Feds designate $2M in emergency funds for damaged roads

The Department of Transportation is designating $2 million in federal funding for emergency repairs to roads in the northwest, the agency announced Tuesday.

{mosads}The emergency relief funds from the Federal Highway Administration will stabilize and repair roads that were damaged by heavy rains throughout Idaho, Oregon and Washington late last year.

“Thousands of drivers use these roads each year – especially during the heavy tourism months of summer,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. “We are committed to doing everything we can to help repair and reopen these routes quickly and safely, to support the well-being of the people and the economy in the Northwest U.S.”

Last December, heavy rain caused significant damage to federal roads in the Northwest, which resulted in mud- and rockslides, roadway erosion, bridge failures and closed routes. But cost estimates were delayed due to high levels of snow that fell right after the damage occurred.
 
The emergency funds will be released quickly, the department said, in an effort to speed up how quickly the impacted roadways will be reopened to traffic.