Biden admin awards $38M to Kansas infrastructure programs

KANSAS (KSNT) - The US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced Kansas is receiving $38,355,542 from RAISE grant funds to two infrastructure programs.

According to a press release from the US Department of Transportation (DOT), as it was last year, demand for Rebuilding American infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program funding was higher than available funds. DOT received $15 billion in requests with only $2.26 billion available.

Half of the RAISE funds in 2023 will go to rural areas and the other half will go to urban areas. The grants are part of President Joe Biden's Investing in America agenda, according to the DOT.

"Using the funds in President Biden’s infrastructure law, we are helping communities in every state across the country realize their visions for new infrastructure projects,” Buttigieg said. “This round of RAISE grants is helping create a new generation of good-paying jobs in rural and urban communities alike, with projects whose benefits will include improving safety, fighting climate change, advancing equity, strengthening our supply chain, and more.”  

The RAISE awardees in Kansas include:

• $21,250,660 for the Church Street Community Connectivity and Multimodal Enhancements Project in Eudora, KS.
  • The funds will be used to rebuild about one mile of Church Street from 20th Street to 28th Street; converting the existing two-lane road into a three-lane road with a center turn lane. Improvements will include roundabouts and stormwater infrastructure.
• $17,104,882 for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Road Repair and Rehabilitation Project within the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in rural northeast Kansas.
  • The funds will be used to repair about 27 miles of roads including cleaning and regrading ditches, replacing culverts, adding shoulders to roads and adding signage.