DOT RELEASES $3.3 MILLION FOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS IN MISS.
Senator Thad Cochran Secured Funds for Local Projects During FY2010 Budget Process
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has approved the released more than $3.3 million secured by U.S. Senator Thad Cochran last year for four transportation improvement projects in Mississippi.
The FHWA action frees federal Delta Region Transportation Development Program funding for projects in Cleveland, Jonestown, Jackson and Senatobia. Cochran, vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, worked to include the projects in the FY2010 appropriations bill that funded FHWA and other federal transportation programs.
“This federal funding is intended to aid community efforts to improve transportation infrastructure in ways that will improve safety and foster economic development,” Cochran said. “I am pleased the Department of Transportation has approved this funding, and I look forward to these resources being put to work.”
The FHWA funding is being awarded to the Mississippi Department of Transportation for the following projects:
- Statesman Boulevard and Trail, Delta State University-Cleveland -- $1,102,161 to support the construction of a boulevard and trail to university venues directly from Highway 8 as a means of alleviating traffic through residential areas
- Jonestown Bypass, Coahoma County -- $918,467 to support the construction of a one-mile, two-lane road connecting Jonestown with Highway 316
- Capitol Street Renovation Project, Jackson -- $844,990 to support a project to convert Capitol Street into a two-way thoroughfare that is also more pedestrian-friendly
- Interstate 55 Interchange Lighting, Senatobia -- $440,864 to support a full lighting project for the south Senatobia Interstate 55 interchange with State Road 740, including intersection lighting on SR740 between I-55 and U.S. Highway 51
These four projects, as well as funding for 17 other FHWA projects in Mississippi, were included in the FY2010 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that was signed into law last December.
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