DOT Announces Availability of $128 Million In Emergengy Repair Funds
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters announced yesterday the
availability of more than $128 million in additional emergency relief
funds to pay for repairs to roads and bridges damaged by a variety of
natural and other emergencies.
"Natural disasters hit communities in the home, heart, and
pocketbook," Peters said. "By rebuilding crucial roads and highways,
these funds will help people to get back on the road and back to the
relief of normal, day-to-day life."
The funds will go to seven states and other federal facilities, like
parkways, to pay for damages caused by storms, floods, and earthquakes,
Peters said. In California, the funds will go toward the repair of an
interchange on I-580 in Oakland that collapsed because of a truck fire.
In Mississippi funds will go toward the repair of roads damaged by
Hurricane Katrina. The Federal Highway Administration will reimburse
the states for expenses associated with these emergency situations.
The emergency relief funds are part of an emergency appropriations
package in the amount of $871 million, signed into law by President
Bush in September 2005, to supplement FHWA's emergency relief program.
The current release of funds, in addition to $675 million provided
earlier this year, brings the total provided to more than $803 million
with the balance still available to states upon request.
For more information, including a complete listing of states, visit www.dot.gov.