U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced an additional $3.7 billion in disaster relief funds to help the four major transit agencies in New York and New Jersey that sustained the greatest damage from Hurricane Sandy. In addition to supporting ongoing post-storm recovery work, nearly one-third of the money, made available through the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) Emergency Relief Program, is set aside to help the agencies begin investing in resiliency projects to help ensure that their transit assets – from trains and buses to stations and subway tunnels – are better able to withstand future disasters, such as major floods. "We continue to work closely with the transit agencies hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy to ensure they can recover from this terrible disaster and emerge stronger than before," said Secretary LaHood. "The millions of riders in New York and New Jersey deserve a robust public transportation network that can deliver the service they depend on every day." A notice published in the Federal Register next week (on view here) will provide a breakdown of how the funds are allocated to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of New York, the New York City Department of Transportation, New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Of the $3.7 billion in disaster relief funds announced today, $2.4 billion is allocated for recovery and rebuilding projects, while $1.3 billion is dedicated to increasing the transit systems' resiliency in the face of future disasters. Today's announcement of $3.7 billion in disaster assistance brings the total dollars allocated by FTA so far for all Sandy recovery activities to $5.7 billion, and is just the latest step by the administration to support the ongoing recovery of the communities impacted. Beyond