tiger grant

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary.................................................................................................1

1. Greenlink: Creating Circuits of Economic Success Overview................................2

1.1 The Initiative.....................................................................................................2

1.2 The Users...................................................................................................5 1.2.1 The Presently Unconnected...................................................................5 1.2.2 The Non Transit-Dependent..................................................................5 1.2.3 Students and Workforce Development..................................................8

1.3 The Challenge............................................................................................9 1.3.1 Access To Employment........................................................................10 1.3.2 Access To Better Health......................................................................11 1.3.3 Funding Challenges............................................................................11 1.3.4 Air Quality.........................................................................................13

1.4 Getting Around Greenville........................................................................13 1.4.1 Infrastructure and Safety....................................................................13 1.4.2 Congestion........................................................................................14

2. Project Location.............................................................................................15

2.1 Project Metro..........................................................................................15

2.2 Project Components.................................................................................16

2.3 Project Demographics..............................................................................18

3. Project Parties................................................................................................19

3.1 City of Greenville, South Carolina.............................................................19

3.2 Greenville Transit Authority......................................................................20

3.3 County of Greenville, South Carolina.......................................................20

3.4 Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study...........................................21

4. Grant Funds and Sources...............................................................................21

GREENLINK: CREATING CIRCUITS OF ECONOMIC SUCCESS

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued)

5. Selection Criteria...........................................................................................21

5.1 Safety.....................................................................................................21

5.2 State of Good Repair..............................................................................22

5.3 Economic Competitiveness.......................................................................22

5.4 Quality of Life........................................................................................22

5.4.1 Create affordable and convenient transportation choices....................23 5.4.2 Provide more transportation choices..................................................23 5.4.3 Decrease household transportation costs............................................24 5.4.4 Reduce dependence on oil................................................................24 5.4.5 Improve air quality............................................................................24 5.4.6 Promote public health.......................................................................25

5.5 Environmental Sustainability.....................................................................25

5.6 Innovation...............................................................................................26

5.7 Partnerships.............................................................................................26

6. Benefit-Cost Analysis......................................................................................27

7. Project Readiness...........................................................................................28

7.1 NEPA / Environmental Review...................................................................29

7.2 Legislative Approvals and Project Sustainability..........................................29

7.3 State and Local Planning...........................................................................29

7.4 Community Support and Partnership Agreements.......................................30

8. Federal Wage Rate Certification......................................................................30


LIST OF FIGURESFigure 1: Proposed Transportation Network.............................................................4Figure 2: Greenlink Existing Routes.........................................................................6Figure 3: Overall Project Map................................................................................7Figure 4: Project Location Map.............................................................................16

LIST OF TABLESTable 1: Greenville County HPSA Designation........................................................12Table 2: Travel Demand/System Strategies.............................................................14Table 3: Proposed Transit Stations..........................................................................17Table 4: Greenville Neighborhoods Below Poverty Level 2013................................18Table 5: Major Employment Centers......................................................................19Table 6: TIGER VII Budget Summary Table.............................................................21Table 7: Funding Sources (Partnerships).................................................................26Table 8: Summary of BCA Results..........................................................................27Table 9: Summary of Project Benefits by Criteria Category.....................................27

APPENDICESA. Project Budget (Excel document)B. Sectional Project Maps (PDF)C. State of Air Quality Greenville County, SC (PDF)D. Memorandums of Agreement/Understanding (PDF)E. Letters of Commitment/Support (PDF)F. Benefit-Cost Analysis (Excel document)G. Benefit-Cost Analysis (PDF)H. Project ScheduleI. Greenville City and Greenville County Resolutions J. Pre-Application Budget Update


SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE AT: ftp.greenvillesc.govUsername: GreenlinkGrantPassword: Gr33n!1nk2010 Greenlink Transit Vision and Master Plan2013 Greenville Health Systems (GHS) Community Health Needs AssessmentConnections For Sustainability: Bus Rapid Transit and Transit Oriented Development StudyConnections For Sustainability: West Side Comprehensive PlanGPATS Long Range Transportation PlanSwamp Rabbit Trail Impact Study Year 3


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The City of Greenville, Greenville Transit Authority/Greenlink and Greenville County, South Carolina are leading a collaborative effort that brings together more than 40 regional partners including municipalities, private corporations, non-profit organizations, educational institutions and others to address one of the region’s biggest barriers to economic and workforce develop-ment.

Greenlink: Creating Circuits of Economic Success addresses the recognition that limited public transportation is the greatest obstacle to jobs, educational opportunities, better health care and healthy living for all Greenville County residents. Long touted as a missing link by those in the non-profit and social services arenas, a robust public transportation system now is under-stood to be a critical and key ingredient to the long-term success of existing business, and future economic development in Greenville County. For example, recent interviews with more than 300 Greenville County manufacturing employers identified two key areas that, if upgraded, would significantly address the retention and productivity of entry level workers. The first was overall improvement of basic math and soft skills needed by employers at all levels. The second is the ability of employees to get to the workplace.

This project is poised to help implement many of the planning efforts completed as part of the Community Challenge/TIGER II planning grant received in 2010 by the City of Greenville. One outcome of the TIGER II planning grant was a transit feasibility study which examined the po-tential for a BRT that would connect the West Side and downtown with the Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) via an abandoned railroad right of way. The study recommended starting in phases and proposed activating the railroad corridor initially with a greenway and increasing transit ridership in this area by supporting enhanced routes that utilized Laurens Road. This application proposes an extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail which will help activate the railroad right of way and likely begin economic development along the corridor. Likewise the proposed Gold Line will traverse the Highway 276/Laurens Road corridor helping to increase ridership in this area and generally throughout the city.

An additional component of the TIGER II planning grant was the development of the West Side Comprehensive Plan which addresses the high unemployment of the area with recommendations to improve the transit network and to initiate a trolley route to the West Side. The creation of an expanded transit network and extension of service times, as proposed, will help West Side resi-dents connect to areas of employment and opportunities for training. The Greenlink project will also add a circulator bus that serves the West Side helping to connect more residents to the larger transit network and linking destinations within the West Side.

This TIGER VII application represents an extraordinary cooperative partnership between the City of Greenville and Greenville County officials to implement a multimodal public transpor-tation network. The City of Greenville laid the groundwork for this collaborative

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http://connections.greenvillesc.gov/westside.aspx

http://connections.greenvillesc.gov/westside.aspx

effort when it shouldered operations of Greenlink transit in 2008 under contract with Greenville Transit Authority. Since that time, the City and County have supported the transit system with annual apportionments to give Greenlink the stability it needed to improve and expand.

The foundation for multimodal integration has been in place since 2011 when local governments came together to complete the Swamp Rabbit Trail. This 18.7-mile Rails-to-Trails greenway begins at Greenville Technical College, crosses the City of Greenville, proceeds through Falls Park and the campus of Furman University, and ends in the City Travelers Rest. The Swamp Rabbit Trail Year 3 Findings study published in 2014 documented that the trail attracts 501,000 annual users and delivers a direct economic impact of $6.7 million. The success of the northern portion of the greenway for transportation, recreation, community revitalization and economic development has accelerated plans to extend the greenway 4.7 miles from E. Washington Street at Cleveland Park in downtown Greenville to the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research and link it to a heavily-traveled transit corridor.

This project requests $13.61 million in TIGER VII Discretionary Grant Funds to assist with the creation of north-south and east-west transit express routes that connect the farthest points of Greenville County. Fed by new neighborhood circulators, existing bus routes and an activated railroad corridor, Greenville County can revitalize underserved communities and launch new development for the betterment of all Greenville County citizens.


