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Santa Barbara County awarded $16 million for public transportation services projects

Mike Eliason

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. — Santa Barbara County received $16 million out of the $2.5 billion that the California State Transportation Agency announced it will fund towards 16 public transportation projects statewide.

CalSTA plans to expand the transit and passenger rail service, which includes Santa Barbara County.

The county is being awarded $16 million from the first of two rounds of funding announcements in the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program.

Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, who will receive the funding, are partnering up with the City of Goleta in order to complete the Goleta Train Depot Project and help address bluff erosion north of Gaviota State Beach.

The SBCAG and the City of Goleta are also partnering up with the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency.

Senator Monique Limón the new funding will "bring much-needed resources" and "strengthen infrastructure" in Santa Barbara County.

“This marks a historic moment that the state has been able to provide additional investments to support existing projects and I look forward to celebrating the completion of the Goleta Train Depot Project," said Senator Limón.

According to the SBCAG, it is the first time since the state program began in 2015 that supplemental funding has been provided towards existing projects.

The city of Goleta will see investment go towards their "Train Depot" project, aiming to construct new multi-modal train station at the existing AMTRAK platform on South La Patera Lane.

Executive director Marjie Kirn of the SBCAG says, the Goleta Train Depot project is a landmark project for the community.

“We look forward to celebrating the start of construction with the City of Goleta later this year,” said Kirn.

Santa Barbara County's latest funding is set to improve connections to bus transit, accommodate transit service to and from the Santa Barbara Airport and the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the addition of new bicycle and pedestrian facilities.

The SBCAG also said the funding allows accommodation for potential additional train storage to support increased passenger rail service.

The project also intends to increase rail ridership and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

All recipients part of the $2.5 billion in funding can be found here.

Article Topic Follows: Santa Barbara - South County
Gaviota State beach
goleta
train depot project

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