The Federal Transit Administration has issued $102.3 million to 17 transit agencies, state departments of transportation, cities, and planning councils in eight states and U.S. territories to help them recover from a slew of recent natural disasters.
[Above photo by the KYTC]
Those dollars, provided through the FTA’s Public Transportation Emergency Relief Program, will fund repairs to damaged equipment and facilities, as well as recoup costs for evacuation and rescue operations following floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes that occurred in 2017 and 2020-22.
Two state DOTs are receiving grants from this tranche of FTA emergency funding:
- The Florida Department of Transportation will receive over $3.9 million to support facility repairs and the cost of operating emergency services in the wake of Hurricane Ian;
- The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will receive over $3.8 million to support facility repairs after damaging storms, flooding, and landslides in the summer of 2022.
FTA noted in a statement that its Emergency Relief Program provides assistance to public transit operators in the aftermath of a declared emergency or major disaster.
The program helps states and public transportation systems pay for repairing and replacing equipment and facilities that have suffered serious damage as a result of an emergency; cover the costs of evacuation, rescue operations, and temporary public transportation service, and; reestablish, expand, or relocate service before, during or after an emergency.
FTA noted that the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 – signed into law in December 2022 – provides the funding for its emergency relief support for declared disasters from 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
The agency said that this $102.3 million represents the first round of grants through its ER Program, adding that it will continue to accept applications from affected transit agencies and communities for another 90 days.
Nation
USDOT Issues $130M Worth of SMART Program Grants
December 20, 2024
Nation
