SFMTA and TA outline Muni Metro core-capacity study and preparations for federal grant pipeline

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and Transportation Authority staff on June 10 updated the board on the Muni Metro core capacity planning study, a multi-year effort intended to develop a capital program that could compete for Federal Transit Administration (FTA) core-capacity grants.

Jesse Koehler, rail program manager for the Transportation Authority, said the study was funded by Prop K sales-tax funds in combination with a Caltrans planning grant and that the board required an SFMTA presentation following the completion of this phase. Liz Bryson, planning manager at SFMTA and the study’s project manager, described the study’s objectives: address aging infrastructure in need of renewal, plan for future ridership growth, and develop capital projects that could be eligible for the FTA core capacity program. Bryson said the federal program targets fixed-guideway systems that will experience overcrowding within the next ten years and can fund up to 80% of eligible project costs; recent awards to other agencies have been in the high hundreds of millions to over a billion dollars.

Staff described several…