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Urban Mass Transportation Administration (FTA)

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Introduction
Transportation investment increased significantly with highway systems created during the 1940’s and the impressive interstate system program of the 1950’s. Massively subsidized by the federal government, these surface initiatives connected States from coast-to-coast, but concurrently made suburban living feasible, while eroding inner-city investment (Shoup & Lang, 2011). Later, when the streetcar, rail, and bus systems within cities began to falter and fade, President Kennedy suggested federal investment in urban transportation. However, it wasn’t until President Johnson signed the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964 that government funding for mass transit and the Urban Mass Transportation Administration were established (Federal Transit Administration [FTA], n.d.).
A decade later, the National Mass Transportation Assistance Act created formula grant funding to assist with operating expenses of public and nonprofit transit agencies. While signing the Act, President Gerald Ford (1974) announced the legislation would “enable localities to plan intelligently for their long-term needs” and offer financial support “which can be used for rural transportation.” Since those initial transportation initiatives, transit planning and appropriations have continued to expand. Fitting to the larger role, in 1991 the Urban Mass Transportation Administration was rechristened the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).
From the initiation of funding public transit, the

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