The State Road & Tollway Authority (SRTA) announced on Tuesday that applications are open for up to $16 million in transportation loans and grants for local, regional and state governments and community improvement districts. The goal of the funding is to fast-track transportation infrastructure improvements and enhance mobility and economic development across the state.
The money will be distributed through the Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank (GTIB). Applications close on Jan. 14, 2025, and awards announcements are expected in June 2025.
SRTA handles financing and toll collection for transportation projects like the proposed express lanes along the northern portion of I-285. This $16 million program is focused on infrastructure needs in smaller communities.
Up to $2 million of the GTIB dollars can be allocated to help rural communities meet matching requirements for Federal Transportation Alternatives (TA) funding. For the first time in the program’s history, areas with a population of less than 5,000 are able to use GTIB awards along with TA funds to support bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
“By streamlining the application process and allowing smaller towns to combine GTIB and TA funding, we’re creating new opportunities for bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure projects,” Jannine Miller, executive director of SRTA and director of planning for the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), said in a press release.
Projects requesting grants of $2 million or more can receive up to 33% of the total value in GTIB funding, and there is no cap on grant or loan applications under $2 million.
The GTIB program is competitive, and recipients are chosen based on engineering value, economic impact and project feasibility. Providing local matching funds increases a project’s chances of receiving funding. Last year, SRTA awarded $16.9 million to five projects across the state.
GDOT is available to help small communities compete for the Federal TA funding program, which begins accepting applications in January 2024. SRTA and GDOT’s Local Maintenance & Improvements Grant (LMIG) funding can also be used as a match for TA funds and can be used to repay GTIB loans.
This will be the twelfth round of investments through GTIB, with funding allocated by the Georgia General Assembly. GTIB has provided $216 million in loans and grants for transportation infrastructure projects since 2010.
Projects that won GTIB loans and grants have increased access to downtown Woodstock, reduced repaving timelines in Pike County and improved commercial traffic routes in Pierce County, according to SRTA.
Roads are not ‘Transit’ and every study and experience has shown they do not decrease traffic but increase it. GDOT and this state has a history of hostility to mass transit that is killing us. The only ‘transit’ solution we are embracing are bike paths which do nothing for the elderly and handicapped. GDOT was called out by the federal government 2 decades ago for its culture of hostility to mass transit and that culture still has not changed. Our tax payer dollars are going to be 8 lane highways in rural Georgia that are empty.