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More Than 200 Indiana Communities Receive Road Funding Grants

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More than 200 Hoosier communities are getting road funding dollars from the state in this year’s “Community Crossings” program.

The state announced the awards Tuesday.

Indiana first awarded the local road funding grants in 2016. Larger counties, cities and towns must match 50 percent of the money the state sends, while smaller communities only have to come up with 25 percent.

Indiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Joe McGuinness says the grants – $126 million in total – can be transformative for local communities.

“All of those projects combined will mean 2,085 road segments will be upgraded and 11 bridges will be replaced or rehabbed,” McGuinness says.

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McGuinness says less road traffic – under the “Stay-At-Home” order – also means the state is moving up some major interstate construction projects.

Traffic on state roads has decreased about 40 percent on weekdays and more than 50 percent on weekends since the order took effect.

Contact Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

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Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.