Thanks to a $100,000 National RTAP grant, Mitchell County Transportation will soon add a fixed route serving Spruce Pine. Mitchell’s project is one of 19 to be selected as a grant recipient. (Submitted photo)
SPRUCE PINE — Mitchell County Transportation Authority will soon add a fixed route in Spruce Pine thanks to a $100,000 grant from the National Rural Transit Assistance Community Rides Program.
MCTA Director Sheila Blalock said a start date for the Spruce Pine route will be announced later.
The fixed Spruce Pine route is one of 19 projects approved for grant funding this past month. The National RTAP review committee sifted through 76 applications requesting a total of $6,714,287 to reach its final list.
MCTA gets the maximum possible grant award from National RTAP’s first grant program. Community Rides Grants are for transportation partnerships that improve social detriments of health in rural and tribal communities.
Selected projects will improve access to critical needs and build the capacity of transit programs. Project results will be shared nationally as promising practices.
The award selections press release touts the Spruce Pine route as “a new fixed route in an area with only demand response during limited weekday hours.”
The release says the route will “increase mobility and access and help prevent people from having to walk long distances on a dangerous highway.”
National RTAP will share additional information about each selected project and publicize outcomes and lessons learned to benefit the rural and tribal transit industry nationally.