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Sacramento-Area Agency Gets Federal Funding for Modernization

A transit agency that serves two counties has been awarded millions to help it convert to a zero-emissions bus fleet and build a new facility.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced Thursday that the Biden administration has awarded $15 million to a project in the Yuba-Sutter area that will help facilitate the conversion to a zero-emission bus fleet.

In July 2021, Yuba-Sutter Transit announced that it had purchased a 19.7-acre property at 6035 Avondale Ave. in Linda to be the site of its new zero-emission bus facility, the Appeal previously reported. The agency has committed to the 100 percent conversion to zero-emission buses by 2035. In addition, a Highway 70 roadway and streets project was expected to impact the existing facility, which contributed to the reasoning for the agency to relocate.

According to a document from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the project “modernizes and expands zero-emissions bus infrastructure. The new transit facility will also have capacity for solar power generation to meet the zero-emission bus fleet energy needs, charging infrastructure installation and micromobility services.”

Last fall, the estimated cost of the entire project including design, construction and equipment was $42.5 million, according to Yuba-Sutter Transit Executive Director Keith Martin.

The $15 million that Yuba-Sutter Transit is set to receive is part of the $119.6 million that has been allocated to help support eight projects in California from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program. This program is intended to assist projects that “modernize roads, bridges, transit, rail, ports and intermodal transportation” and make transportation systems safer and more accessible, affordable and sustainable.

“The RAISE program is one of several ways communities can secure funding for projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law's competitive grant programs,” officials with the U.S. Department of Transportation said in a statement. “Later this year, the Biden-Harris administration will announce recipients of the first-ever National Infrastructure Project Assistance (MEGA) program, as well as the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program and the Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program (RURAL).”

Funds became available for this and other programs thanks in part to the passing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which according to the Biden administration was a “once-in-a-generation investment in our nation’s infrastructure and competitiveness.”

After moving through the U.S. House and Senate, the law was signed by President Joe Biden on Nov. 15, 2021. While the act did receive some bipartisan support, House lawmakers such as Republican Doug LaMalfa, U.S. Representative for California's 1st Congressional District, voted against the bill.

Overall, the act passed mostly along party lines in the House with a 228-206 vote and with broader support in the Senate with a vote of 69-30.

© 2022 the Appeal-Democrat (Marysville, Calif.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.