The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said that 40 projects will receive a share of $3.59 billion in federal disaster relief funds to help public transportation systems in the areas affected by Hurricane Sandy to become more resilient in order to withstand the impact of future natural disasters.

Around 90% of the funds will be invested in resilience projects primarily in New York and New Jersey, where DOT said transit systems sustained the worst of the storm damage. The remainder will go towards projects in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
The projects were required to show that they would reduce the risk of damage to public transportation assets inflicted by future natural disasters. Emphasis was placed on a project’s ability to protect the most essential and vulnerable infrastructure, as well as effective collaboration and coordination among local and regional governments.

DOT said the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will receive some $1.6 billion to make flood protections at multiple street-level openings throughout the subway system, rail yards, substations, critical support facilities and underground equipment; tunnel portals used by the Long Island Railroad and Amtrak; and Rockaway Line stations; upgrade an emergency management communication system; flood-proof communications and signal rooms at key subway stations; upgrade water pumping capacity; and flood-proof four bus depots.

New Jersey Transit will receive around $1.3 billion to reduce the risk of flooding to Hoboken rail yard and the city by filling a deteriorated inlet inside the rail yard; construct a rail storage and re-inspection facility located outside the floodplain that could be used to store vehicles in an emergency; and replace the aged and deteriorated Raritan River Drawbridge damaged by Hurricane Sandy with a new bridge that is less vulnerable to storm surge and flooding.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will receive some $86.7 million to build an alternate system control center to ensure continuity of operations in case a major storm knocks out the system’s central control facility; stabilize the slopes of several commuter railroad embankments to reduce the risk of landslides after severe rainfall; and improve flood protection to protect commuter rail lines.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) will receive around $35 million to raise a retaining wall and install watertight barriers at its Green Line Fenway Portal to reduce flooding; and repair and improve a deteriorated seawall.

The Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 provided $10.9 billion for recovery, relief and resiliency efforts in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. DOT said that total was later cut by almost $545 million due to sequestration. To date, the Federal Transit Administration has allocated nearly $9.3 billion of the total funds appropriated—roughly $5.7 billion for initial and ongoing recovery work and $3.6 billion for the resilience projects announced on Sept. 22.

Additional Resources: U.S. Department of Transportation press release