June 1st, 2020 by WCBC Radio

Today, Gov. Jim Justice and West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) Secretary Byrd White awarded 38 Transportation Alternatives and Recreational Trails Program grants, worth $7,414,975 in total, for projects in 27 West Virginia counties.

The West Virginia Transportation Alternatives and Recreational Trails Program is administered by the WVDOT and funded by the Federal Highway Administration. These grants help towns and cities build and improve sidewalks, lighting, and rail trails.

“This is more than $7 million that is going to go toward making it easier for people all over West Virginia to get around and will also go toward making our beautiful park trails even better,” Gov. Justice said. “Even though we’ve been apart for awhile, we’re doing everything in our power to make our state’s transportation infrastructure better and better. And that’s exactly what this funding is going to do.”

“This funding is going to allow so many great projects to happen all over the state,” Sec. White said. “We’ll see a bunch of projects to make our sidewalks ADA-compliant so people of all abilities will be able to use our sidewalks, we are adding to our trail systems, it’s really just good for us all the way around and I really want to thank Governor Justice for his leadership and his commitment to transportation in West Virginia that’s making all of this possible. 

“Today, West Virginia has a total of over $3 billion-worth of transportation contracts in progress,” Sec. White continued. “Without Governor Justice, we wouldn’t have anywhere near that and I just thank him over and over again for all he’s done.”