Governor Jim Doyle has approved 17 grants totaling $2,345,699 for projects
that will help non-urbanized areas develop or expand public transportation.
The grants will provide incentives to expand existing rural public transit
systems, and to plan or start up new ones.
“Wisconsin is the only state in the nation to receive these federal funds to
develop new approaches to support public transportation in rural areas,”
said Governor Doyle. “This is the second of four funding cycles, and the
response has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Thirteen grants will go to local governments or Native American Tribes to
expand existing services or start new ones. Four grants will go to local
governments for planning activities. For example, La Crosse County will
establish a transit service and expand a shared ride taxi program. Grant
County will expand the Grant County Taxi service into Dodgeville, Mineral
Point and Darlington, in Iowa and Lafayette counties. And Vernon County
will hire a mobility manager, conduct a marketing campaign and develop a
countywide volunteer driver program.
Eligible applicants include local governments, transit commissions, regional
planning commissions, and tribal governments. In the first round of grants,
awarded in January 2007, 16 projects received $1.16 million in funding. The
third grant cycle will be announced in late spring of 2008.
The federal funds, administered by the Wisconsin Department of
Transportation, come from the Supplemental Transportation Rural Assistance
Program (STRAP).
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NOTE: The list of names of grant recipients, project contacts, award
amounts and descriptions of projects is available on the Web along with this
document at <
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