LaHood, Strickland See Stimulus Dollars At Work

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Governor Ted Strickland accompanied U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood on a tour of a COTA facility built with federal stimulus dollars.

Officials saw American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds at work Tuesday.

Both COTA facilities, Fields Avenue Fixed-Route Facility and new Paratransit Facility, have utilized part of the $16,084,800 total ARRA funds delegated to COTA through the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

COTA’s Fields Avenue Facility, 1333 Fields Ave., is utilizing $5 million of COTA’s ARRA funds to assist with the $20 million facility renovation.

COTA’s Fields Avenue Facility serves as a service station for the bus fleet.

COTA’s new Paratransit Facility, 1330 Fields Ave., is estimated to cost $23.8 million and will utilize $4.2 million of the federal funds.

COTA is the regional transit provider for greater Columbus and Central Ohio. With a service area of 1.2 million residents, COTA provided 16 million passenger trips in 2008.

Mayor Michael Coleman and U.S. Representative Mary Jo Kilroy also toured with Strickland and LaHood.

An ongoing service expansion program, began in 2007, includes expanding service by 10 percent annually, the development of new Park and Ride facilities and the modernization of its bus fleet and operations facilities.

For more information about COTA, go to http://www.cota.com or call 614-228-1776.

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