Tester Secures Nearly $850,000 to Bring Affordable Transportation to Missoula

Funding will complete detailed transit study with aim of bringing affordable transportation to disadvantaged Missoulians

U.S. Senator Jon Tester today announced $847,000 in Department of Transportation funding for the city of Missoula to complete a detailed planning study on the expansion of bus-rapid transit (BRT) in Midtown Missoula on Brooks Street to bring affordable transportation to Missoulians.

“As Missoula continues to grow, affordable and safe transportation has to grow with it for everyone who lives here,” said Tester. “These resources will bring potential transit opportunities to the heart of Missoula and ensure that folks can get to work or school safely and on time. This is great news for Missoula’s families and businesses, and I look forward to seeing the results of the study.”

Tester secured this funding through the Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) Appropriations Bill as a part of the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability & Equity (RAISE) program, and urged Department of Transportation Secretary Buttigieg to support the project in July 2021.

Funding will be used to complete a detailed planning study that will identify bi-directional, fixed-route, center-running bus-rapid transit (BRT) on Brooks Street, as a catalyst to foster transit-oriented development in Midtown Missoula. The project’s aim is to transform Brooks Street from an auto-centric, highway business strip into an economically vibrant, multi-modal corridor. The funding will be distributed through a RAISE Grant, which aims to improve infrastructure in rural areas with persistent poverty.

Tester has been a champion of improving Montana’s infrastructure, and President Biden recently signed his bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law, which will create more than 800,000 American jobs, lower costs, and allow us to maintain our advantage over China without raising taxes.. Among other things, this legislation will help to repair Montana’s crumbling roads and bridges, repair and rehabilitate the aging water systems, and connect the most rural parts of the state to high speed internet.