Augusta has been awarded a $1.7 million Investing in America infrastructure grant to redesign a transfer station for Augusta Transit.
Funds will go toward designing a replacement for the current transfer facility at 1546 Broad St., according to a statement. The landlocked, 33-year-old facility sits near the Augusta Canal and an active railroad crossing at the corner of Broad and Greene streets.
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The new design will incorporate intermodal accommodations, meaning users can switch from one mode such as a bus to another, such as a rideshare or cycling, as well as improve wayfinding and pedestrian and vehicle safety, according to a statement.
It will reduce climate impacts by accommodating clean energy vehicles and incorporating charging infrastructure, the statement said.
City staffers Daniel Evans and Oliver Page co-applied for the grant last year. The transfer facility was rated “marginal to poor” under Federal Transportation Administration standards, officials said at the time. The facility has doubled as a Southern Stages and Greyhound bus station since 2018.
The grant was expected to fund an analysis of the facility’s accessibility to employment, shopping, education and recreation, and it potentially could result in its move to a new location, Evans said.
The grant was among $29 million awarded for seven projects in Georgia from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity, or RAISE, discretionary grant program, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in the statement.
“After decades of under-investment, the condition of America’s infrastructure is now finally getting better instead of worse,” he said.
A key component of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the program seeks to rebuild critical infrastructure using American-made materials and creating good-paying jobs, it said.
The funding was split between urban and rural areas and a large percentage went to areas defined as historically disadvantaged or persistently impoverished.
Other Georgia grants awarded included $750,000 for a Camden County joint transportation plan, $1 million for pedestrian and vehicle safety improvements on a freight corridor in Fairburn, $1.5 million for multi-modal and streetscape upgrades in Dublin and $6.3 million for a Complete Streets revitalization project in LaFayette.
