Kansas Agencies To Receive $13.2M For 48 Public Transit Projects

By Noah Taborda, Kansas Reflector

April 8, 2022

TOPEKA — Communities across Kansas soon will see improvements to their roadways after Gov. Laura Kelly announced $13.2 million in grants for 48 public transportation projects.

The funds administered as part of the Access, Innovation and Collaboration Public Transit Program will go to 26 agencies. Projects include constructing bus maintenance facilities, upgrading accessibility to transit and expanding lower emission transit.

“A strong, safe public transportation system is critical to our state’s economy and quality of life,” Kelly said. “Projects like wheelchair accessible busses, upgraded bus facilities and route and parking lot enhancements will ensure Kansans have access to adequate, safe and well-maintained public transportation.”

Kelly made the announcement Thursday alongside Kansas Department of Transportation secretary Julie Lorenz, and Federal Transit Administration administrator Nuria Fernandez in an expanded bus facility funded by KDOT and an FTA grant. The 16,000 square-foot expansion was completed in November.

One planned project for OCCK Inc. is a $250,000 microtransit pilot for Salina and $571,000 for software and bus equipment enhancements for fixed routes. The public transportation service also will receive $270,316 for renovations to the facility’s second floor; $54,812 for the connecting bus between Belleville, Concordia, Minneapolis and Salina; and $84,600 for stop improvements.

“In addition to funding new bus facilities and improving transit service, the grants support the purchase of low- or no-emission buses,” Fernandez said. “That work throughout Kansas will accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more efficient transportation system, and help keep our skies blue, our water clean and our climate more predictable by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Both urban and rural transit providers receive support from the grant program. The projects in total cost about $17 million, with the AIC program providing about $13M — $2 million from the state and $11M federally.

In the first two years of the program, KDOT will award $21 million in funding for a total project cost of $26 million.

The two most costly projects will be just more than $1.6 million for multimodal transit facility elements in Lawrence and nearly $1.5 million for a Solomon Valley Transportation building project serving Jewell, Mitchell and Osborne counties.

The program dedicates about $1 million to the Community Health Center in Crawford County for a regional transportation facility in southeast Kansas.

“The AIC Public Transit Program combines state and federal resources that will enhance access to transit, invest in emerging technologies and form collaborations with public and private transportation providers,” Lorenz said. “I’m proud of the partnerships we’ve established to improve transportation services and options for Kansans.”

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