The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded nearly $98 million in loans for safety improvements on Interstate 81 in Virginia.
The funds will accelerate projects through the design and construction process, said Ken Slack, spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Staunton district.
“So there’s an indirect benefit to all projects in the program,” Slack said.
USDOT officials said in a news release that the department’s Build America Bureau has provided two low-interest loans totaling $97.6 million for improvements to I-81 to the Commonwealth Transportation Board, VDOT’s governing body.
The loans, one for up to $15 million and one for up to $82.6 million, enable VDOT to finance and expedite part of its $2.7 billion I-81 Capital Improvement Program, according to USDOT.
The project extends the acceleration and deceleration and merge and diverge areas at various access points along the interstate, according to USDOT. It also makes a number of improvements along the interstate in Roanoke County.
“The Department applauds Virginia’s efforts to improve safety and reduce delays along the I-81 corridor,” said Deputy Transportation Secretary Polly Trottenberg in a statement. “We know rural areas not only have a disproportionately high rate of car crashes — they also often lack the resources to make improvements, which is why the Rural Project Initiative is so important to our broader efforts to reverse the crisis of roadway deaths happening all over the country.”
According to USDOT, the Build America Bureau helps communities reduce the costs of infrastructure projects by providing Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loans, and other types of financing.
Its Rural Projects Initiative offers loans at half the U.S. Treasury rate and for nearly half the project costs, according to USDOT.
Slack said that state legislation in 2019 and 2020 created the I-81 Capital Improvement Program and Fund, developing funding streams and authorized issuance of bonds to support the program.
Delivery of the I-81 program of projects anticipated loan applications through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program, he said. Bonds and the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program allow VDOT to advance projects through debt financing.
A regional fuels tax funds the debt service payments, he said. The program also receives funding from the Interstate Operations and Enhancement Program.
In July 2021, VDOT submitted letters of interest for the USDOT loans for the capital improvement projects on the I-81 corridor, Slack said. The Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the loan arrangements in October; it entered the loan agreement with USDOT on Dec. 7.
Read More: USDOT announces nearly $98M in loans for I-81 projects | Nvdaily