I-90 sign.
WASHINGTON (KELO.com) – The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) today announced it is proposing to award a $61.6 million Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) discretionary grant to the State of South Dakota to repair a critical highway corridor, improve safety and increase resilience.
This grant will also help the local economy and create jobs in South Dakota.
“These timely investments in our infrastructure will create jobs and support regional economies, while helping to spur innovation, confront climate change, and address inequities across the country,” said Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The INFRA grant will be awarded to South Dakota DOT to reconstruct approximately 28 miles of I-90 in McCook and Minnehaha Counties. The project will remove and replace the existing surface on the I-90 eastbound lanes and westbound lanes, rebuild nine functionally obsolete and structurally deficient structures, provide safety and operational enhancements, and add truck parking spaces at the westbound and eastbound rest areas.
The project supports economic vitality by rebuilding and improving a significant freight route that is nearing the end of useful life and will soon have inadequate safety facilities for truck movement. Reconstructing this segment to avoid expected detours and adding truck parking results in benefits for freight movement and enhances the state of good repair of the corridor.
The project includes innovative components such as fiber optic deployment and a new e-Construction process that will streamline project delivery. The project will also ensure the replacement bridges will be resilient to increasingly frequent flooding.
INFRA grants were selected based on several criteria. In addition to prioritizing projects that would improve local economies, create jobs, and meet all statutory requirements, for the first time in USDOT’s history, grants were considered by how they would address climate change, environmental justice, and racial equity.
Further, USDOT prioritized funding to rural areas to address historic underinvestment. Approximately 44% of proposed funding will be awarded to rural projects, which exceeded INFRA’s statutory requirement by 19%. INFRA projects were also rated on the extent that they applied innovative technology and whether they could deliver projects in a cost-effective manner.
Demand for INFRA grants far exceeded available funds. USDOT evaluated 157 eligible applications from 42 states, as well as Guam. Applicants collectively requested approximately $6.8 billion in grant funds—more than seven times the funding available.
As required under the FAST Act, Congress will have 60 days to review the Department’s proposed project awardees. After the 60-day review period, the Department is free to begin obligating funding.
The full list of proposed awards is on the Department of Transportation’s website: https://www.transportation.gov/buildamerica/financing/infra-grants/infra-2021-fact-sheets.
More information can be found on the Department’s INFRA site located at: www.transportation.gov/INFRA
(The USDOT contributed this report/news release.)
