Projects in Cincinnati and neighboring Northern Kentucky will see millions of dollars in support from federal grants distributed by the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments.
OKI today announced 24 winners of the $41 million in federal Transportation Alternative and Surface Transportation Block Grants, including several in and around Cincinnati.
The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority will get $5,347,765 for clean diesel buses as part of a Smart Technologies Advancing Regional Transit Program the transit authority is launching. The money will be used to replace 40 buses in Metro’s aging fleet, and to institute new, high-tech ways of tracking the maintenance needs of the vehicles.
Another large federal grant will go to efforts to replace the Western Hills Viaduct. The roughly $330 million project to replace the crumbling, circa-1931 double-deck span will need funds from Cincinnati, Hamilton County and the state and federal governments. The project will get $6 million in grants awarded by OKI.
Cincinnati Red Bike also came up big, grabbing a $500,000 grant to establish 20 more bike share stations and 200 more bikes in and around the city. Some of those bikes will be e-bikes, according to Red Bike’s application.
A shared use path in west Covington along the Ohio River will get more than $700,000 in grants, and another shared use path in Dayton, Ky. will get $800,000.
“With unanimous support, the board of OKI has delivered a $41 million infrastructure package that will strengthen the eight-county region,” OKI Board President T.C. Rogers said in a statement. “Today’s awards are a meaningful investment in our multi- modal transportation network. These projects improve mobility and safety for drivers, transit riders, cyclistsand pedestrians. What’s more, they enhance quality of life.”
A number of other trail and pedestrian projects in the Greater Cincinnati region also received funding via the grants. See all the grant winners and more information about the projects here.
This article appears in Oct 10-17, 2018.
