“We will continue to move quickly to get money out the door to get dirt moving,” Duffy said. (photovs/Getty Images)
Truck parking and multimodal projects ranked among 30 infrastructure grants totaling $488 million awarded July 15 by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to improve travel safety and bolster the economy.
“From making families safer on our roads to expanding our ports, these grant selections reflect our commitment to unleashing America’s full potential with envy-of-the-world infrastructure,” Duffy noted. “We will continue to move quickly to get money out the door to get dirt moving.”
His announcement noted 77% of the funds were allocated to roads and bridges “to reinforce the arteries of the American economy” while $35 million went to port improvements. Multimodal surface transportation projects garnered $3 million.
The West Virginia Division of Highways was awarded some $24.8 million to expand interstate truck parking along Interstate 81, I-64, and I-79 in Berkeley, Cabell and Monongalia counties.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) emphasized the importance of the truck parking project to her state. Chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, she wrote a letter supporting WVDOT’s grant application asking for help to add truck parking capacity to three facilities.
“Efforts to upgrade facilities along West Virginia portions of major interstates will enhance the safety of our drivers, support the regional and national movement of goods and encourage economic investments across our state,” Capito said.
According to a “Truck Parking Profile” subsection of a November 2023 “West Virginia State Freight Plan,” the state had 1,860 truck parking places in its 60 public and commercial truck parking facilities. The report revealed that truck parking places along I-81 “are all overutilized” with drivers often having to rely on Walmart parking lots to rest, and “I-64 and I-79 are near full utilization at peak hours.”
The truck parking project received the large grant from the DOT’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) grant program, which funds surface transportation infrastructure initiatives with significant local or regional public importance. West Virginia’s federal grant will cover 70% of the estimated $35.5 million cost.
The BUILD projects received federal dollars to pay for capital or planning projects in rural and urban areas. Twenty-five other states were BUILD grant recipients.
Snohomish County in Washington state was granted $2 million for its Everett Intermodal Yard and Curve Improvements project. Part of the funds will pay for constructing 13,000 feet of new mainline track and reconfiguring the former mainline into yard storage tracks.
(Snohomish County Government)
U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) reacted to the grant award: “In northwest Washington state, infrastructure means jobs. I will continue to support federal investments in roads, bridges, highways and transit in our region that relieve congestion, improve safety and spur economic growth in local communities.”
In Pennsylvania, the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority will receive $25 million to revamp the Bristol port by building a 1,100-foot dock, modernizing offloading equipment, dredging 70,000 cubic yards of material and integrating upgraded rail systems.
The city of Cleveland will receive $900,000 to develop plans and designs for a modern, centralized transportation hub on the downtown lakefront and assess intermodal freight movement to establish dedicated connectivity between the Port of Cleveland’s General Cargo Terminal and the regional interstate system.
In North Dakota, Ward County will receive $4 million for “Minot’s Accessible, Growth-Driving Intermodal Connector” (MAGIC) project to improve travel along U.S. highways 2, 52 and 83.
