The Oregon Transportation Commission will fund 100 projects with federal grant dollars provided to Oregon under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Among them is a $465,224 allocation to the Sunset Empire Transportation District. The agency will use the funds to purchase equipment, among other priorities. The district is also seeking other grant funding to expand operations.
According to Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s office, statewide projects overall will create or sustain an estimated 3,276 jobs this summer.
"With unemployment exceeding 10 percent in Oregon, it is urgent that we utilize every tool available to us to preserve and create jobs, getting paychecks into workers hands as soon as possible," Kulongoski said.
The federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included approximately $334 million for transportation projects across the state.
"We received requests for more than five times the dollars available," said ODOT Director Matt Garrett. "The need for infrastructure investment is enormous."
Oregon will also apply for other stimulus transportation funding grants, such as for rail systems.