The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has announced a $1.2 billion grant to the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) for the Transbay Corridor Core Capacity project, as well as a $928.8 million grant to the Metropolitan Council for the Minneapolis Southwest Light Rail Transit project.

The $2.7 billion Transbay Corridor Core Capacity project will improve capacity on the existing BART heavy rail system between Oakland and downtown San Francisco.

In Minneapolis, the Southwest Light Rail Transit project will extend an existing light rail line from downtown Minneapolis to the southwestern suburbs corridor where population, employment, and traffic congestion are growing rapidly.

This 14.5-mile extension of the METRO Green Line project includes 16 stations from the existing Target Field light rail station in downtown Minneapolis to Eden Prairie in Hennepin County, serving the suburban municipalities of Minnetonka, Hopkins, and St. Louis Park. The total project cost is $2 billion.

FTA Deputy Administrator K. Jane Williams said that the federal funding for both projects “will help create jobs and support communities as they recover from the COVID-19 public health emergency.”

The funding is part of FTA’s Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program, which provides funding for major transit infrastructure projects nationwide. Projects accepted into the program must go through a multi-year, multi-step process according to requirements in law to be eligible for consideration to receive program funds.

Since January 2017, the FTA has advanced funding for 40 new CIG projects throughout the nation, totaling approximately $10.7 billion in funding commitments.