United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5101)
EPA 500-F-00-212
July 2000
www.epa.gov/brownfields/
4>EPA Transportation and Brownfields
Outreach and Special Projects Staff (5105)
Quick Reference Fact Sheet
EPA's Brownfields Economic Redevelopment Initiative is designed to empower states, communities, and other
stakeholders in economic redevelopment to work together in a timely manner to prevent, assess, safely clean
up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield is a site, or portion thereof, that has actual or perceived
contamination and an active potential for redevelopment or reuse. EPA is funding: assessment demonstration
pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to assess brownfields sites and to test cleanup and
redevelopment models; job training pilot programs (each funded up to $200,000 over two years), to provide
training for residents of communities affected by brownfields to facilitate cleanup of brownfields sites and prepare
trainees for future employment in the environmental field; and, cleanup revolving loan fund programs (each
funded up to $500,000 over five years) to capitalize loan funds to make loans for the environmental cleanup of
brownfields. These pilot programs are intended to provide EPA, states, tribes, municipalities, and communities
with useful information and strategies as they continue to seek new methods to promote a unified approach to
site assessment, environmental cleanup, and redevelopment.
OVERVIEW
On June 9, 1998, President Clinton signed the
Transportation Equity Act for the 21 st Century (TE A-
21), amore than $200 billion successor to the Intermodal
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA).
TEA-21 takes on the challenge of making
transportation a more positive force for cleaner, safer
andhealthier communities by continuing the integration
of transportation projects with environmental and
community revitalization goals.
TEA-21 and transportation play a key role in
brownfields cleanup and redevelopment for several
reasons. First, redeveloped brownfields need good
transportation access. Second, given the central
location of many urban brownfields, they present good
opportunities for locating transportationfacilities. Third,
brownfields redevelopment often uses and improves
existing transportation infrastructure and services,
eliminating the need for new transportation projects.
Fourth, partnerships between federal, state and local
transportation, economic development and
environmental interests canleverage additional funding
resources for transportation-related brownfields
redevelopment.
NEW DOT POLICY ON BROWNFIELDS REDEVELOPMENT
On April 22, 1998 (Earth Day) Department of
Transportation (DOT) Secretary Slater announced a
new policy that encourages state and local
transportation officials to pay for the cleanup of
environmental contamination that lies in the path or on
the site of a transportation project. DOTis advising its
field offices, states and local transportation officials
about brownfields opportunities, providing technical
and coordination assistance to state and local
transportation planners, and sharing the good news
about brownfields-related transportation success
stories. Together with TEA-21, the new DOT policy
will contribute to the reuse of abandoned and blighted
land, conservationof open space, better transportation,
improved communities and greater economic vitality.
ACCESSING TRANSPORTATION FUNDS
Under TEA-21, all projects have to go through a
transportation planning process. This process provides
state and local officials with the flexibility to fund the
transportation-related brownfields projects that make
the most sense for a community. TEA-21 requires
that metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs)
develop fiscally constrained long-range regional
transportation plans and short-term transportation
improvement programs through an open process that
is accountable to people and communities. Five of the
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seven mandatory planning factors fit well with the
goals of the Brownfields Initiative and can provide
support for the consideration of brownfields projects,
including:
• supporting the economic vitality of metropolitan
areas;
• increasing the accessibility and mobility options
available to people and freight;
• protecting and enhancing the environment, promoting
energy conservation and improving the quality of
life;
• enhancing the integration and connectivity of the
transportation system for people and freight; and
• emphasizing the preservation of the existing
transportation system.
The comprehensive, integrated planning goals of TEA-
21 can be powerful tools to support brownfields
projects, butthe tools can only be accessed by working
with state and local transportation planners to ensure
that brownfields projects are included in the decision-
making process.
TEA-21 FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR BROWNFIELDS PROJECTS
TEA-21 includes several programs that can be used
for brownfields-related transportation projects. Some
of the most important opportunities include:
Surface Transportation Program (STP) provides
flexible funding for projects on any federal-aidhighway,
including bridges, transit projects, bus facilities,
environmental restoration, and pollution abatement.
Transit Program funds have increased slightly under
TEA-21 and can be used for new transit systems or
additions to existing ones.
Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality
Improvement (CMAQ) funds are earmarked for use
in non-attainment areas and can be projects that help
reduce air pollution or for environmentally sensitive
transportation proj ects.
Transportation Enhancement Program and the
new Transit Enhancements Program can encourage
a variety of activities that promote community
revitalization and foster local economic development
including historic preservation, bicycle and pedestrian
infrastructure, tourist facilities, and other benefits to
communities.
Transportation, Community and System
Preservation (TCSP) Pilots is a new, innovative
program that provides competitive grants to
communities to address the complex links between
land use, transportation and quality of life issues.
Rail Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing
Program provides loans for the rehabilitation of rail
sites.
TRANSPORTATION AND BROWNFIELDS SUCCESS STORIES
Lowell, Massachusetts, a Brownfields Showcase
Community, recently completed an extension of the
Merrimack Riverwalk with $9.2 million in assistance
from the Federal Highway Administration through its
Public Lands Highway Program and the Transportation
Enhancement Program. The Western Canal Walkway
extension provides pedestrian and bicycle access to
downtown and the city's National Heritage Park,
serving tourists and the local community without
adding congestion to local highways.
The community ofFruitvale in Oakland, California
has galvanized and developed a major intermodal
transfer station on a former brownfield. More than $5
million in Federal Highway Administration grants
were received from the ISTEA and Livable
Communities Programs for community planning, a
child development facility, the intermodal bus station
and a pedestrian plaza, as well as an assortment of
contributions from local agencies and the private
sector. Operated by the Bay Area Rapid Transit
(BART), the station has attracted desperately needed
commercial activity to the mainly Latino and African-
American community, and has provided transport
connections to jobs and opportunities in the greater
Bay Area.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For more information on transportation and TEA-21,
contact DOT at (202) 366-4416.
For more information on the Brownfields Initiative,
contactEPAat(202)260-4039,orvisitthe Brownfields
web site at "www.epa.gov/brownfields/"
Brownfields Fact Sheet
July2000
Transportation and Brownfields
EPA 500-F-00-212
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