Idaho governor signs $252M transportation funding bill
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Keith Ridler, Associated Press
BOISE (AP) — Idaho Gov. Brad Little has signed into law a $252 million transportation funding bill that includes $200 million to repair bridges.
The Republican governor signed the measure Wednesday that also includes $18 million to pay off previous transportation debt and $10 million for safe pedestrian crossings. The one-time money is enough to fix a third of deficient bridges.
“We cannot continue our record economic trajectory if our logging trucks can’t get across old bridges or we can’t get our farm products to market,” Little said in a statement released Thursday.
Little said he plans to sign in the coming days another bill with $200 million for road maintenance.
Little’s Leading Idaho plan, announced in January in his State of the State speech, calls for improving transportation infrastructure.
“I am unwilling to put Idahoans’ safety and the maintenance of our state’s roads and bridges at the whims of the feds,” Little said. “We must not look to Washington, D.C., to solve our problems. Leading Idaho means addressing our own state’s needs.”