Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Elaine Chao

Local GOP Reps Counting on Elaine Chao to Trip Up Transit Projects

2:15 PM EST on February 27, 2017

Minnesota GOP representatives want to kill Southwest Light Rail, projects to carry about 35,000 passengers each weekday. Image: Metro Council

Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao put a highly-regarded project to modernize Caltrain, the commuter rail line between San Jose and San Francisco, in jeopardy. Acting at the behest of Congressional Republicans opposed to high-speed rail, Chao delayed a $647 million grant for Caltrain electrification, throwing its future in doubt.

It looks like Republicans in other states were watching and learning.

State lawmakers in Minnesota are appealing to Chao to sink Minneapolis's Southwest Light Rail, a 15-mile route between downtown the western suburbs expected to draw about 35,000 weekday passengers.

Minnesota State Senator would like the federal government to let him use a $1 billion federal transit grant for roads, please. Photo: Minnesota Senate
State Senator David Osmek wants a $900 million federal transit grant to go to roads instead, or barring that, anything else that's not transit for Minneapolis. Photo: Minnesota Senate
Minnesota State Senator would like the federal government to let him use a $1 billion federal transit grant for roads, please. Photo: Minnesota Senate

A grant from the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts program is supposed to cover $929 million of the $1.85 billion project, which is currently in the engineering phase.

State Senator David Osmek, who represents the western suburbs, has introduced a resolution in the Republican-controlled legislature asking Chao to divert that $929 million to roads and bridges around the state.

By law, however, the FTA grant funding can't be transferred to roads. "They can’t reprogram [Federal Transit Administration] funds," said Stephen Lee Davis of Transportation for America. "There’s no way to do that. They’ll just lose the money. That money will just go to another place."

That wouldn't bother Osmek, who told the Star Tribune he would rather lose the money to another state altogether than see it spent on transit.

It's unclear if Chao can even rescind the money at this point. While a full funding agreement has yet to be signed, the FTA has approved the grant. Yanking the funding away would be highly unusual at the very least, said Davis.

Trump's upcoming budget could give ammunition to local Republicans looking to disrupt urban transit projects, Davis warned. The budget is expected to include sweeping cuts (except to military spending, naturally), and the GOP has been targeting transit funding for years.

Even if the GOP stops short of zeroing out federal transit funds, an idea supported by the brain trust reportedly drawing up the blueprint for Trump's budget, less severe cuts could still cause havoc, robbing projects like Southwest Light Rail or Indianapolis's Red Line bus rapid transit of anticipated funding.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Want a Better 15-Minute City? Ask Residents What They Really Want

A new study from Bogotá models how other cities can ask a deeper set of questions about how to put essential needs within walking, biking or transit distance.

March 19, 2024

Tuesday’s Headlines Win the Gold

Two articles detail efforts in Paris and Los Angeles to put on (relatively) climate-friendly Olympic games in 2024 and 2028.

March 19, 2024

Monday’s Headlines Drink Your Milkshake

How does a president end wasteful subsidies for the highly profitable fossil fuel industry? Many have tried, but none have succeeded, including Joe Biden.

March 18, 2024

How — and Why — To Start a Neighborhood E-Bike Library

American advocates are loaning out e-bikes to their neighbors — and creating flocks of new riders.

March 18, 2024

What Urbanists’ Doug Burgum Lovefest Reveals About the ‘Why’ Behind Our Advocacy

I am far less interested in talking about Gov. Doug Burgum's politics than talking about his values, and how those values shape his urbanism, and thus the actual lives of the people he governs.

March 15, 2024
See all posts