DENVER – Various state and local agencies in Colorado will be receiving a total of $15.9 million in federal grant money from the Federal Transit Administration to upgrade buses and maintenance facilities—primarily in the rural parts of the state.
Colorado received seven of the 107 project grants awarded from the FTA’s Buses and Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program Tuesday and is getting $15.9 million of the $366 million total awarded to various agencies in all 50 states.
In Colorado, the grants awarded are as follows:
- $1.52 million to Fort Collins (Transfort) to replace and expand bus stops across the area.
- $7.5 million to the Regional Transportation District (RTD) to purchase replacement buses.
- $3.5 million to RTD to replace roofs on replacement facilities.
- $211,200 to the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) on behalf of Durango Transit to replace aging vehicles.
- $2.3 million to CDOT on behalf of the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority to replace diesel buses with clean-diesel commuter coaches.
- $536,000 to CDOT on behalf of Steamboat Springs Transit to replace diesel buses with hybrid diesel-electric vehicles
- $392,000 to Mesa County and Grand Valley Transit to replace buses.
Bus transit is vital to many in rural Colorado, and the strains on the system was recently highlighted in a report by the Colorado Independent.
The FTA said it received applications for 339 projects from 255 applicants and narrowed the list down to 107 projects.