RALEIGH - The N.C. Department of Transportation has been awarded grants this week from the Federal Transit Administration for public transportation improvements that will benefit communities in seven counties.
The grants are part of the Bus and Low- and No-Emission Grant Awards aimed at helping public transportation providers improve service and shift to low- and zero-emission transit buses.
“These grants will improve public transportation services for several North Carolina communities by modernizing aging transit facilities and converting buses from diesel to electric,” said Ryan Brumfield, director of NCDOT’s Integrated Mobility Division.
NCDOT’s Integrated Mobility Division applied for the grants and will administer them. Additional details about each grant are as follows:
- $3.3 million for the Inter-County Public Transportation Authority so the northeastern North Carolina public transit system can build an operations and maintenance facility to service and repair fleet vehicles. The grant also will help the system improve services for people in the authority’s region of Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank and Perquimans counties.
- $2.2 million for Boone’s and Watauga County’s public transportation agency AppalCART to buy electric buses and electric bus charging equipment. The grant also will enable AppalCART to develop a program to train the system’s maintenance workers on the new electric bus equipment.
- $280,000 the Columbus County Transportation system can use to modernize its transit facility.
NCDOT regularly partners with rural communities to identify competitive projects for submission to federal discretionary grant programs, prepares the grant applications, and administers the grants.
Several other North Carolina communities that applied for grants were also awarded federal money earlier this week. Funds also were awarded to the Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority, Charlotte, High Point, Chapel Hill and the Research Triangle Regional Public Transportation Authority near Raleigh.
The Bus and Low- and No-Emission Grants Program announced 130 awards totaling almost $1.7 billion that will be used for public transportation improvements nationwide. The grants were awarded as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides some of its funding to advance equitable public transportation planning and operations.