1. GREENLINK: CREATING CIRCUITS OF ECONOMIC SUCCESS OVERVIEW

1.1 THE INITIATIVEGreenlink: Creating Circuits of Economic Success will transform Greenville’s existing public tran-sit system into a regional transportation network designed to reach the farthest points of the county with trunk lines extending from Travelers Rest in northern Greenville County to Fountain Inn in southern Greenville County and from Greer in the eastern part of the County to the South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center (SCTAC) in the west, with reduced headways and expanded hours of service to better accommodate flexible work schedules and manufacturing shift changes.

Served by zero-emission electric buses, two trunk lines – the Gold Line and the Blue Line - create the core of an innovative transit network that not only makes jobs, education and health care more accessible to all Greenville County residents, but addresses road congestion, air quality and oil de-pendency issues. Twenty-four transit stations equipped with electronic pay capability dot the trunk lines, serving as connection points for town and neighborhood circulators. Transit stations adjacent to the existing and proposed extension of the Swamp Rabbit Greenway feature bike-share equip-ment to provide multimodal integration that helps to address transit’s ‘last-mile’ dilemma.

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http://greenvillerec.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/SRT-Impact-Study-Year-3-Final.pdf

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Running on Greenville’s major transportation corridors, the Gold and Blue express lines will serve east-west and north-south routes that have the capability to integrate with future high-speed rail service that could connect Greenville with large metropolitan areas such as Columbia, Charlotte and Atlanta. For example, the Gold Line makes a direct connection with Greenville’s Amtrak sta-tion and follows the route that was the subject of a January 2013 feasibility study for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Transit Oriented Development along the Highway 276/Laurens Road corridor. This study was a component of Greenville’s HUD Community Challenge Planning & DOT Tiger II Planning Grant project entitled Connections for Sustainability: Linking Greenville’s Neighbor-hoods to Jobs and Open Spaces (Connections for Sustainability).

In addition to the BRT/TOeD study, Connections for Sustainability yielded the West Greenville Comprehensive Plan. This plan used a robust public engagement process to unify components of previous studies and provide policy, development and infrastructure recommendations for Green-ville’s West Side-an area that encompasses three neighborhoods and, unfortunately, struggles with a high number of residential and commercial vacancies and a disproportionate share of the area’s economic distress. As a natural extension of the West Side Comprehensive Plan and the broader Connections for Sustainability project, this project application calls for nine circulator routes to serve the city’s West Side and other inner city neighborhoods, along with the cities of Travelers Rest, Greer, Mauldin, Simpsonville and Fountain Inn, touching every municipality and urban area in Greenville County. For the first time, Greenville’s transportation network will ex-tend to underserved pockets of the county to establish connections to employment, health, com-mercial and educational centers.

Additionally, this project activates Greenville County’s railroad corridor to extend the Swamp Rabbit Trail from East Washington Street in downtown Greenville to the Clemson University Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). Parallel to the Gold trunk line, this activated gre-enway creates an inextricable, multimodal link to communities such as Arcadia Hills, a neighbor-hood in a distressed area of the county whose redevelopment was made possible by two federal HOPE VI grants, as well as Verdae, a master-planned, mixed use development with immediate access to the greenway and the Gold trunk line. Activation of the greenway will catalyze this much-studied transportation corridor, which is ripe for transit-oriented development.

The total cost of this project is $24.04 million. The City of Greenville, Greenville County and Greenlink are requesting that 56.63 percent of this project come from the TIGER VII grant pro-gram. Local partners have committed more than $10.42 million to help fund this transformative project, and both Greenville City Council and Greenville County Council have passed resolu-tions to increase annual apportionments to Greenlink, the local transit provider, to assist with ongoing operations of the region’s expanded public transportation system. The complete Project Budget is attached as Appendix A.

A schematic of the proposed Transportation Network appears on page 4 in Figure 1.

http://connections.greenvillesc.gov/forms/HDR_Final_report.pdf

http://connections.greenvillesc.gov/forms/HDR_Final_report.pdf

FIGURE 1: Proposed Transportation Network 4



1.2 THE USERSPresently, Greenlink covers about 227 square miles of Greenville County’s sprawling 785-square-mile footprint. This project will allow public transportation in Greenville County, for the first time, to help alter what has become a car-dependent community, connecting the unem-ployed and working poor to educational institutions and major jobs hubs located at the farthest reaches of the region. A map of Greenlink’s existing system appears on page 6 in Figure 2, followed by an overall project map of the proposed system on page 7 in Figure 3.

1.2.1 The Presently UnconnectedRidership of the transformed Greenlink system will include residents from now unconnected communities such as Greer, Fountain Inn and Travelers Rest who are seeking training or employ-ment at concentrated business and manufacturing centers along the I-385 Corridor, at SCTAC and in the city of Greer. It also will encompass Greenville’s special emphasis neighborhoods that when coupled with now unlinked communities and municipalities touches a new population totaling 57,210.

There also is expected to be an increase in usage of the new transportation system by present Greenlink passengers. For example, those who cannot use transit to return from jobs or other destinations because of limited service hours will be able to ride the expanded system until 9:30 p.m. and on Sundays.

1.2.2 Non Transit-DependentIn addition to low- to moderate-income residents living in areas currently not served by Green-link transit, ridership of the new transportation network is expected to include those who will ride by choice. Public opinion surveys conducted for the Greenlink Transit Vision and Master Plan published in July 2010 show three major factors influencing the use of public transporta-tion by Greenville County residents: Convenience to your home – 68%; Convenience to your job – 67%; and How often the bus arrives – 60%. This project addresses survey concerns with a geographical expansion of routes, extended service hours and reduced headways making a transit commute to work much more practical and convenient. It also includes amenities preferred by choice riders such as fewer stops, upgraded pay capability and real-time bus information.

Moreover, this project encourages multimodal transportation options for those living and work-ing along Greenville County’s completed 18.7-mile greenway and the five-mile extension pro-posed in this project. Neighborhoods along the greenway include: Nicholtown, a community of more than 3,000 where households are largely defined as lower-income and many earning below $25,000 annually; Arcadia Hills, a neighborhood of 535 residents in a distressed area of the county where redevelopment was made possible by two federal HOPE VI grants; Southernside, a community with 36.6 percent of households living below the federal poverty level; and West Side, an 1,100-member community that is the subject of the West Side Comprehensive Plan. Located in a more urban setting than its northern counterpart, the southern portion of the Swamp Rabbit Trail also advances a sustainable connection to nearby retail and education centers.

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http://www.gpats.org/_uploads/2011/12/TVMP.pdf

http://www.gpats.org/_uploads/2011/12/TVMP.pdf

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FIGURE 2: Greenlink Existing Routes

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FIGURE 3: Overall Project Map(Sectional Project Maps are attached as Appendix B.)

1.2.3 Students and Workforce Development Greenville County’s new transportation network will underscore a commitment to ladders of opportunity by providing service to nine colleges, universities and career development facilities along its trunk lines. Opportunities for advancement include undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as certifications for those in occupational transition to quickly obtain skills matching the needs of local business and industry. Educational options along the proposed trunk lines are summarized below: ° Northwest Campus of Greenville Technical College near the City of Travelers Rest which houses core programs including Patient Care Technician, Veterinary Assistant, Profes-sional Grooming and Animal Care, and Culinary programs. ° The Buck Mickel Center for Corporate and Career Development in the city of Green-ville, which houses most of the continuing education options offered by Greenville Technical College. Here, students can change their futures quickly with short-term training options to meet real industry needs, and employers can design programs to re-certify or advance the skills of the current workforce. Center enrollees totaled 12,525 in 2014, with 11,509 persons completing training and/or receiving certifications. More than 363 Greenville area companies were served by Greenville Tech’s corporate and career development division in 2014. ° Barton Campus of Greenville Technical College in the city of Greenville, which houses most of the college’s program options, as well as the full scope of student services. The aca-demic head count at Greenville Technical College was 13,457 in 2013, with part-time, commuter students representing 60 percent of the total enrollment. The Barton Campus also has housing for more than 100 international students without access to a personal vehicle. ° Brashier Campus of Greenville Technical College in the city of Simpsonville, which houses core programs including Nursing, Respiratory Care, Welding, Industrial Maintenance/Mechatronics and Fire Science. ° Benson Campus of Greenville Technical College in the city of Greer, which houses core programs including Visual and Performing Arts, Physical Therapist Assistant, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Health Information Management, Personal Training, Pharmacy Technician, and Massage Therapy. ° South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center (SCTAC), the home of Greenville Technical College’s large-scale transportation programs. The former Donaldson Air Base houses Greenville Tech’s Federal Aviation Administration-approved Aircraft Maintenance Technology program and the Truck Driver Training program. ° Furman University, a private liberal arts institution with approximately 2,750 students, many of whom do not own personal vehicles. Furman also is home to the Osher Lifelong Learn-ing Institute where more than 1,200 senior adults from across Greenville County enroll in cours-es to further learning, health and well-being, personal connection, creativity and enjoyment. The Furman campus is open to the Greenville community and is widely used by area residents for recreation, sporting events and special events.

