HART TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING
ON PROGRAM OF PROJECTS FOR
FISCAL YEAR 2002

August 31, 2001 – TAMPA, FLORIDA – The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HART) will hold a public hearing to take comments on the Program of Projects (POP) for fiscal year 2002. The public hearing will be held Monday, September 24, 2001 following the Fiscal Year 2002 Final Budget Hearing which begins at 5:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at The County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., in the 18th Floor Planning Commission Board Room. The regular monthly meeting of the HART Board of Directors will be held immediately following this and other public hearings.

It is proposed that in fiscal year 2002, HART plans to submit applications to the Federal Government for approximately $47 million in federal grants. The federal grants are expected to be the federal block grant for urbanized areas, Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ) grants, federal grants for service to non-urban areas, and special congressional appropriations. The grants are summarized below.

Federal Block Grant for Urbanized Area (Section 5307) funds include HART’s capital projects, such as bus rehabilitation, construction funding for the Marion Street Terminal, additional vans for paratransit, fareboxes and mobile data terminals for the ADA vans, and bus shelter construction.

Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ) funds have been prioritized for the electric streetcar operations and bus purchases.

Federal Grant (Section 5311) for Non-Urban Areas funds will be used to pay for part of the costs associated with Route 31 (Ruskin), Express Route 31 (Apollo Beach) and one-half of the cost of Route 84 (South County Circulator).

Discretionary Funding Requests proposes $4 million for HART buses and bus facilities (Ybor Station).

Surface Transportation Program (STP) have allocated funds to four HART projects. They include the Marion Street Terminal, Bus Maintenance Facility Site Acquisition, the Southern Transportation Plaza and a Mobility Project.

Written public comments on the Program of Projects for 2002 will be accepted through September 21. The HART Board will review recommendations at the September 24, 2001 meeting of the HART Board of Directors. Send comments to: HART, Attn: Fiscal Year 2002 Program of Projects Public Hearing, 201 E. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 900, Tampa, Florida 33602.

For more information on bus routes, transit fares and other customer services, call the HARTinfo Line at (813) 254-4278 and at 626-9158 for TDD/hearing impaired.

-HART-