair use), bicycling, in-line skating, skateboarding, equestrian use, off-road motorcycling, or all-terrain vehicle riding. This includes the maintenance and restoration of existing trails, the development of trailside and trailhead facilities, the purchase of construction of maintenance equipment, the construction of new trails, the acquisition of easements, and trail condition assessments.
  • Safe routes for non-drivers
    Eligible cost include the construction, planning, and design of infrastructure-related projects and systems that will provide safe routes for non-drivers, including children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities to access daily needs.
  • Conversion and use of abandoned railroad corridors for trails
    This activity provides for the acquisition of abandoned railway corridors for the development of pedestrian or bicycle trails. Intent must be shown that a pedestrian and bicycle trail will be built within ten years of the acquisition of the corridor. Projects in this category must serve as a mode of transportation and cannot be solely for recreational users.
  • Community Improvements
    This includes vegetation management, environmental mitigation or pollution prevention, streetscape improvements and historic preservation
  • Safe Routes to School (SRTS)
    Eligible projects for SRTS sidewalk improvements, traffic calming, pedestrian and bicycle crossing improvements, on-street bicycle facilities, off-street bicycle and pedestrian facilities, secure bicycle parking facilities, and traffic diversion improvements in the vicinity of schools.

Applications will be accepted starting April 17, 2017, through May 15, 2017. In June 2017, a selection panel will review submitted projects. An official announcement of selected projects will be made in August.

A version of this post originally ran on DDOT’s website.

Eleanor Holmes Norton to hold Bike and NPS urban parks Community Roundtables

Image: BikeSpecific

The federal government has a key role in how the District creates and maintains its bicycling infrastructure and recreational parks. The District’s delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, has invited officials from the District Department of Transportation Office and the National Park Service (NPS) to sit on a panel with her to hear testimony from the District’s bicycle and pedestrian community. This community roundtable discussions will help to determine what the federal role should be and how to best apply federal resources to the District’s bicycle network and federally-operated national parks.


The first roundtable, entitled “How New Federal Funds Can Help Residents Bike and Walk with Less Risk and More Pleasure” is on Thursday, October 27, 2016, at 6:00 pm, in room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building. This roundtable provides a forum for local bike and pedestrian leaders and District residents to discuss the best ways to use new federal funding for bike and pedestrian projects within the recently approved surface transportation bill, also know as the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation or FAST Act.

The FAST Act provides over $305 billion in funding over fiscal years 2016 through 2020 for surface transportation infrastructure planning and investment across the nation. Unlike prior authorizations, this allocation allows new flexibility in how states and the District may use these funds. The Transportation Alternatives section, which is comprised of smaller-scale transportation projects, allocates a total of $835 million per year for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 and $850 million in 2018 through 2020 is available. Small scale projects include on or off-road pedestrian and bicycle facilities, recreational trails, safe routes to school projects, and other community improvements.The District will received approximately $3.2 million.

The second roundtable, “Focusing on our Neighborhood Crown Jewels: The National Park Service’s Urban Parks in DC”, is on Tuesday, November 1, 2016, at 6:30 p.m., at the African America Civil War Museum located at 1925 Vermont Avenue NW. Delegate Norton will be joined by NPS National Capital Regional Director Bob Vogel and the regional NPS superintendents. Many advocates and residents say that NPS could be more proactive in working with District residents add programming and provide maintenance to area parks. The roundtable enables District residents and NPS to discuss opportunities to work with each other to maintain the District’s neighborhood parks under NPS control and determine how to effectively spend funds from Congress.