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° University Center with course offerings from Anderson University, Clemson University, Furman University, SC State University, the University of South Carolina, USC-Upstate and Greenville Technical College. ° Bob Jones University, a Christian college with approximately 3,000 students living on campus and in nearby student housing. Student concerts, plays, art exhibits and seasonal events are open to the general public, giving members of the Greenville community many opportuni-ties throughout the year to travel to the Bob Jones campus located on Wade Hampton Boulevard/Highway 29 – an arterial road that is the transportation corridor connecting Greenville to the cities of Greer and Spartanburg. ° Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research which boasts a glob-al student population representing 17 countries. The 250-acre CU-ICAR in Greenville is midway between Charlotte and Atlanta on the Interstate 85 corridor. The Center is strategically focused on automotive and motorsports research and composed of five technology neighborhoods, each designed for optimizing an innovative and collaborative environment. The CU-ICAR campus presently serves as a mini-hub for Greenlink and a model for regional transit in the area. A com-muter route with hourly service to Clemson’s main campus in Pickens County, a circulator route connecting CU-ICAR with the University Center and Clemson’s downtown Greenville campus, and the CU-ICAR/St. Francis Shuttle with service to student housing and medical facilities on Greenville’s Eastside meet hourly at CU-ICAR. These three routes post an average monthly ridership of 7,300. ° The Center for Manufacturing Innovation (CMI), a collaborative partnership between Clemson University and Greenville Technical College to be located at CU-ICAR. This center will offer dual-credit programs in partnership with Greenville County Schools, bridge programs allowing students to move from associate’s degree to bachelor’s degree, and workforce training. ° Goodwill Job Connection where unemployed or underemployed Greenvillians can take GED classes, receive computer training and take advantage of other services to prepare them for the workplace.

1.3 THE CHALLENGEAccess to almost everything associated with economic opportunity and upward progress —jobs, health care, healthy foods and schools— relies on the ability to get around in an efficient and affordable manner. Non profits in Greenville County are increasingly raising this issue as one of the primary barriers to progress in our area. According to the United Way of Greenville County, one out of every four participants in programs offered by its member agencies lists transportation as a major barrier to achieving financial stability and self sufficiency.

The Piedmont Health Foundation, a local philanthropic foundation, recently named public transit and health and human service transportation in Greenville County as the focus for its research and advocacy. Foundation officials say that for years its grantees have cited the lack of a com-prehensive countywide transit system as the primary obstacle to health care, employment, access to healthy foods, education, and more. Service providers to the homeless and low

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income families, in particular, have named the lack of public transportation as the number one factor that keeps residents in poverty; without access to jobs, which may be located in farther reaches of the county, people remain in the cycle of dependence.

To address this, Piedmont Health Foundation has hired CDM Smith and Arnett Muldrow and Associates to conduct a sweeping study of public transit and health and human services trans-portation. The study is underway and will be completed in Fall 2015. A number of community meetings and focus groups held as of this writing have reinforced the notion that the lack of a comprehensive public transit system is the primary barrier to many county residents obtaining and maintaining employment, including: ° Residents in the rural northern and southern areas of Greenville County that do not own personal vehicles can take only minimum wage jobs in fast food restaurants and gas stations within walking distance from their homes. ° Residents in Greenville’s urban core who complete job training through Greenville Techni-cal College may be offered jobs with higher pay in manufacturing facilities located outside of Greenlink’s service area or on second or third shift, but are unable to accept employment due to a lack of transportation. ° Many residents with no vehicles and with jobs outside of Greenlink’s service area or hours use taxis to get to work. At minimum wage pay, they are spending the first half of their day work-ing to cover their commute. ° Some residents have bicycles, but a lack of full connectivity, particularly to lower income neighborhoods along busy commercial corridors like Laurens Road, prevent them from commut-ing by bike.

Despite Greenville’s award-winning downtown and its top ranking on lists ranging from ‘Favor-ite Unexpected Vacation Destination’ to ’10 Best Places To Live in the U.S.’, more than 72,000 Greenville County residents live on incomes below the federal government’s poverty index. According to the most recent U.S. Census, the poor represent almost 16 percent of the Greenville County population, with local media accounts routinely citing ‘limited public transportation’ as one of the reasons many cannot break the cycle of poverty.

1.3.1 Access to EmploymentGreenville is widely considered to be the manufacturing center of South Carolina and among the most influential manufacturing centers of excellence in the country. Local manufacturing covers a broad spectrum of industry sectors including medical, aerospace, biomedical and pharmaceuti-cal, automotive, film and chemical, and is a burgeoning logistics center. The major concentra-tions of these companies are located in one of three geographic areas: in and around the city of Greer; SCTAC; and the I-385 Corridor which includes the cities of Mauldin, Simpsonville and Fountain Inn. Available jobs range from low-skilled, entry level positions to highly complex, multi-tiered advanced manufacturing tasks.

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Organizations such as SC Works, Greenville Works and Greenville Technical College offer pro-grams to boost adult basic math skills and the soft skills needed to obtain better jobs and to suc-ceed in the workplace. As a result, many more qualified entry level workers are poised to enter the Greenville County workforce. Unfortunately, many of these residents currently are trapped in poverty or in jobs without hope of advancement because they have no transportation options for getting to work. Resolution of this paradox requires solutions that address both education and ac-cess to the workplace. The alternative is a continued environment of high employee turnover and well-trained entry-level candidates without access to work.

1.3.2 Access to Better HealthAccessHealth Greenville County, a collaborative partnership between Safety Net providers, community partners, and funding from The Duke Endowment, aims to connect low income, uninsured residents of Greenville County to a medical facility. The common vision shared by Ac-cessHealth SC partners is to develop and sustain a coordinated system-wide network that results in better health outcomes and increased access to safe, timely, efficient, equitable, and patient-centered care for low-income uninsured residents.

South Carolina traditionally has seen rates of uninsured well above the national average. While the Affordable Care Act has made some impact by expanding coverage by private insurance and by prompting those eligible for Medicare to enroll, the lack of Medicaid expansion by the state still leaves far too many low income residents without coverage. In addition, death rate trends tracked by South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) over the last two decades indicate increasing rates of heart disease and diabetes-related deaths in Greenville County, higher than both the U.S. rates and peer county rates.

This project will improve access to work, thereby improving access to employer-sponsored health insurance coverage for Greenville County residents. It also will improve access to health care facilities, connecting residents with medical facilities to help prevent and manage chronic diseases. According to Greenville Health System’s 2013 Community Health Needs Assessment, 17 percent of Greenvillians presently have no health insurance and 48 percent are medically underserved. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Fac-tor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 17.52 percent of Greenville adults self-report that they do not have at least one person they think of as their personal doctor or health care provider, with these individuals more likely to end up in the emergency room.

