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YOUNGSTOWN -- The Western Reserve Transit Authority will receive three federal grants, totaling nearly $8.5 million, with the money coming from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded three grants Friday to the WRTA, which is based in Youngstown and provides bus service in Mahoning County and parts of Trumbull County.
• The Buses and Bus Facilities grant is $4,313,552 to construct and improve WRTA's"bus barn," used as its primary facility for bus maintenance and operations.
• A second award of $2,940,480 comes from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with the Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Transportation Discretionary Grant fund. It is to complete engineering and final design of the reconstruction of the Federal Street station.
The money also would be used to turn it into a mixed-use, transit-oriented facility that includes a new sheltered passenger terminal, parking garage, electric vehicle charging stations and other amenities.
• The third grant is $1,208,632 for WRTA to replace older buses with zero-emission and low-emission models.
The Buses and Bus Facilities grant "will provide funding for the replacement of one of our bus barns that hasn't been updated since the 1970s and when the update is complete, the new bus barn will be ready for the future with the ability to charge battery electric buses and make our operation more efficient," said Dean Harris, WRTA executive director.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who announced the grants, said: "The bipartisan infrastructure law is getting resources to Ohio communities to improve transportation and support Ohio workers. We fought to secure this investment to create jobs and to connect people with jobs -- saving them time and money."
Brown, who supported the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, added: "I'm working to make sure Ohio gets its fair share -- or more -- of infrastructure investment so Ohio communities can improve transit options and create opportunities."
Brown visited WRTA in February 2022 to discuss $32.6 million the authority was going to get from the federal infrastructure act.
WRTA will use much of the money to replace its gas-powered fleet of 47 large buses and about 25 smaller ones with low-emission and no-emission buses with the goal of going all electric by 2040, Harris said last year. The process of converting the WRTA bus fleet to electric is to start in 2026.
Other expenses will be electric charging stations, new bus shelters, improvements to its Mahoning Avenue office, the Federal Street station as well as training its workers on how to maintain the new vehicles and equipment.
The Akron Metropolitan Regional Transit Authority was awarded Friday a $37,808,113 grant from the Buses and Bus Facilities grant program for the construction of a new maintenance and operations facility.
Kent received a $5.25 million RAISE grant for its Gateway project on East Main Street.
In Ohio, 10 transit authorities, including the WRTA, were awarded a total of $29.33 million in zero-to-low emissions grants Friday.