The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently awarded a $59 million Multimodal Project Discretionary grant for the Improving Tribal Highway Mobility and Safety (ITHMAS) project to the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) in partnership with the Navajo Nation and the Navajo Department of Transportation.
The ITHMAS project will improve approximately 21 miles of US 64 located within the Navajo Nation in the extreme northwest corner of the state.
Work includes reconstructing approximately 50 corrugated metal culverts to improve drainage, replacing four bridges, replacing a 25-five-foot multiplate structure, increasing lanes to 12 feet in each direction, improved bus pull outs, an improved sub-base and asphalt overlay, five to eight-foot paved shoulders, rumble strips, improved lighting, pedestrian crossing, and turn lanes.
The new bridges will have six to eight-foot shoulders.
USDOT evaluated applications for multiple criteria including cost-effectiveness, project readiness, and whether the project supported critical goals. Goals include enhancing safety, increasing mobility and reliability, improving resiliency, and restoring infrastructure.
The agency awarded 18 grants nationwide totaling $645.3 million. The grants support transportation projects that increase mobility, improve safety, and generate regional economic growth in rural communities.
USDOT previously awarded the ITHMAS project a $25 million RAISE grant.
Rural roads have a disproportionally high rate of fatalities.