It is believed that this project will help reduce the 78.75 percent of Greenville County’s popu-lation that is living in an area designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). See Table 1 on the following page.

1.3.3 Funding ChallengesLike many transit systems across the country, Greenlink operates in an environment of limited resources. With no dedicated funding source at the local or state levels, significant

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http://www.ghs.org/upload/docs/Reports/2013%20GHS%20Community%20Health%20Needs%20Assessment.pdf

system expansion is a lengthy process that is unable to keep pace with the region’s growth and demand. South Carolina presently ranks 43rd in the nation in transit spending per capita, with state funds representing six percent (6%) of Greenlink’s $5 million annual operating budget. De-spite funding challenges, Greenlink has realized the following expansions and improvements: ° In 2008, the City of Greenville began addressing the area’s public transportation needs in earnest by undertaking Greenlink operations under contract with Greenville Transit Authority (GTA). Since that time, Greenlink has expanded and experienced a steady increase in ridership. ° In 2010, Greenlink launched a new route serving the cities of Mauldin and Simpsonville, one of the fastest growing areas of the county. This service expansion was made possible by State Mass Transit Funds made available to these smaller, rural municipalities. ° In 2011, Greenlink introduced the CU-ICAR/St. Francis Shuttle to link the Eastside facilities of Bon Secours St. Francis Health System and the campus of Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research. Subsidized by CU-ICAR and Bon Secours Health System, this route began with a 14-passenger van and was upgraded to a 35-passenger bus in 2013 to accom-modate the growth in ridership. Around the same time, Greenlink began the Clemson Connector to link CU-ICAR with nearby student housing and Clemson’s downtown campus. ° Also in 2013, Greenlink partnered with Clemson University to provide transportation ser-vices Monday through Friday from the university’s main campus in Pickens County to CU-ICAR with a designated stop in Easley, SC. This subsidized service allows Clemson students, faculty and staff to ride at no charge and members of the general public to enjoy a Clemson-to-Green-ville route for a fare. Saturday service was added in 2014. ° In 2014, the procurement of two new trolleys to serve Greenville’s central business district was made possible by a partnership between Greenlink, the City of Greenville and the Greenville Drive, Greenville’s minor league baseball franchise. With operations subsidized by city hospital-ity tax, the popular downtown trolleys provide fare-free service Thursday through Sunday from Greenville’s Historic West End to the North Main Historic District. ° In 2014, Greenlink added complimentary Wi-Fi service on all routes and implemented auto-matic passenger counters and bus locator technology.

Despite these valuable and much utilized improvements to the Greenlink system in recent years, the transformative change required to fully address Greenville County’s immediate transportation needs cannot be accomplished under present budgetary constraints. 12


TABLE 1: Greenville County HPSA Designation

1.3.4 Air QualityAnother challenge facing Upstate SC (including Greenville County) is the potential to be desig-nated non-attainment with respect to ground level ozone. On December 27, 2014, EPA proposed “that the current primary O3 standard set at a level of 0.075 ppm is not requisite to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety, and that it should be revised to provide increased public health protection.” According to SCDHEC, over the past several years, South Carolina has steadily improved ground level ozone levels. However, as EPA pursues a 0.065–0.070 ppm range, the engagement and commitment of additional local limited resources required to respond to the unfunded mandate could threaten Greenville County’s present position as the economic engine of Upstate SC and capacity to generate jobs.

According to SCHDEC, “Modeling has shown that South Carolina is “NOx-limited,” which means that reducing NOx is a much more effective strategy for lowering monitored ozone levels in South Carolina than reducing VOCs since most of the VOCs in our state are from biogenic sources.” The TIGER VII: Creating Circuits of Economic Success grant application does pre-cisely that. Greenville County is a part of the Ozone Advance Program (OAP) and the Clean Air Upstate initiative and will continue working with the Upstate SC Air Quality Coalition, SCDHEC, and other public/private organizations to curb emissions form mobile sources through education and transportation initiatives currently under consideration. Two of those initiatives are included in the TIGER FY 2015 grant: moving people—pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic—more efficiently by purchasing zero emissions buses and extending the multi-modal transportation network spine in Greenville County, the Swamp Rabbit Trail (SRT), to connect low-to-middle income residential, commercial, educational, and health care communities to this important transportation corridor. This new and connected mode of transportation would provide Greenvillians the opportunity to begin changing their driving-alone culture, hence, reducing emissions. A report entitled State of Air Quality Greenville County, SC is attached as Appendix C.

1.4 GETTING AROUND GREENVILLEGreenville County’s crumbling infrastructure and unsafe road conditions are well documented. In 2013, for the third consecutive year, Greenville County ranked in the top five in AAA Caro-linas’ annual list of South Carolina’s most dangerous counties for collisions. Ranking second in the state for collisions for three years straight, Greenville County averaged 334.5 crashes per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

1.4.1 InfrastructureIn a state that has not raised its gas tax since 1987, the price tag to bring South Carolina roads and bridges up to an acceptable level is estimated to be about $1.5 billion a year or more until 2040, based on SC Department of Transportation’s (SCDOT) estimate that the state has a $42 billion funding shortfall. Some counties in South Carolina have decided to go it alone by raising their sales tax by one percent for a limited time in order to make local repairs. Greenville County voters overwhelmingly rejected that approach on November 4, 2014, with many voters saying they were looking to the state to repair roads. Local business leaders got little trac-

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tion in driving home the point that economic growth eventually will be threatened by roads in such poor condition. As the South Carolina Upstate region, with Greenville at its core, continues to grow from 1.4 million residents today to a projected 1.62 million in 2030, ensuring proper transportation and infrastructure that supports business and employment growth while continuing to get people and freight from place to place is critical. According to data from the Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study (GPATS), Greenville County residents travel approximately 17 miles daily to work and back. Trips to school and back average 12 miles, with trips to doctor’s appointments, shopping and other destinations accounting for an average of 10 miles daily.

1.4.2 Congestion Congestion is an ongoing concern for Greenville County as the region continues to develop as a business center and grows in popularity as a top retirement area. The Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study’s Long Range Transportation Plan ranks the Top 20 Congested Facilities in the Greenville area, using congestion intensity and congestion extent as variables. Congestion intensity typically is recognized as the average delay experienced by travelers, with congestion extent examining the number of travelers affected.

Three arterial roads proposed as trunk line routes for the expanded Greenville transportation network rank in the Top 10 on the most congested list - Pleasantburg Drive, Wade Hampton Bou-levard (US 29) and Rutherford Road. The GPATS Long Range Transportation Plan lists seven strategies for Travel Demand Management (TDM) and nine for Travel System Management (TSM) under congestion mitigation strategies. This project directly and/or indirectly addresses five TDM strategies and three TSM strategies:

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TABLE 2: Travel Demand/System Strategies

http://www.gpats.org/_uploads/2011/12/2035LRTPUpdate_Nov2013_DRAFT_11.6.13.pdf

http://www.gpats.org/_uploads/2011/12/2035LRTPUpdate_Nov2013_DRAFT_11.6.13.pdf

In addition to improved and expanded transit, this plan calls for the creation of well-placed park-and-ride facilities to encourage higher transit use and to further support traffic mitigation strate-gies. Negotiations with project partners has yielded Memorandums of Agreement/Understanding (found in Appendix D.) for the placement of park-and-ride facilities at each of the project’s four termini stations, as well as the Midtown Transfer Center at University Center and CU-ICAR. It is believed that informal park-and-rides will become a natural by-product of this project, develop-ing along trunk lines as well as along the greenway corridor.

Components of this project also are being considered as SCDOT in conjunction with Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study and Spartanburg Area Transportation Study search for a design/build partner to construct park-and-ride facilities to assist traffic mitigation on Interstate 85 and Wade Hampton Boulevard (US 29). This major route connecting Greenville with Spartanburg rep-resents the eastern leg of this project’s proposed Blue Line.

