Montgomery County was selected by the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Build America Bureau to receive grant funding under the Regional Infrastructure Accelerator (RIA) program. Montgomery County’s RIA, AccelerateMC, focuses on identifying innovative strategies that can provide additional funding sources, establish financing mechanisms, and support the long-term sustainability of the County’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network.

InfraStrategies is providing consulting support to identify innovative funding approaches for the countywide BRT network. BRT projects range from two projects already in the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Capital Investment Grants (CIG) program, Veirs Mill Road and MD 355 (for which InfraStrategies is providing support under a separate effort) to projects that are in earlier phases of planning and development. InfraStrategies built a detailed, comprehensive financial model incorporating all proposed BRT projects and related infrastructure (bus depot, transit centers). The model was designed to develop and run funding scenarios, testing various levels of FTA CIG funding and identifying complementary funding sources to maximize the number of BRT projects that can sustainably be delivered over the next 20 years.

In parallel, InfraStrategies is supporting the County in determining whether selected BRT projects could be eligible for financing under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) program, and in developing a broader financing strategy for the BRT program. Additional related work is expected to include the development of technical assistance and lessons learned materials related to the TIFIA program.