LaHood touts $787 million in public transit grants

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Tuesday that $787 million in grants for public transportation announced this week by the Department of Transportation "will go a long way toward helping transit agencies across the nation modernize and repair their buses and related facilities to bring these systems into a state of good repair."

The grants, announced this week by the Federal Transit Administration, will go to State of Good Repair and Bus Livability programs, LaHood said.

"While we need to continue to invest in the new transportation projects that will help our economy grow, we also need to make sure we protect, preserve, and rebuild the transportation system we already have," LaHood said in a blog post on the DOT's website. 

"That is why President Obama has long advocated for making the cost-effective, job-creating investments we need to keep our public transportation safe and reliable," he continued. "In nearly every state in the country, we're supporting good projects that will put men and women to work improving the public transportation systems so many people rely on to reach their jobs and schools every day."

The projects touted by LaHood included a $73.4 million grant to New Jersey to replace buses with more than 500,000 miles of service and $40 million to Maryland to replace a 65-year-old bus facility in Baltimore.

He said the projects were "just a few of the 255 projects selected for FTA support."

"All of the benefits these projects generate — from safety to reliability to jobs — will be multiplied across the country," LaHood said. "That's how we keep this nation moving forward; that's how we work toward an America built to last."

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