For its part, Greenlink has taken hundreds of cars daily off I-85 with its Clemson Commuter service from CU-ICAR to Clemson’s main campus in Pickens County. Average monthly rider-ship for the commuter service is 3,876. Overall in the past five years, Greenlink has experienced a steady increase in ridership, growing from 734,102 in 2010 to 1,030,000 in 2014. Ridership increases are attributed to the county’s exploding population growth and the introduction of new routes – notably the Clemson Commuter as noted above, and Rt. 14 to Mauldin-Simpsonville. Known as the Golden Strip, these municipalities along the I-385 corridor are home to four of the five fastest growing zip codes in Greenville County.

2. PROJECT LOCATION This project effectively covers the public transportation needs of an expansive county by trans-forming a limited hub-and-spoke system into a regional transportation network that reaches into nearby Laurens County at Fountain Inn and just shy of the North Carolina border in Travelers Rest. Route expansion combined with extended hours of service and reduced headways will create a transportation network that is practical and convenient for many more county residents. Incorporation of the existing and proposed Swamp Rabbit Trail greenway completes the plan for a multimodal nexus that is a catalyst for community revitalizations and economic opportunities throughout much of the county.

2.1 Project MetroSituated in the northwest corner of South Carolina, Greenville County is located along the mega-growth I-85 corridor between Atlanta, GA to the south (145 miles) and Charlotte, NC to the north (102 miles). The county seat of Greenville is located 101 miles from the capital city of Columbia and only 200 miles from the port city of Charleston.

Greenville County is at the center of a region considered to be the economic engine of South Carolina. Since its beginning as a small farming community in 1786, Greenville County has grown into a large and diverse metropolitan area and one of the southeast region’s

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premier areas for business. Over the past 35 years, Greenville has transitioned from the textile capi-tal of the world to an area with a diverse industry base that includes corporate offices, manufactur-ing, and warehousing/distribution operations. Greenville is now home to world-class companies such as Lockheed, Michelin, General Elec-tric, and IBM.

Greenville is the largest county in South Carolina with a population of 482,752, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 estimate, and represents 10 percent of the population of South Carolina. By comparison, Greenville is almost 20 percent larger than South Carolina’s second largest county, which is Richland at 399,256. As further comparison, Charleston County population is 363,282 and nearby Spartanburg County is 290,929. U.S. Census figures reveal 574.7 persons per square mile occupy Greenville County’s 785-square-mile expanse, with a population that has almost doubled since 1990. At a growth rate of 46 percent from 1990 to 2011, Greenville County’s population has increased faster than the Upstate region of South Carolina and the United States, translating into 8,000 new county resi-dents each year.

Greenville is one of the 10 counties that comprise the Upstate region of South Carolina. The Upstate population has been steadily increasing, growing from 1,220,516 in 2000 to 1,395,624 in 2013 and representing a 1.1 percent annual increase since 2000. Population of the Greenville MSA - now comprised of Greenville, Anderson, Laurens and Pickens counties - grew from 725,680 in 2000 to 850,965 in 2013, a 1.3 percent increase for the same period.

2.2 Project ComponentsThe proposed multimodal transportation network includes: ° Two trunk lines served by zero-emission, electric buses. Two buses traveling each direc-tion will achieve 30-minute headways designed to move passengers in a timely manner to jobs, educational opportunities, health care needs and other daily destinations. Trunk lines travel four quadrants in Greenville County, with termini at the farthest points of the county where the largest concentration of jobs are located. Trunk line buses will converge for re-charging and transfers at the Midtown Hub located at University Center.

FIGURE 4: Project Location

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GREENLINK: CREATING CIRCUITS OF

° A North-South express line that begins in downtown Travelers Rest and runs adjacent to the existing Swamp Rabbit Trail through Furman University and Cherrydale Shopping Center. The Gold Line passes through the West Side community and by the Amtrak Rail Station, on to the Greenlink Transfer Center downtown, and then through the East Washington and Ackley/Nicholtown communities en route to the new central transfer station at Midtown/University Center. From there, it runs along the proposed extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail to Haywood Mall, the Verdae Neighborhood, CU-ICAR and through the central business districts of Mauldin, Simpsonville and Fountain Inn. The CU-ICAR stop will continue to serve as a connecting point for Greenlink’s existing Clemson Commuter, Clemson Connector and CU-ICAR/St. Francis Shuttle routes. ° An East-West express line that runs from downtown Greer through Taylors, passing by Bob Jones University, the TD Convention Center and the Greenville Downtown Airport before meet-ing with the Gold Line at Midtown/ University Center. The ‘Blue Line’ continues on to the main campus of Greenville Technical College and the Augusta Road neighborhood, and ends at the South Carolina Aviation and Technology Center. ° Twenty-four (24) transit stations with shelters, electronic pay equipment and next bus signage are spaced along each route. Electronic pay capability will speed the boarding process allowing trunk line routes to achieve maximum express capability. The table below illustrates station amenities and community connections.

TABLE 3: Proposed Transit Stations. 17


° Nine new circulator routes served by trolleys or 14-passenger cutaways will be created for the City of Travelers Rest, West Side Community/Amtrak Station, Haywood Retail Center, Ver-dae Neighborhood, City of Mauldin, City of Simpsonville, City of Fountain Inn, City of Greer and Rutherford Road. Circulator routes are designed to serve destinations for daily living and quality of life in each area. ° Park-and-ride facilities located at each termini station for passenger convenience and to sup-port the region’s traffic mitigation strategies. ° Two EV charging stations for maximum operational efficiency. ° Buses equipped with triple transit racks to complement bicycle travel and achieve maximum multimodal system integration. ° New bike-share equipment will be located at 14 transit stations located parallel to the exist-ing and to-be-activated portions of the Swamp Rabbit Trail greenway. Designed for multimodal integration, these bike-shares will complement eight bike-share stations already in use in the City of Greenville. ° A five-mile extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail from E. Washington Street in downtown Greenville to CU-ICAR. Transformation of this 4.7-mile neglected railroad corridor into an active greenway will connect underserved communities and offer access to the larger transporta-tion network. ° Greenway connectivity will be created to Arcadia Hills, a special emphasis neighborhood in a distressed area of the county whose redevelopment was made possible by two federal HOPE VI grants. This connection will serve as a pilot safety program and working model for future com-munity connections to the multimodal transportation corridor.

2.3 Project DemographicsAccording to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, per capita personal income in Greenville County in 2013 was $40,257 and median household income was $45,818, however 16.1 percent of county residents had incomes below the federal poverty level compared with 14.1 percent statewide. Median household incomes for neighborhoods emphasized in this project appear in the table below:

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TABLE 4: Greenville Neighborhoods Below Poverty Level 2013

The Greenville Transit Authority Transit Development Plan 2006-2011 (TDP) provided an as-sessment of transit markets and transit-dependent populations, including minority, elderly, low-income, disabled and youth populations. The TDP noted that low-income and minority popula-tions are concentrated west and southwest of downtown Greenville. Elderly populations are concentrated east and southeast. In addition, clusters of transit-dependent populations live in the northern part of the county along White Horse Road and in the Berea community.

Greenlink’s service area presently touches many of these areas, with a ridership that is almost entirely transit-dependent. According to an on-board survey conducted for the Greenlink Market-ing Plan 2012-2017, current riders primarily use the Greenlink system to commute to work. The most prominent secondary uses include accessing medical appointments, school/job training and shopping. Most riders (71 percent) utilize the service five to seven times per week, and nearly all access bus shelters and stops by walking.

