WASHINGTON – Two bridges that link Arkansas to Mississippi will receive high-tech upgrades to improve highway flow between the states as well as barge traffic along the Mississippi River as part of a grant program announced Thursday.
The federal Department of Transportation has awarded $9.8 million to deploy “Intelligent Transportation Systems” improvements to the Helena Bridge that carries U.S. 49 and the Greenville Bridge that carries U.S. 82, as well as two other Mississippi River bridges linking Louisiana and Mississippi.
The Mississippi River bridge project is designed to improve safe operations of barges and reduce incidents of barge collisions with bridge piers. It will also include installation of dynamic messaging signs, vehicle detection devices, closed-circuit television and highway advisory radios to reduce travel delays.
The grants are part of a larger $551 million announcement of newly awarded TIGER grants that are heading to 33 states, which Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on Thursday.
DOT received 848 project applications seeking $14.3 billion, which LaHood said far exceeded the $551 billion available through the third round of TIGER grants.
“The overwhelming demand for these grants clearly shows that communities across the country can’t afford to wait any longer for Congress to put Americans to work building the transportation projects that are critical to our economic future,” LaHood said.
DOT accelerated the grant review process enabling LaHood to announce the awards ahead of the planned spring 2012 announcement. TIGER grants are awarded to transportation projects that have a significant national or regional impact, according to DOT.