Infrastructure Financing Options for Transit-Oriented Development
Transit-oriented development (TOD) is development near a transit station that offers a mix of housing, employment, shopping, and transportation choices. This approach generally encourages a more compact and efficient use of land, which can have a variety of environmental, social and economic benefits, but it typically involves costly supportive infrastructure to make it possible.
EPA developed Infrastructure Financing Options for Transit-Oriented Development (pdf) (2013) to provide communities with a comprehensive guide of tools and strategies for financing and funding for TOD infrastructure. The report:
- Identifies dozens of financing mechanisms and strategies that communities can use.
- Showcases how 11 communities are using finance tools and funding sources to implement TOD.
- Introduces four innovative models communities could consider for their TOD planning.
- Explains how community context and market factors affect the types of financing tools or funding strategies that communities can use.
EPA created this report through its Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program. Four applicants – Cobb County and the Cumberland Community Improvement District, Georgia; the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, Illinois; the Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake City, and Sandy City, Utah; and the city of Wheat Ridge, Colorado – requested assistance from EPA on funding and financing infrastructure to support TOD. EPA and its contractor team used their work in these communities to develop this publication.
Learn more about transit-oriented development on our Smart Growth and Transportation page.