VIA Metropolitan Transit says it’s officially locked down all of the federal funding it expected to receive for the upcoming Green Line — an Advanced Rapid Transit bus route that will run largely down San Pedro Avenue.
The 11.7-mile north-south route is the first of two VIA bus lines in the works that are expected to run more like rail, using their own lanes to move faster and avoid vehicle traffic.
On Wednesday, federal officials and leaders from VIA signed an agreement to direct $268 million in federal funding toward its construction — just weeks before one of the project’s biggest champions leaves office.
“The Green Line will make life easier and better for everyone in this vibrant, fast-growing city,” FTA Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool said in a statement Wednesday.
President Joe Biden’s administration has embraced the Advanced Rapid Transit routes as a way to connect under-served residents to jobs, transportation and educational opportunities in San Antonio.
“Right now, many San Antonio households are spending nearly a quarter of their income just on transportation,” Vanterpool said. “This new transit line will help lessen that financial burden and create a thriving environment where everyone can enjoy greater mobility and economic opportunities.”
Biden included funding for the lines in his recent budgets, and VIA leaders are hoping the federal money will keep coming for the second, east-west route known as the Silver Line, after he’s out of the White House.
The Silver Line was recommended for $134.7 million in Biden’s asks from Congress for the 2025 fiscal year.
On the Green Line, local dollars will account for about $210 million of the roughly $480 million project, an estimate that has risen since originally announced. Some of that money comes from VIA’s project funds, but most of it is expected to come from a one-eighth-cent sales tax voters approved in 2020, which will start coming to VIA in 2026 to repay project bonds.
The Green Line is expected to open for operation in late 2027 or early 2028.
The first steps include utility relocation, which will start in the summer of 2025.
