POLSON – This city is one of just two in Montana and 51 in the nation to receive a substantial Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant.
The grant will pay 75 percent of the more than $16 million in costs of a Lake County Transportation Connectivity Project to upgrade city and county streets and roads, including Skyline Drive on the south side.
Because of stormwater issues that also need to be addressed and additional grant funding that is being pursued, financing of the remainder of the project and just how the TIGER Grant funding will arrive has not yet been determined, according to Polson Mayor Pat DeVries.
Submitted last September, the $12 million U.S. Department of Transportation discretionary grant is part of a $1.5 billion allocation in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act signed into law in 2009.
While projects were selected on merit – ranging from bridge repairs in Oklahoma and South Carolina to port projects in Maine and Hawaii – 60 percent of the funding went to economically distressed areas.
More than 1,400 applications from 50 states, territories and the District of Columbia applied for funding and less than 4 percent of the requested projects received funding.
A project in Whitefish to make long-awaited street improvements received $3.5 million and was the only other in-state recipient.
The TIGER grants, which range from $4 million to over $100 million, are specifically intended to help grow and sustain the economy by the creating jobs, according to a Montana Department of Transportation news release.
In partnership with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Ronan and St. Ignatius, the entire project encompasses approximately 30 of the 70 miles in Lake County that lies along U.S. Highway 93 and will help provide funding for road paving and construction to provide better connectivity in the Mission valley.
The inter-governmental cooperation is important, DeVries said.
“The really cool thing is the way everybody pulled together to work to get that,” she added. “I hope to see more of that in the future.”
Specifically in Polson, Skyline Drive has been identified by the MDT in its safety management program as a risk because of its steep grades, sharp curves and narrow roadway and bridge. Long a dangerous and challenging road it has been made even more so by increased building and additional traffic in the area.
“I’m just delighted with it,” said DeVries. “Skyline Drive really needs to be done.”