Ohio Transportation Projects Awarded $42.7 Million in CMAQ Funding

The Northeast Ohio Area-wide Coordinating Agency is awarding $42.7 million for transportation projects that improve air quality and increase transportation choice in its five-county region (Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Medina counties). The projects will be funded with Congestion Mitigation/Air Quality (CMAQ) dollars between 2015 and 2020. Projects of interest to the NGV industry include transit vehicle replacement projects and a CNG fueling station to support the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA).

Eight regions in Ohio are eligible for statewide CMAQ funds: Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown. Under the Statewide CMAQ program established by the Ohio Department of Transportation in November 2012, all of the eight areas compete for the funding, which amounts to $57 million. “This region is one of many in the state that does not meet federal air quality standards, but it has the largest population of all the areas affected by poorer air quality,” says Grace Gallucci, NOACA executive director. “These projects will not only result in better air quality, but also offer choices in how people travel.”

The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) projects below will receive CMAQ funding:

• 2015 — $2.4 million to install CNG fueling dispensers in the fueling bay of GCRTA’s Hayden Bus Facility in East Cleveland
• 2017–2018 — $6.9 million to replace diesel buses with CNG buses
• 2018–2019 — $14.9 million to replace buses, trolleys, and rapid transit vehicles with CNG vehicles