Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
The Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) has issued the first checks to Nebraska counties and first-class cities for road and street purposes since a change was made last year to the Federal Funds Purchase Program, increasing funding by $2.58 million. A total of
$23,214,183 was recently released to the cities and counties through the program.
The program, launched in 2013, allows the department to purchase the counties’ and first-class cities’ share of federal funds with state funds. Those state dollars allow local agencies the increased flexibility to tailor projects to better meet their local needs without navigating the federal regulatory framework.
Previously, the department purchased each dollar of federal funds with 80 cents of state highway funds, for an exchange rate of 80 percent. As a result of savings from project delivery efficiencies, a new purchase rate of 90 percent was approved by Governor Pete Ricketts and NDOR Director Kyle Schneweis last year, and the higher funding level has been paid out with the department’s recent annual purchase of federal funds.
“We are pleased to be able to increase the percentage this year and provide additional funding to our local government partners as we work together to address the needs of our state’s aging infrastructure system,” said NDOR Director Kyle Schneweis.
The additional funding will allow communities to facilitate the construction of expressways, roads and bridges while contributing to economic growth by supporting industry partners and businesses.
“This shows the continuing commitment of our state partners to insure that the counties have funds available for continuing needed bridge repairs,” said Timothy W. Nelsen, Chairman of the Otoe County Board of Commissioners and member of NDOR’s Innovation Task Force.
This increased funding for county and city roads, combined with the recent advancement of LB960, also known as the Transportation Innovation Act, provides the impetus to address some of these infrastructure needs and to help spur economic growth in Nebraska communities.
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