Walworth County has been awarded two Bridge Improvement Grants (BIG) from the South Dakota Transportation Commission.
A total of $20 million was allocated through 24 grants to be used for preservation, rehabilitation and replacement of local government structures. Local governments are required to pay a minimum of 20% matching funds; and have four years to expend the grant award.
State Transportation Secretary Joel Jundt says the goal of the grant process is to enhance the overall condition of critical assets that South Dakotans are dependent upon every day. He says these structures provide the link that drives the interconnectedness of the state’s overall transportation system, while enhancing statewide economic development overall.
Other BIG recipients this round are:
City recipients: Dell Rapids (1)
County recipients: Buffalo (1), Clay (1), Davison (1), Deuel (2), Grant (1), Lincoln (3), Marshall (1), Minnehaha (3), Pennington (3), Perkins (1), Union (4), and Walworth (2).
Sixty-six applications, totaling $82 million in total project costs, were received by the South Dakota Department of Transportation. In total, four cities submitted three applications and 30 counties submitted 63 applications. In order to be eligible for a BIG grant, a county must impose a wheel tax. In addition, a county must have a County Highway and Bridge Improvement Plan to detail proposed county highway and bridge improvement projects within the county over the next five years.
Applications for the next round of the BIG program are due Aug. 1, 2024, for the Preliminary Engineering category. For more information, contact Doug Kinniburgh at 605-773-4284.
Each year, $7 million is dedicated from the license plate fees and from non-commercial vehicle fees. In addition, SDDOT annually sets aside $8 million per year of state highway funds, to make a total of $15 million available for BIG. This grant cycle, the Transportation Commission reallocated approximately $6.8 million from closed projects and awarded approximately $1.5 million in preliminary engineering grants last August, approximately $7.9 million in preservation grants, and approximately $11.9 million in replacement/rehabilitation grants for a total investment of $21.3 million.
To date, the BIG program has awarded $163 million in grants to local governments, including the allocations made this year.
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