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Last week, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) reached an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) milestone — the agency beat the Sept. 1 deadline for providing at least half of ARRA transit formula dollars to states and local communities.

The FTA already has provided about 90 percent of the $7.5 billion available in transit stimulus dollars. The agency also continues to issue grants from $900 million allocated in discretionary funds for New Starts projects, and the Greenhouse Gas/Energy Reduction and Tribal Transit programs.

Since ARRA was enacted in February, the FTA has provided grants totaling more than $6.7 billion to about 600 transit providers nationwide for various system improvements. Proceeds are being used to purchase new vehicles, increase safety and security, and construct, rehabilitate and maintain transit systems.