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NEWS AND STAFF REPORTS

The Bluegrass Community Action Partnership will receive more than 30 percent of $14.4 million in federal and state funds designed to improve public transit services in rural Kentucky counties.

Gov. Andy Beshear has announced 10 rural Kentucky transit agencies, which collectively serve 46 counties, have been approved for more than $11.5 million in Federal Transit Administration funding. The state is kicking in another $2.9 million.

The agencies will use the funding to modernize their bus and wheelchair van fleets and make other essential upgrades to facilities and equipment.

“Kentuckians deserve reliable and accessible buses and vans to get to and from work, school, church and more, and those opportunities should be available to every single community,” Beshear said. “This funding will help more rural agencies better serve the families who live there, creating a better quality of life for people across the Commonwealth.”

The funds will be used to purchase 42 transit vehicles, 12 of which will replace older vehicles. The other 30 vehicles represent expansions of service. Funding also will be used to build, repair or expand seven transit facilities and purchase transit equipment such as generators, laptops and software.

The Bluegrass Community Action Partnership will get $4.6 million of that pot to purchase 25 vans of varying configurations. BCAP, which serves residents of Lincoln, Boyle, Anderson, Casey, Franklin, Garrard, Jessamine, Mercer, Scott, Washington and Woodford counties, announced last month plans to expand services throughout Central Kentucky.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Office of Transportation Delivery administers the federal funding.

“These new buses, vans, equipment and upgraded facilities will improve safety, service and reliability, and at the same time cut maintenance costs for the local transit agencies,” said Transportation Secretary Jim Gray.

Other agencies, the counties they serve and funds to be received include:

• City of Maysville/Maysville Transit System – Mason County, $69,046.

• Daniel Boone Community Action Agency Inc. – Clay, Jackson, Lee, Owsley and Wolfe counties, $275,000.

• Harlan County Community Action Agency Inc. – Harlan County, $850,000.

• LKLP Community Action Council Inc. – Knott, Leslie, Letcher and Perry counties, $4.4 million.

• Licking Valley Community Action Program – Bracken, Fleming, Lewis, Mason and Robertson counties, $515,216.

• Murray County Transit Authority – Calloway County, $1.2 million.

• Paducah Transit Authority – Ballard, Graves, Marshall and McCracken counties, $66,000.

• Pennyrile Allied Community Services Inc. – Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden, Hopkins, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Muhlenberg, Todd and Trigg counties, $500,000.

• Sandy Valley Transportation Services Inc. – Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, Martin and Pike counties, $2 million.