WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., today praised the award of $15.4 million for infrastructure projects in Yazoo City, Tupelo, and Ripley. The three grants, which are specifically designed for local projects, were awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability & Equity (RAISE) grant program.

“These grants will help several important projects move forward across our state,” Wicker said. “Yazoo City will soon see a major investment in revitalizing their downtown, and both Tupelo and Ripley have secured support to begin planning to reduce congestion and improve quality of life in their communities. I look forward to working with the rest of our delegation to help more Mississippi communities secure support for infrastructure improvements like these.”

“Each of the proposals put forth by these cities offer great potential for improving the quality of life for their residents, through improved public safety, better infrastructure, and more economic opportunities,” Hyde-Smith said. “I am especially hopeful the large award to Yazoo City will result in a new vibrancy for the city, and look forward to progress on the Tupelo rail and Tanglefoot Trail extension projects.”

The three RAISE grants for Mississippi include:

• Yazoo City Main Street Revitalization Project (Yazoo City): $12,641,440 for the construction of a train station, development of a stormwater park, and street-level redevelopment that would include bike lanes, broadband, and stormwater management.
• Tupelo RAIL Improvements Program (Tupelo): $1,452,290 for engineering and planning work to construct a highway overpass at Eason Boulevard and Kansas City Southern Crossing; work to change the location of the switching operation away from the intersection at Main Street and Gloster Street; develop quiet zones; and install new safety features.
• Tanglefoot Trail Extension (Ripley): $1,400,000 for planning operations in regard to a potential 20-mile expansion of the Tanglefoot rail from New Albany to Ripley.

The RAISE Grant program is highly competitive, and is one of the few DOT discretionary programs for which regional and local governments can directly compete for multimodal transportation funding.  The program replaced the Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD) Transportation grants program and the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant program.