Senator
Bewley: Governor Evers’ Announcement of $75 Million in Local
Transportation Grants is Great News for
Northern
Wisconsin
|
16
projects will bolster safety and economic development across the 25th
Senate District
|
DELTA
— Senator Bewley welcomed Governor Evers’ announcement today that
communities in Northern Wisconsin from Turtle Lake in Barron County to Minong
to Port Wing and back down to the Town of Lake in Price County are set to
receive grants from the Multimodal Local Supplement (MLS) award program. The
MLS is a one-time $75 million funding program for local transportation
projects. District-wide, 8 towns, 4 cities and villages, and 4 counties will
receive funding from the program. Nearly $7.5 million dollars -
$7,467,250.04, to be exact - of the allotted $75 million will fund 16
projects across 7 counties in the 25th State Senate District.
In making the
announcement, the Governor noted how we can all agree that we need to fix our
crumbling roads. “I am so pleased that almost ten-percent of the grant money
is going towards Northern Wisconsin roads,” said Senator Bewley. “I have
stressed over the years that the roads in the 25th Senate District
are frequently in need of repair and restoration due to erosion during the
exceptionally harsh winters and flooding in our region of the state – this
grant money will certainly help to mitigate the deterioration concerns.”
The MLS program
is designed to prioritize the transportation needs of local communities.
Towns, municipalities and counties are recommended to submit projects to the
program that can range from roads and bridges to harbors and railroads. Over
1,600 applications for local projects were received, largely for road
repairs. In January and February, three separate committees comprised of
local representatives from counties, cities, villages and towns met to review
the applications. The committees narrowed down the list of applications to
award 152 projects grant money spanning across almost every county in
Wisconsin.
Work is expected
to start shortly on these selected projects. A map of approved projects is
available here and a full list
of the projects selected is available on the WisDOT website here.
The Governor's
biennial budget invested more than $465 million in new funding for
highways, local roads, and transit aids, including $320 million to go
directly to state highway rehabilitation. Additionally, the Governor's budget
provided a 10 percent increase in generation transportation aids, paratransit
aid, and tribal elderly transportation aid, while also providing an
inflationary bump to mass transit aids for the first time in years. This was
all accomplished while keeping bonding at the lowest level in 20 years.
|
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)