The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) today announced the immediate availability of $1.3 million in Emergency Relief funds for use by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) as a down payment to offset cost of repair work needed to repair roads and bridges damaged by heavy floods in North Central and Northeastern Idaho earlier this year.

Today’s funding announcement is in addition to the $3 million in “quick release” Emergency Relief funds FHWA provided in July to the ITD immediately following the initial flooding.

“This emergency funding will help Idaho rebuild critical roads and bridges damaged by flooding as quickly as possible,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“The Federal Highway Administration has been working closely with the Idaho Transportation Department as it assesses damage and undertakes projects to repair roads affected by heavy rain events this year,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Stephanie Pollack. “We will keep assisting the state as they restore critical transportation links in the coming weeks and prepare for future events.”

See related articles: EPA Announces $79 Million Investment from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Protect and Restore the Columbia River Basin, U.S. Department of Transportation Provides $65 Million in ‘Quick Release’ Emergency Relief Funding to Repair Flood Damage in Yellowstone National Park, Montana and Wyoming

Heavy rains, followed by runoff and flooding, caused significant damage to roads in Nez Perce and Idaho counties. Idaho Governor Brad Little issued a disaster declaration on June 22 to assist with response and repair efforts.

The funding announced today adds to the more than $73 million FHWA has provided this year to the Idaho Transportation Department, the Montana Department of Transportation, the Wyoming Department of Transportation, the U.S. Department of Interior’s National Park Service for Yellowstone National Park, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service for Custer Gallatin National Forest.

FHWA’s Emergency Relief program provides funding to States, territories, Tribes, and Federal Land Management Agencies for highways and bridges damaged by natural disasters or catastrophic events. “Quick release” Emergency Relief funds are considered initial installments of funds toward restoring essential transportation links.

The FHWA Emergency Relief program complements Bipartisan Infrastructure Law programs and provisions by encouraging agencies to identify and implement measures to incorporate resilience in the design, restoration and repair of damaged infrastructure, to better withstand future damage from climate change and future weather events. FHWA is also updating its ER Manual to spotlight the program’s impact on improvements to system resilience and the equity of infrastructure spending.

More information about FHWA’s Emergency Relief program can be found online at https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/erelief.cfm.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation