AASHTO Journal - FHWA Issues $108M in Infrastructure, Safety Grants

The Federal Highway Administration recently issued more than $108 million in grant awards via two programs for 85 projects aimed at improving transportation infrastructure as well as help reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries on federal and tribal lands.

[Above image by FHWA]

Those grants – totaling $88 million from the FHWA’s Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects or NSFLTP program along with $20.5 million from its Tribal Transportation Program Safety Fund – aim to improve roads, intersections, sidewalks, and bike paths for many tribal communities across the country.

They will also help improve mobility, access, and economic opportunity in dozens of tribal communities as well, noted Shailen Bhatt, FHWA administrator, in a statement.

The agency noted that of the five projects receiving grants via its NSFLTP program, two are overseen by state departments of transportation:

The North Carolina Department of Transportation received a $20 million grant on behalf of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Greater Rural Access and Highways to Accelerate Mobility project. As the grant recipient, NCDOT will use that funding to construct a 12-mile portion of Corridor K of the Appalachian Development.
Oregon Department of Transportation received an $11 million grant for the Reconnecting the Historic Columbia River Highway project in Hood River. As the grant recipient, the Oregon DOT will use that funding to complete a 37-year effort to restore and reconnect the 73-mile Historic Columbia River Highway and State Trail on behalf of the U.S. Forest Service, the project’s sponsor.