Nebraska Submits Five Roads Projects for Possible Federal Funding

(Lincoln, Neb.) Photo Gallery - Gov. Dave Heineman today announced that Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) will submit five projects for the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) discretionary grant. The grant is a competitive pool of funding included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

“Although this is a highly competitive grant, we are hopeful that with the support of our federal delegation these projects will be selected for funding,” Gov. Heineman said. “We hope to have these five projects funded as one package.”

The ARRA designated $1.5 billion nationwide which makes the selection process highly competitive.

Federal TIGER grant criteria stipulates that worthy projects must: show significant impact on a metropolitan area, a region or the nation; have an estimated cost of between $20 and $300 million; require no additional matching funds with priority given to projects requiring only a contribution of federal funds in order to complete the overall financing package; and have funds obligated by Sept. 30, 2011, and the project completed by Feb. 12, 2012.

Projects should also have national, regional or metropolitan significance; provide equitable geographic distribution; and represent an appropriate balance between urban and rural areas.

Nebraska’s potential projects for TIGER funding include:

• Expanding US-75 from a two-lane to a four-lane highway from Plattsmouth to Bellevue, including three interchanges in Cass and Sarpy Counties, and construction of four-lanes of US-34 to I-29 in Iowa. This includes the construction of a new bridge over the Missouri River, commonly referred to as the Bellevue Bridge. This is a combined project with Iowa; 
  
  
• Resurfacing I-80 from Roscoe to Paxton in Keith County;
  
  
• Expanding I-80 from a four-lane to a six-lane interstate between the 56th Street interchange and the Waverly interchange in Lancaster County;
  
  
• Expanding N-133, commonly called Blair High Road, from a two-lane to a four-lane highway, from the junction with N-36 north towards Blair for 5 miles in Douglas and Washington Counties;
  
  
• Expanding N-370 from a two-lane to a four-lane highway between Gretna and I-80 in Sarpy County.

Applications for the TIGER discretionary grant must be submitted by Sept. 15. The U.S. Department of Transportation expects to announce selected projects no later than Feb. 17, 2010.