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Mississippi Receives Additional $248 Million For New U.S. 90 Bridges, Ferry Service and Repairs to Hurricane-Damaged Roads
Mississippi will get $248 million in additional federal transportation funds
to rebuild hurricane-damaged highways, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman
Y. Mineta announced today. The additional money comes just six weeks after the
Department provided $740 million for the state’s road repair work, Mineta added.
Combined, the federal funds will pay for new U.S. 90 bridges over Biloxi Bay and
St. Louis Bay, which were wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, and provide ferry
service while the bridges are under construction. The funds also will cover
rebuilding U.S. 90 along the Mississippi coast and the cost of clearing debris
from highways immediately after the storm.
“Roads and bridges don’t get fixed on goodwill alone,” Secretary Mineta said,
“We are getting Mississippi the resources it needs to repair bridges, rebuild
roads and reopen this region as soon as possible.”
Mineta recently visited several Gulf Coast states to monitor the progress of
transportation projects under way since the 2005 hurricanes. While in
Mississippi, he inspected the repaired CSX train bridge and the devastated U.S.
90 bridge over St. Louis Bay from aboard a U.S. Coast Guard vessel.
Today’s funding is part of a $2.75 billion highway aid package for Gulf Coast
states requested by President Bush and approved by Congress at the end of last
year, according to Mineta. The Department provided $25 million last year,
raising the total Mississippi has received in the aftermath of Katrina to more
than $1 billion to repair or rebuild federally-supported highways and bridges.
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