Mississippi has secured three competitive Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grants totaling $51.16 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The three grants will fund transportation improvements in the Jackson metropolitan area and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The largest award, $24.06 million, will go to the city of Brandon, just east of Jackson, for upgrades to roads, pedestrian walkways and intersections along U.S. Highway 80, including improvements at the College Street and Overby Street/State Route 471 intersections.
Brandon’s 1,333-acre East Metropolitan Center business and industrial park is experiencing significant growth, including a planned $6 billion AVAIO Digital data center campus and a recent $225 million investment by International Paper. The park is adjacent to Interstate 20, served by the Kansas City Southern rail line and located about three miles from Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport. Local officials say expanding nearby transportation corridors will help accommodate industrial growth while maintaining the city’s historic downtown.
The remaining two grants will support projects along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation secured $22.1 million to expand truck parking at the Interstate 10 Welcome Center in Hancock County, improving truck parking availability and freight movement along the interstate. The project will increase parking capacity from 20 to 74 truck spaces and add technology that helps drivers locate available parking. Officials expect the improvements to reduce the amount of time truckers spend searching for parking.
The city of D’Iberville will use $5 million to widen Mallett Road between Lamey Bridge Road and Daisy Vestry Road from three lanes to four, improve intersections and add safety features, including crosswalks. The corridor serves freight traffic as well as the growing number of visitors traveling along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
BUILD is a nationwide competitive grant program that supports transportation projects with significant local, regional and national impacts. Unlike traditional highway funding distributed by formula, BUILD awards are made through a competitive application process. Eligible projects include highways, bridges, freight corridors, ports, rail, transit and other multimodal transportation improvements. States, local governments, tribal governments, transit agencies and port authorities are among the entities eligible to apply.
Photo by Damian Entwistle from Nelson, Lancashire, England, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, from Wikimedia Commons
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