The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) last week awarded a $4 million Buses and Bus Facilities Grant to the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA).

The grant was one of five Bus and Facilities grants awarded to Ohio transit authorities, totaling more than $32.6 million.

“This funding will assist GCRTA in moving forward with upgrades to facilities, and replacement of older buses that have reached the end of their useful life,” says, GCRTA general manager and CEO India Birdsong in a statement. “These critical improvements will increase safety and service reliability for the employees and customers we serve.”

One of the projects that will be addressed with the grant money is replacement of GCRTA’s  200,000-square-foot Hayden garage roof, where busses are stored adjacent to the Louis Stokes/Windemere Rapid Station in East Cleveland.

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown said the grant improve transit in Cleveland and the rest of the state, while also creating jobs in the region.

“Transit is all about the Dignity of Work – it creates jobs, it connects people to jobs, it reduces the cost of commuting, and it will help communities across Ohio grow and create opportunity,” said Brown in a statement. “Employers, entrepreneurs, and workers have all been asking for better transit— now we’re delivering by making major investments that will create good-paying American jobs that cannot be shipped overseas, and that will help Ohio communities thrive and grow.”