WASHINGTON — A $2,639,499 grant will help the Area Transportation Authority of North Central Pennsylvania build a transportation center in downtown Bradford, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., announced on Monday.

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation funding as part of the DOT’s Bus & Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program.

“Helping to strengthen infrastructure across Pennsylvania remains one of my key priorities,” Casey said. “I am pleased to see the Department of Transportation investing in our communities and am confident that this grant will help to make public transportation in north central Pennsylvania more efficient and reliable.”

The Bus & Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program makes federal resources available to states and direct recipients to replace, rehabilitate and purchase buses and related equipment and to construct bus-related facilities including technological changes or innovations to modify low or no emission vehicles or facilities.

ATA officials last year indicated it is interested in having seven transit centers in its region, and hubs similar that that proposed in Bradford have already been built in St. Marys and Punxsutawney. Other hubs have been proposed for the ATA-served communities of DuBois, Clearfield, Emporium and Coudersport.