$85.1M Kentucky grant nearly matches Florida’s for highway projects

Federal grants totaling $426,719,810 will support 12 transportation projects in 12 states, with Kentucky’s $85,133,660 award nearly matching Florida’s $85 million grant. The U.S. Department of Transportation described the investment as $426 million in its Oct. 1, 2026, announcement; the itemized amounts in its award fact sheets add up to $426,719,810.

The awards were made through the Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight & Highway Projects (INFRA) program. They fund a mix of work, including highway capacity projects, pavement resurfacing, interchange improvements and tunnel repairs. The amounts below are federal grant awards, not necessarily the projects’ total budgets.

Largest awards support a bypass and I-4 lanes

Kentucky’s grant is the largest listed. It will support the approximately eight-mile Somerset Northern Bypass in Pulaski County, planned as a four-lane highway. The project includes roadway design, right-of-way acquisition, utility relocations and interchanges at U.S. 27, KY 39 and KY 461/KY 80. USDOT says the grant is less than the amount requested and that the applicant confirmed nonfederal funds were available to deliver the full project.

Florida’s award will fund one additional general-use lane in each direction along approximately 20 miles of I-4, between State Road 434 and State Road 472 in Seminole and Volusia counties. The work also includes resurfacing and restriping, plus upgrades to intelligent transportation systems, fiber and drainage.

Mississippi’s grant supports an approximately three-mile section of the I-55/I-69 corridor planned to grow from four lanes to 10, with three travel lanes added in each direction and two interchanges modified. In Kansas, the award supports widening about 2.5 miles of K-96 from four lanes to six.

Other grants cover resurfacing, bridges and freight access

California’s award will help convert an approximately two-mile, four-lane stretch of State Route 71 between I-10 and Mission Boulevard into an eight-lane freeway. The plan adds one high-occupancy-vehicle lane and one mixed-flow lane in each direction, as well as auxiliary lanes between Mission Boulevard and Valley Boulevard. It also includes two bridge reconstructions, soundwalls and an ADA-compliant pedestrian overcrossing.

Maine’s grant will support resurfacing approximately 44 miles of I-295 between Topsham and Portland. Other projects include the I-70 Cypress Interchange in Missouri, Louisiana’s Kaliste Saloom Interchange, Georgia’s Project DeRenne and Oklahoma’s 24th Avenue NE. New Jersey’s Cumberland Freight Access project includes about 1.35 miles of roadway extension. Wyoming’s I-80 Green River Tunnels project has the smallest award in the group.

USDOT presents safety, congestion and freight improvements as expected or projected benefits of the projects; those are aims, not measured results after construction. The award materials do not give construction start dates or completion deadlines, so the grant announcement alone does not establish when work will begin or finish.