It cannot be overstated that this project will, for the first time, connect thousands of county resi-dents to jobs, education and training opportunities, better health care options, and recreational and leisure possibilities. It will link employers in manufacturing clusters at the farthest points of the county with potential employees living miles away without any means of transportation. It will help reduce turnover rates for business and industry, and help many county residents break the cycle of poverty. Major industries to be served by this project are located in three primary areas of the county. Those areas appear in the table below.

3. PROJECT PARTIES

3.1 City of GreenvilleThe grant applicant for Greenlink: Creating Circuits of Economic Success is the City of Green-ville, SC. Incorporated in 1831, the city adopted the Council-Manager form of government in 1976. The Council-Manager form consists of an elected City Council, which is responsible for policy making, and a professional City Manager, appointed by the council, who is responsible for administration. The City Manager provides policy advice, directs the 19

TABLE 5: Major Employment Centers. Source: ESRI Business Summary, D&B 2014.


daily operations of city government, handles personnel functions and is responsible for preparing the budget.

City Council is comprised of a mayor elected at-large and six council members, two of whom are elected at-large and four who are elected from their respective districts. The city employs almost 1,000 persons, providing a wide range of services. There are 10 principal functional areas of the City, which are designed to provide governmental services in an efficient and effective manner, while promoting quality customer service: Legislative and Administrative; Public Information & Events; Economic & Community Development; Human Resources; Office of Management & Budget; Police; Fire; Public Works; Parks & Recreation and Public Transportation.

The city’s FY 2015-16 operating budget totals $168,407,751, with an appropriation of $444,000 for transit operations which is matched annually by the County of Greenville. The city began operation of Greenville’s public transportation system in 2008 under contract with Greenville Transit Author-ity under the brand name, Greenlink.

3.2 Greenville Transit AuthorityGreenville Transit Authority was created in 1974 by Ordinances of the City of Greenville and Greenville County, pursuant to the Regional Transportation Authority Law, originally adopted in 1973 and later amended.

The Greenville Transit Authority is governed by a seven-member board. Two members are ap-pointed by Greenville City Council, two by Greenville County Council, and three by the Green-ville County Legislative Delegation. Under GTA’s contract with the City of Greenville, the GTA Board retains all duties, powers and responsibilities defined in State law. These responsibilities include the duty to purchase, lease, own, operate or provide for the operation of transportation facilities and services.

3.3 County of Greenville Greenville County is organized as a Council-Administrator form of local government, which combines the political leadership of 12 elected officials—representing 12 single-member districts to a four-year term —with the professional experience of an appointed local government admin-istrator. Under the Council-Administrator form, power is concentrated in the elected Council, which hires a professional administrator to implement its policies. The county administrator has responsibility for preparing the budget, directing day-to-day operations, hiring and dismissing personnel, and serving as the Council’s chief policy advisor.

Greenville County government is organized into seven basic financial areas of service delivery. Each group is organized according to its functional area and services provided: administrative services, general services, community development and planning, fiscal services, public safety, judicial services, and law enforcement services. Greenville County’s FY 2015 budget totals $226,846,880, which includes an apportionment of $355,000 for transit operations.

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3.4 Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study (GPATS)As the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Greenville-Pickens Urbanized Area, the Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study plans and prioritizes all of the federally-funded transportation improvements through most of Greenville County and parts of surrounding coun-ties, including the municipalities of Central, Clemson, Easley, Fountain Inn, Greenville, Greer, Liberty, Mauldin, Norris, Pelzer, Pendleton, Pickens, Simpsonville, Travelers Rest, West Pelzer, and Williamston.

4. GRANT FUNDS AND SOURCESGreenlink: Creating Circuits of Economic Success has a total project cost of $24,036,220. Local entities have signed Memorandums of Agreement to fund $10,425,183 of the total project. The amount of TIGER VII discretionary funds requested to support this project is $13,611,037 or 56.63 percent of the total cost. There are no past or pending Federal requests associated with this project. No funds have been provided for this project under other Federal programs. A budget summary table for this project appears below. A detailed Project Budget with supporting tabs in included as Appendix A.

5. SELECTION CRITERIASafe driving, convenient and reliable access to the daily destinations, breathing fresh and clean air, being physically active and avoiding excessive stress are a few of the well-known steps toward living a healthy life. A multimodal transportation system addresses all of these livability factors.

5.1 SafetyBus related accidents have one-twentieth the passenger fatality rates of automobile travel. More-over, areas with high public transit movement tend to have better overall security and reduced crime rates, according to the American Public Transportation Association. An expanded trans-portation network will increase public safety throughout Greenville County by reducing traffic congestion and the potential for traffic accidents. According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, in Greenville County in 2008, for every 100 million vehicles miles traveled 1.27 fatalities occurred. Exposure to roadway accidents and injury is linked directly

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TABLE 6: TIGER VII Budget Summary Table


to continuing increases in vehicle miles traveled, which, between 1980 and 2000, grew more than three times faster than the population according to the Highway Statistics Series from the FHWA.

Additionally, this project builds a foundation to combat further urban sprawl by encouraging Tran-sit Oriented Development along greenways and transit stations. These neighborhoods designed for cycling, walking and transit will provide good connectivity and traffic calming features that help reduce vehicle use and help control speeds.

5.2 State of Good RepairThis project will accelerate the transition of Greenlink’s fleet from diesel to zero-emission, electric buses. Not only are electric buses more environmentally friendly, but overall vehicle performance is improved. In addition to reducing air pollution, electric engines cause far less vibration through-out the vehicle, increasing the life of the bus and reducing maintenance requirements. This new transportation network also will reduce wear and tear on Greenville County presently neglected roadways. And it will be a catalyst for a modal shift in Greenville County that encourages the use of a multimodal transportation network that includes transit and bicycle usage for transportation and better health.

No one thinks about air sheds as infrastructure that is required for communities to thrive and increase their local and global economic competitiveness when they are maintained in a ‘state of good repair’. The proposed transportation modal shifts for Greenville County would be a catalyst project that is expected to influence people’s commuting habits moving from individual driving to mass transit use. Changes in driving behavior and using mass transit would assist the county in light of EPA’s revision to the ground level ozone standard as people move using zero-emission buses, which could help in maintaining the Upstate SC region in attainment.

5.3 Economic CompetitivenessOnce dependent on textile manufacturing and related industries, Greenville County’s economy has evolved into a diverse mix of domestic and international companies. An expansive multi-modal transportation network will further stimulate the Greenville economy by enhancing work-force development, recruitment and retention. This project addresses Greenville County’s imme-diate and critical need of connecting low-to-moderate income residents with areas of the county where more than 30,500 jobs exist. And it will lessen the financial burden of many residents by alleviating the need to purchase, maintain and operate a personal vehicle, leaving disposable income for better living arrangements, healthy food, and medical services.

5.4 Quality of LifeThis project is poised to help implement many of the planning efforts completed as part of the Community Challenge/TIGER II planning grant awarded to the City of Greenville in FY2010. The grant funded the Connections for Sustainability project, a three year planning effort focused on building connections between affordable housing, transportation options, economic devel-opment opportunities, and open space for the City with a focus on the City’s West

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Side. The project undertook a multi-faceted outreach and educational campaign that included the utilization of a Livability Educator who worked closely with local schools and teachers to develop the Livability Curriculum which engaged students on topics related to the community, transportation, and the environment. The discussion was then expanded community-wide with a monthly movie series and speaker series that focused on ways in which we can live, work, play, and grow more sustainably.

