The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently provided the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) with $66.4 million in redistribution funds.
Redistributed funds are those FHWA allocated, but were not used by other states. The funds will be used to improve safety and road quality, and are not tied to a specific project.
“We could not be more pleased with this historic amount of funding that is being received,” WisDOT Secretary Dave Ross said. “I would like to thank the people at FHWA and the hard work that the team here at WisDOT have put in working together to arrive at this record level of funding.”
The $66.4 million is the most Wisconsin has ever received, but it is much less than the $341 million it requested.
The state had asked for the funds to offset the amount that would be needed to be borrowed to pay for ongoing road projects.
The state is two months late passing a budget because of an impasse over road funding.
Funds have been requested from FHWA for the repair of a bridge closed in Denham Springs on River Road near Hwy. 16. The bridge closed in August 2016 after a flood, and funds were requested last November.