The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) announced $30.1 million in grants as part of the Local Freight Impact Fund program that help counties and municipalities provide for the safe movement of large truck traffic.

"These Local Freight Impact Fund grants allow counties and municipalities to make critical improvements to truck routes that are essential to keeping our regional economy thriving," NJDOT Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said. "New Jersey roads and bridges carry a tremendous amount of commercial truck traffic every day and we are using funds generated through the gas tax to make sure our infrastructure can handle the load."

The Local Freight Impact Fund (LFIF) is a competitive $30.1 million program, which was created as part of Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) reauthorization in October 2016. This is the third year that grants have been made under this program.

NJDOT received 45 applications requesting more than $73.3 million for the FY2020 LFIF Program. Of the applications received, there are 17 grants being awarded. Those grants are being distributed to 10 municipalities and 6 counties, with one county receiving two grants. Of the 17 projects, there are two Truck Safety and Mobility projects, two New Construction projects and 13 Pavement Preservation projects.

Click here for a full list of project awards.

The program helps New Jersey's municipalities fund projects that emphasize and enhance the safe movement of large truck traffic, renew aging structures that carry large truck traffic, promote economic development, and support new transportation opportunities.

Under the program, projects that fall into four categories are eligible for funding: bridge preservation, new construction, pavement preservation, and truck safety and mobility. The grants are administered by the NJDOT Division of Local Aid and Economic Development. NJDOT staff evaluate projects using a variety of criteria including: existing conditions, overall traffic volume, percentage of large truck traffic, crash frequency, connectivity to freight nodes, among others.

This story also appears on Truck and Trailer Guide.

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