The Connections for Sustainability project completed a variety of planning efforts including a Citywide Housing Strategy, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Transit Oriented-Economic Devel-opment (TOeD) Feasibility Study, a City Park Master Plan, and the West Side Comprehensive Plan. The Citywide Housing Strategy provides a road map for increasing housing options for all income levels, while the BRT and TOeD Feasibility Study addresses the issue of creating a more equitable and integrated transportation system. The City Park Master Plan evaluated the potential development of a park within a floodplain just west of downtown, and the West Side Comprehen-sive Plan focused on improving livability for the West Side of the City, an area which includes three low to moderate income neighborhoods bordered by underutilized commercial corridors and plagued with high unemployment rates and poverty. This project utilizes the findings of the above-mentioned studies to address the following Livability Principles:

5.4.1 Create affordable and convenient transportation choicesGreenville County’s new transportation network will increase peak usage from 17 transit ve-hicles to 35, with no increase in Greenlink’s present fare structure. A major expansion of routes, geographic areas of service, and a reduction in headways will make Greenlink a reliable, conve-nient transportation option for many more county residents.

Focus groups held as part of the Piedmont Health Foundation study now underway in Green-ville County have revealed that many county residents with no vehicles and with jobs outside of Greenlink’s service area or hours use taxis to get to and from work. At minimum wage pay, these residents are spending the first half of their day working to cover their commutes. The price for a five-mile taxi ride in the Greenville area presently is $17.05, compared with a one-way fare on Greenlink at $1.50.

5.4.2 Provide more transportation choicesNot only will this project significantly increase transit options across Greenville County, it also activates a transportation greenway for bicycle and pedestrian connectivity. The new transporta-tion network creates express bus and circulator access to key destinations including jobs, educa-tion and health care facilities. It also offers safe biking and walking options.

For example, this project significantly expands the Greenville bike-share program from eight stations in the urban core of the city of Greenville to 22 stations throughout the county. Stations funded through this project will be located at transit stations to help solve “first and last mile” issues and to help improve connectivity for residents in underserved neighborhoods along the existing and proposed greenway extension to key locations including gro- 23


cery stores, the Greenlink transfer center and parks.

5.4.3 Decrease household transportation costsTransportation is the second largest expense for U.S. households, with Americans spending an average of 18 cents of every dollar on transportation and the poorest fifth of families spending more than double that figure. The cost of living index for transportation in Greenville County is higher than the national average at 104, with driving alone to work ranking as the number one mode of commuting to work at 79.43 percent. The cost to operate and maintain a car in South Carolina is $2,186 per year: $368 for repairs; $860 for insurance; and $958 for gasoline, accord-ing to figures from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the National Association of Insur-ance Commissioners.

The regional transportation network outlined in this application can help lower transportation costs for those who cannot afford a personal vehicle by making transit and biking viable options for commuting to work and other important destinations. For those able to own and operate a personal vehicle, the new transportation network offers an opportunity for household savings by taking advantage of a system with greater connectivity, extended hours of operation and a signifi-cantly larger geographic reach.

5.4.4. Reduce dependence on oilThis grant proposes 10 zero-emission, electric buses on trunk lines that form the core of Green-ville’s new transportation network. These efficiently-designed buses reduce dependency on oil and fossil fuels in general. A typical diesel bus, for example, consumes approximately 238 barrels of petroleum annually, while a diesel-hybrid results in consumption of about 200 barrels. The use of battery-electric technology eliminates oil dependency altogether. 5.4.5 Improve air qualityChronic lower respiratory disease ranks fourth among the top ten leading causes of death in Greenville County, according to SCDHEC. This project offers a proactive approach to improving air quality in the region and to helping the region remain in attainment status to meet national air quality standards. Zero-emission, electric buses will replace diesel buses along Greenville’s most heavily traveled roads. It also creates an expanded and improved transportation network designed to take cars off the road thereby reducing auto emissions.

The all-electric vehicles referenced in this proposal produce zero tail-pipe emissions. In fact, there is no tailpipe and there is zero impact on local air quality. Even when emissions from ener-gy generation are considered, these buses help reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 180,000 lbs. (CO2 equivalent) when compared with CNG buses and 174,000 lbs. when compared with conventional diesel buses, assuming average U.S. mix for energy generation, ac-cording to Argonne GREET Fleet Footprint Calculator 2012. That is a reduction of more than 65 percent, which will continue to improve as the U.S. power grid becomes more environmentally friendly with more energy being generated through renewable sources. 24


5.4.6 Promote public healthThe percentage of adults who are either overweight or obese in Greenville County is 64.9 percent, according to the GHS Community Health Needs Assessment. Directly related to this rate are the 80.4 percent of Greenville County adults consuming under five servings of fruits and vegetables daily and the 27.5 percent of adults engage in no leisure-time physical activity. The multimodal transportation network outlined in this grant application addresses the critical need for low-income residents, senior adults and disabled individuals in Greenville County to gain access to important services and activities that improve public health. It also encourages transit-friendly, walkable communities that reduce reliance on motor vehicles and promote higher levels of physical activity.

5.5 Environmental SustainabilityOn November 25, 2014, EPA announced that it is proposing a new Ozone standard within the range of 0.065 ppm to 0.070 ppm with a final Ozone standard determination to be made on October 1, 2015. In its announcement, EPA noted that “climate change has the potential to cause increases in summertime O3 concentrations over substantial regions of the country, with increas-es tending to occur during higher peak pollution episodes in the summer, if offsetting emissions reductions are not made” (Environmental Protection Agency, 2014).

According to the 2011 emissions inventory from SCDHEC, the three highest contributors of on road NOx and VOC emissions were Greenville County (NOx: 8,402 tpy and VOC: 3,611 tpy), Spartanburg County (NOx: 6,786 tpy and VOC: 2,513 tpy), and Anderson County (NOx: 4,412 tpy and VOC 1,659 tpy). The highest sources of on road NOx emissions were diesel heavy duty vehicles at 50 percent and gasoline light duty vehicles at 45 percent share of total on road NOx emissions. The highest sources of on road VOC emissions were gasoline light duty vehicles at 84 percent and diesel heavy duty vehicles with 10 percent share of total on road VOC emissions.

Anticipating a more stringent ozone standard, public and private organizations, non-profit, busi-nesses, and industries in the Upstate region of South Carolina decided to renew discussions to keep the region in attainment status. Collaborative efforts such as the Clean Air Upstate forum, discussions and a multimedia public education campaign have increased awareness of air quality issues and improvement efforts concentrated on ways to reduce emissions from mobile sources through a no idling campaign. Other strategies recommended by the committee to reduce on road mobile sources are synchronizing or adapting traffic lights with traffic flow; allowing right turns on red lights; using public transportation; avoiding running errands during rush hours; trip chain-ing errands; carpooling to school, work, and entertainment; maintaining vehicles in good condi-tion; and avoiding driving with under inflated tires.

This project is a proactive approach to keep the Upstate region of South Carolina in attainment status by accelerating Greenlink’s move to zero-emission, electric buses. With zero tailpipe emis-sions and zero direct local impact on pollution, emissions per bus will be reduced by 146,400 pounds annually, even when considering power generation. (Source: Average US fuel source mix for electricity, 2012 Argonne National Labs GREET model.) 25


5.6 InnovationIn addition to zero-emission, electric buses offering lighter-weight composite-bodies and fast-charge capability on trunk lines, this project includes innovative transit improvements that will help speed service and sustain the new transportation network. To achieve a more express ser-vice, transit stations will feature electronic pay equipment that eliminates the use of cash when boarding. All transit vehicles in the network will be equipped with automatic vehicle locators and computer aided dispatch systems to keep users better informed and to achieve better management of data and resources for future planning. This project also contributes to technology partnerships that exist throughout the county by increasing access to areas where this innovative work is be-ing conducted. The International Transportation Innovation Center (ITIC) at SCTAC is a one-of-a-kind testing facility that serves as an international hub for clean transportation and advanced vehicle communication.

5.7 PartnershipsThe entities appearing in the table below have signed Memorandums of Agreement/Understand-ing to provide cash or in-kind matching funds for this TIGER VII application. Copies of MOAs/MOUs are found in Appendix D. Letters of Commitment/Support are found in Appendix E.

