Lowcountry COG Looking For Veterans Comments On FTA Grant Project

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is seeking comment from the public on projects receiving funding from the Federal Transit Administration's Section 5309 Discretionary Programs for amendment into the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). 

The Lowcountry Council of Governments (LCOG) has been awarded a grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in the amount of $124,480 under the FTA Section 5309 discretionary funding program (Bus and Bus Facilities Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative).  The purpose of the Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI) Program is to increase the availability of community transportation resources to veterans, service members and military families.  In addition, the VTCLI Program has the objective of improving the accessibility of existing mobility resources and other transportation information to the entire community.

Lowcountry COG has partnered with the transit provider in the area, the Lowcountry Regional Transportation Authority (LRTA, which operates as Palmetto Breeze), to carry out the operational aspects of this project.  Since a key objective of this grant program is to utilize technology to improve and expand service delivery, the project partners will use a significant portion of the VTCLI grant to install mobile data terminals in regional transit vehicles to implement automatic vehicle location capability, and create a website portal that can be accessed by transit customers.

The Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative Project, as carried out by the Lowcountry COG and Palmetto Breeze, will operate in Beaufort, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper Counties.

Also a copy of this press release and other pertinent information is available for public review and comment on the world web at:

http://www.scdot.org/inside/public_comment.shtml