U.S. Senator Susan Collins, ranking member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, today announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded more than $3 million in competitive grant funding to the Maine Department of Transportation for statewide public transportation improvements.The funding will be distributed as follows:
-- $640,000 to South Portland: This funding will be used by the city of South Portland to replace aging public transportation vehicles.
-- $77,978 to Hancock County: This funding will be used by The Washington-Hancock Community Agency Pilot Project, serving the City of Ellsworth and the Hancock County region, to acquire vehicles to provide public transportation service to low-income housing projects to get people to jobs in rural areas.
-- $1,219,000 to Sanford: This funding will support the Sanford Transportation Center Project. The Sanford Transportation Center will serve as an intermodal hub for public transportation and intercity bus riders, and will link to proposed park-and-ride facilities. A centerpiece Sanford's plan for redeveloping Brownfield sites in the Mid-Town/Mill Yard area, the transportation center will act as a hub for the areas served by the York County Community Action Corporation, a non-profit corporation that provides paratransit and local transit services to all of York County.
-- $1,148,000 to Portland: This funding will be used by the Portland METRO Bus Service to make significant upgrades to its transit facilities and purchase equipment for its bus service operations.
-- TOTAL FUNDING ALLOCATED TO MAINE DOT: $3,084,978
