Biden administration awards $30 million for Watsonville-Cruz Multimodal Corridor program

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION-TV) -- One of nine nationally significant transportation projects in the U.S. just received a big boost in funding as part of the Mega Grant program's first year.

The Biden-Harris administration announced $30 million was awarded to the California Department of Transportation for the Watsonville-Cruz Multimodal Corridor program.

This is a portion of the $1.2 billion in funding being made available through the National Infrastructure Project Assistance (Mega) discretionary grant program.

The Department of Transportation calls State Route 1 in the Watsonville area a "critical corridor" and is the main link for people in the Watsonville area to places like Santa Cruz and even up to Highway 17 to the Silicon Valley and bay Area.

The actual grant will cover improvements on auxiliary lanes and shoulder access for buses traveling on State Route 1. It will also introduce new bicycle and pedestrian overcrossings as part of the New Coastal Rail Trail and the purchase of four new zero-emission buses.

For information on other programs approved for funding, click here