These routes carry 22.7% of the country’s daily interstate travel. Chosen from 38 applications, DOT explains the funding awards are aimed at developing innovative national and regional approaches to reduce congestion and improve efficiency of freight delivery.
In all, $65.9 million will be allocated to develop and attract public-private partnership to manage congestion and add capacity. Here, from DOT, are some details on the projects:
• $ 21.8 million to the I-95 Corridor Coalition and the Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia DOTs. The 5 states propose reconstruction and expansion of a 1,054-mile stretch of I-95 from Florida to Washington, D.C. that will accommodate future demand, safety, and reliability. The projects offer potential for moderate to significant congestion reduction and mobility improvements. Included are Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) enhancements to optimize traffic operations along the corridor.
• $5 million to the Indiana DOT in partnership with the Missouri, Illinois and Ohio DOTs. This project proposes dedicated and segregated truck lanes along I-70 from the Interstate 435 beltway on the eastern part of Kansas City, MO to the Ohio/West Virginia border near Bridgeport, OH/Wheeling, WV.
• $15 million to The Western States Coalition—Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah—for passenger and freight movement improvements to the I-15 corridor from San Diego, CA at the junction of Interstate 5 through to Salt Lake City, UT.
• $15 million to the California, Oregon, and Washington State DOTs for infrastructure improvements to I-5 from the US border with Canada, through the states of Washington, Oregon, and California, to the US border with Mexico. The project consists of three state reports that describe individual State corridor development priorities and approaches to improving I-5. ITS improvements and an Alternative Fuels Corridor are included.
• $8.6 million to the National I-10 Freight Corridor Coalition—including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida—for establishing a template ITS architecture as a first step in solving congestion issues along the 2,600-mile corridor. Other matters are widening, truck/auto separation, a multi-modal rail corridor, waterway corridor, an urban truck bypass and truck productivity. Also targeted are various bottlenecks along the I-10 corridor and included are operational ITS and infrastructure improvements to create efficient coast-to-coast movement.
• $800,000 to the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department on behalf of the Interstate 69 Steering Committee—including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan—for an innovative financing study. The 2,680-mile international and interstate trade corridor extends from Mexico to Canada. From the Mexican border to Indianapolis, IN, the proposed corridor would be built on a new location for about 1,660 miles.
