By: Emilie St. John
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (2UrbanGirls) – The city of Inglewood was awarded $407 million towards the Inglewood Transit Connector project from state surplus funds on Jan. 31.
“Today’s award supporting the Inglewood Transit Connector will be transformative not just for the City of Inglewood, but for communities throughout the South Bay and Los Angeles County,” said Asm. Tina McKinnor, who represents Inglewood in the state legislature.
The announcement came from the California Trans Agency that detailed awards were made for several projects which can be viewed here.
The @CA_Trans_Agency has announced awards of CA surplus extra funds for transit projects that already received funding.
— numble (@numble) January 31, 2023
ESFV: $600m
Inglewood people mover: $407m
Metrolink SCORE: $106m
No funds for Foothill or WSAB, which LA Metro had requested.https://t.co/sgBgjsVmKN https://t.co/JhwQ7bEQWA pic.twitter.com/uHbEhlssM3
The city applied for $407 million from the state’s surplus under the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) program on Dec. 6.
“The funding is critical to ensuring that the Project has the required 50% non-federal match to the Capital Investment New Starts program being pursued through the Federal Transit Administration, and moreover, fully funding the project.”
The funding will no doubt trigger a federal match in order to construct the 1.6 mile transit connector that will connect riders from the Crenshaw/LAX rail line to the Inglewood Sports and Entertainment District in time for the 2028 Olympics.
Related: Inglewood seeks $407 million from state surplus for transit connector project
This project will displace at minimum nearly two dozen small businesses and potentially residents living in multi-family residential units along the proposed transit route.
Related: Inglewood to schedule Public Hearing on Relocation Plan for Inglewood Transit Connector project
Inglewood set a March 14 public hearing at 2 p.m. to adopt a relocation plan in accordance with state and federal guidelines for those along the proposed route who will be impacted.
“We received $423 million in an allocation of Measure R funds, and today we received a critical $407 million grant and I can’t tell you how important it was as this is the amount in our federal application,” said Butts. “If we didn’t get it our dream of being a leader in the country, forwarding a mass transportation project of this caliber, would have died somewhat, but this keeps the dream alive.”
“I want to congratulate the staff, Trifiletti Consulting, and thank the council for the confidence they’ve given to me as CEO…we voted on the big things and are now one step away,” said Butts. “There were only three grants awarded and Inglewood was one of them.”
Inglewood expects to hear about the federal match by the end of the year.
