Funding comes from Casey-led provision in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) is announcing more than $56 million in new, competitive grant funding made possible by a provision he worked to include in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The funding, administered by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), will allow the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) to improve stations along the Market-Frankford and Broad Street Lines to ensure they are accessible to and usable by people with disabilities.
“When public transportation isn’t accessible, seniors and people with disabilities can’t get to work, the grocery store, or their doctor’s appointments. Thanks to my All Stations Accessibility Program (ASAP) in the infrastructure law, SEPTA plans to make six stations on the Broad Street and Market-Frankford Lines fully accessible,” said Senator Casey. “More than 30 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the infrastructure law is helping to fulfill its promise to build a more accessible world for Philadelphians.”
ASAP is a $1.75 billion competitive grant program created by infrastructure law that aims to improve America’s oldest transit systems nationwide so they are accessible to and usable by people with disabilities. The program resulted from Senator Casey’s All Station Accessibility Program (ASAP) Act, a version of which was incorporated into the infrastructure law. Senator Casey has also introduced legislation to make public transportation more accessible for college students.
SEPTA’s Market-Frankford and Broad Street Lines are two of the most utilized routes in the entire system, providing an average of more than 280,000 passenger trips every day in 2019. Additionally, the six proposed stations predominantly serve historically disadvantaged and marginalized populations living within half a mile of their stations, and prior to the pandemic, the stations served more than 25,000 daily passenger trips. The stations are as follows: the 11th Street Station on the Market-Frankford Line, and the Chinatown, Erie, Fairmount (upper level), Fairmount (lower level) and Snyder Stations on the Broad Street Line.
