DeKalb GA News

GA U.S. House District 4 issued the following announcement on Jan. 26. 

U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff and Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) are leading a new push to expand public transit across Georgia.  

Today they led the entire Georgia Democratic Congressional Delegation in urging the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) to maximize resources and funding through the bipartisan infrastructure law to boost public transit throughout Georgia. 

In their letter to Chairwoman Emily Dunn, the delegation urged GDOT to prioritize new funding opportunities in the bipartisan infrastructure bill to expand public transit, making it easier for people to get to the grocery store, work, school, and the doctor’s office — improving quality-of-life and increasing mobility. 

The bipartisan infrastructure bill created new flexibilities in existing funding programs for states to invest in public transit — but only if states choose to make those investments.  

“The [bipartisan infrastructure bill] is already delivering much-needed funds to our state,” the members wrote. “As a result of this flexibility and increased funding, GDOT potentially has hundreds of millions of dollars available annually for public transit … We strongly urge GDOT to invest these funds in public transit, which has the dual benefit of reducing emissions from transportation while also improving overall mobility.” 

The Delegation also called on GDOT to use their authority to put funding raised through the gas tax to expand public transit, which would introduce a new funding stream to expand transit.

Congressman Johnson, a senior member of the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, also introduced the Stronger Communities Through Better Transit Act (H.R. 3744) recently, which would provide $20 billion annually for four years ($80B total) to transit systems for their operating budgets. 

To read the full letter, click HERE.

Original source can be found here.