The City of Madison received a $6.4 million grant to renovate their East Washington metro facility as part of the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Madison Director of Transportation Thomas Lynch said in an email.
If more infrastructure bill money should become available to Madison, the city is planning to use some of it to pay for 19 new electric buses that would run on its new Bus Rapid Transit project.
“This is not the only city in Wisconsin that will receive monies from the infrastructure bill — many cities will receive funding in a variety of transportation infrastructure initiatives,” Lynch said.
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Beyond the grant, the infrastructure bill nationally increases money for Amtrak trains, bridge construction and electric public buses by 561% — as well as increases public transit money by 63%, according to the Office of the Mayor.
The facility on East Washington Ave holds over half of Metro Transit’s bus maintenance bays, in addition to administrative and dispatch offices, locker rooms and bathrooms, according to a City of Madison Department of Transportation draft document summarizing the infrastructure bill.
The federal government will award the infrastructure bill’s money through competitive grants and formula allocations to cities and towns across the nation, according to the document.
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Given the new grants, the Madison Department of Transportation is pursuing “a variety of new grant funding programs aimed at street safety,” Lynch said.
Wisconsin Democrats praised the infrastructure bill, saying in a press release it will help Gov. Tony Evers’ work to rebuild Wisconsin roads, bridges, maintain the right to clean water and make public transportation more accessible.
