Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) announced his support last week of the $20 million federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant recently awarded to Butler County.
The grant is a huge win, Metcalfe said, for increasing public safety as well as economic development and job creation. The funding will be used to complete infrastructure improvements along the Route 228 corridor.
“A safe and reliable transportation network is essential for expanding access to employment, social, health, and educational services for my constituents and others,” Metcalfe said. “Especially with the addition of the Shell Company’s ethane cracker plant in neighboring Beaver County, this successful BUILD grant is even more critical in helping to ease traffic congestion and expanding job creation opportunities across our rapidly growing region.”
The BUILD grant is awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation. It was created earlier this year to replace the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant program. The total funding available for 2018 was $1.5 billion.
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Philadelphia’s regional public transportation authority, was awarded a $15 million BUILD grant to help expand Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station.
Work includes widening platforms, creating a new head house at a stairway and installing new escalators and an elevator. It is scheduled to be completed next year.