DECATUR - U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, held a news conference Monday at the Senator Severns Transit Center to highlight $1,697,301 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will aid the city's transit system.

The money will be used to purchase four 35-foot biodiesel buses and two wheelchair lift vans and for renovation of the city's transit facilities.

Those federal stimulus funds allow reinvestment in the 17th Congressional District, Hare said.

The existing buses are old, purchased in 1993, and the new ones will be a lot more energy-efficient and user-friendly, he said.

City Manager Ryan McCrady said the stimulus money came at a critical time for the city. He said that because of the economic downturn, the city would not otherwise have had the revenue to buy the vehicles and upgrade its transit facilities.

City Mass Transit Administrator Paul McChancy said the funding actually was announced in February, but it took until August for the Federal Transportation Administration to approve the city spending the money.

The city council already has passed a resolution approving the purchase of the four buses and the two vans, whose total cost will be slightly more than $1.5 million.

There will be three facility improvement projects, McChancy said. About $150,000 will be used to remodel and improve the 30-year-old bus barn by replacing wiring, lighting and plumbing; about $30,000 will be used to install a water recycling system on the bus washer; and about $17,000 will be used to seal coat and repair the parking lot at the city's mass transit building at Wood Street and Industrial Court.

"We've ordered the vehicles, but it will take about a year for the buses to arrive, likely in July or August," McChancy said. "The supplier says the vans will be here in December."

ringram@herald-review.com|421-7973