State gets $52M to fund transit upgrades

RALEIGH, N.C. — The City of Raleigh will receive $7.6 million to purchase a site to build a new operations and maintenance facility for its Capital Area Transit buses, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The funds are part of the $52.5 million being given to the state through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The money will be used to help fun transit upgrades across the state, LaHood said Thursday.

“By quickly moving federal dollars to the cities and towns across the country, we are putting people back to work now and ensuring that our nation will have reliable and efficient transit system for generations to come,” LaHood said in a release.

The Triangle Transit Authority in Durham and Raleigh will receive $2.8 million to purchase five 40-foot replacement buses and three paratransit replacement vans. The funds will also be used in establishing a real-time bus arrival system, the re-paving of the bus and operations maintenance facility and passenger amenities at the Triangle’s high-use bus stops.

The Town of Chapel Hill will receive $2.7 million to purchase two replacement 40-foot hybrid-electric buses, eight replacement lift-equipped vans, and one replacement maintenance truck. The funds will also go to purchasing bus shelters and benches, and software and hardware for a new fleet inventory system.

In Durham, $4.3 million will be used to fund preventive maintenance and paint 30 fixed-route buses. The money will also be used to buy 15 paratransit replacement vans, and nine paratransit expansion vans. The city plans to the funding to also install a 1,200 square foot storage shed, purchase 20 bus shelters and add Real-Time Bus Arrival/AVL/GPS hardware and related software system.