Discussions are underway with a number of other local partners, including CU-ICAR, regarding in-kind and cash matches for this TIGER VII project. Several commitments are pending board and corporate approvals but could not be obtained prior to the application deadline.

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TABLE 7: Funding Sources (Partnerships)

6. BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS

The benefit-cost analysis was conducted for the Greenlink: Creating Economic Circuits of Success project for submission to the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) as a re-quirement of a discretionary grant application for the TIGER VII program. The analysis was conducted in accordance with the benefit-cost methodology as recommended by the U.S. DOT in the Federal Register (79 FR 11854) and conducted for a 20-year analysis period following the opening year of operations in 2018 and concluding in 2037. The costs and benefits of the project are summarized in Table 8 over the analysis period, is expected to be $60.1 million when dis-counted at 7 percent, and $85.6 million when discounted at 3 percent. Benefits from this project are estimated to be $102.8 million when discounted at 7 percent, and $161.9 million with a 3 percent discount rate. The Benefit-Cost (B/C) ratios for the 7 and 3 percent discount rates are 1.7 and 1.9, respectively.

The beneficiaries of the project include existing and new users of the bus system and trail ex-tensions, respectively. The bus user benefits are derived from service expansion and higher bus frequency that decrease the generalized costs of travel for both existing and new users. The improvements and extension of the Swamp Rabbit Trail will increase safety, travel time and con-nectivity for existing and new cyclists. As shown in Table 9, the improvements to the regional bus network accounted for $77.6 million in benefits and the trail extension accounted for $25.3 million. This table also shows the breakdown of benefits by criteria category. The complete Benefit-Cost Analysis for this project is included as Appendix F and Appendix G.

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TABLE 8: Summary of BCA Results

TABLE 9: Summary of Project Benefits by Criteria Category

7. PROJECT READINESSThis project was developed after considering the recommendations of a number of feasibility studies and plans including the Greenlink 2010 Transit Vision and Master Plan, the Connections For Sustainability Study Management Plan for Bus Rapid Transit and Transit-Oriented Develop-ment (2013), the Greenville West Side Comprehensive Plan (2014), and the GPATS Long Range Transportation Plan. Once a TIGER Grant Agreement is executed, Greenlink is ready to develop procurement and specification documents to purchase buses, equipment, materials, and design and construction of the stations.

Purchased in 1999 with local public funds, the GCEDC railroad right-of-way is ready to be transformed into a pedestrian/bicycle greenway that will connect CU-ICAR to downtown Green-ville via the Swamp Rabbit Trail at Cleveland Park. In February 2015, the GCEDC received approval from the Surface Transportation Board to abandon the 3.29-mile of railroad line extend-ing between mileposts AJK 585.34 and AJK 588.63 in Greenville, SC. GCEDC and Greenville County are in the Notice of Interim Trail Use (NITU) negotiation period and Greenville County has filed a statement of willingness to assume full responsibility for the management of the trail. In January 2014, Upstate Forever, a local nonprofit organization that promotes sensible growth in Upstate South Carolina, partnered with the GCEDC and contracted with a local planning and de-sign engineering company to develop preliminary engineering drawings to build the greenway on the 3.29 mile right-of-way. Additional preliminary engineering drawings will be needed for the approximately 1.30-mile segment between E. Washington and S. Pleasantburg Drive, which was abandoned in the late 1989 by CSX Transportation under Docket No. AB-55 (Sub-No. 261X). It is expected that these drawings will be completed in a timely manner.

As part of the GCEDC/Upstate Forever partnership, Upstate Forever also initiated discussions with property owners along the abandoned 1.30-miles segment to donate a portion of their re-spective property to reassemble the right-of-way to connect the GCEDC corridor to Cleveland at E. Washington Street. Property owners signed Statement of Intent and Consent forms indicat-ing that it is their intent to work with GCEDC and to close the transaction and “donate 50 feet of land closest to the former railway” subject to the completion of several steps, including surveys. Greenville County has surveyed this segment and identified seven properties that will be feasible in reassembling the right-of-way.

What has been done thus far in preparation of reactivating the approximately five-mile railroad right-of-way into a multimodal transportation corridor, having properties donated for the new Gold and Blue bus lines’ stations, and additional efforts provided as cash and in-kind matches provides this project with an advantage as far as being “shovel ready” to make sure that TIGER funds are obligated and spent within the TIGER grant schedule and statutory requirements.

All elements of this plan are technically feasible, with proper procurement guidelines in place to proceed as indicated in the Project Schedule, which is included as Appendix H.

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7.1 NEPA / Environmental Review Phase I of an environmental assessment is underway to identify potential contamination on the 3.29-mile greenway corridor identified in this project between CU-ICAR and S. Pleasantburg Drive. This environmental study is being funded by the City of Greenville’s Brownfield Assess-ment Grant. An additional Phase I ESA will need to be performed on the portion of the former railroad right-of-way between E. Washington (Cleveland Park) and S. Pleasantburg Drive (ap-proximately 1.30 miles of right-of-way that was abandoned in the late 1980s) with the authoriza-tion of property owners. This study will initiate upon execution of a TIGER Grant Agreement to ensure timely completion of the project and compliance with the grant requirements.

The Phase I Environmental Site Assessments are being completed as part of the larger Environ-mental Assessment that is being initiated by the City of Greenville and will cover the extent of the project. The City will complete consultation with all outside agencies and ensure that the project meets all statutory and regulatory requirements following the execution of a TIGER Grant Agreement but initial review indicates that the project will likely have a finding of no sig-nificant impact when the Environmental Assessment is concluded.

Regarding the bus termini and transfer stations, it is expected that no environmental assessments will be required due to the fact that park-and-ride facilities will take advantage of existing lots that only require resurfacing and striping. Greenlink’s standard stations will remain in the public rights-of-way of SCDOT and other jurisdictions. Project mapping and development of checklists for environmental assessment of each of the 24 proposed transit station sites has been initiated.

7.2. Legislative Approvals and Project SustainabilityUnder Resolution No. 2015-20, this grant application was unanimously supported by the Green-ville City Council. The resolution supports a $2.5 million match commitment toward sustain-able long-term operations and management of the proposed regional multimodal transportation network.

Under Resolution No. 1537, this grant application was unanimously approved by Greenville County Council for sustainable long-term operations and maintenance of the projects funded under this TIGER VII grant application. The resolution supports: a cash match of $1.5 million; in-kind match that includes the value of the abandoned railroad corridor and staff time and equip-ment to extend the multi-modal SRT transportation corridor; ongoing maintenance to the Swamp Rabbit Trail transportation corridor; and support to Greenlink’s operating budget for its expanded transit system. City and County Resolutions are included as Appendix I.

7.3. State and Local PlanningThis regional transportation network is endorsed by letters of support from the Greenville-Pick-ens Area Transportation Study and the Greenville Transit Authority Board of Directors, respec-tive to the GPATS Long Range Transportation Plan and the Greenlink 2010 Transit Vision and Master Plan.

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Future project planning includes an application for funding from the GPATS Transportation Al-ternative Program (TAP) to support safe pedestrian access to the Midtown Station at University Center. Transportation planners also will work with SC DOT officials on signal prioritization for Gold and Blue Line routes.

7.4 Community Support and Partnership AgreementsThe grant application has received numerous letters of support from local, state and national elected officials, as well as corporations, business owners, human service agencies, business and professional organizations, municipalities, educational institutions, health organizations and oth-ers with a vested interest in improving Greenville’s multimodal transportation network. Letters of Commitment/Support are found in Appendix E. Memorandums of Agreement/Understanding are found in Appendix D.

PLEASE NOTE: The Project Budget in this final application has been changed since the pre-application submission. Detailed information to justify the change is included as Appendix J.


tiger grant

Documents

city of greenville

county of greenville

project location

project metro

project components

project demographics

project parties

greenville transit authority