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McKenzie was awarded $250 thousand in grant funding to resurface portions of Sellers Street, North Garland Road, and Main Street as part of the more than $5.1 million awarded statewide for city and county road and bridge construction.

McKenzie mayor said the funds generated by gasoline tax dollars were vital to the town’s road maintenance projects.

“I would like to thank Governor Ivey and all those involved in working with these grants,’ Odom said. “I think this is a great use of our tax money. Without it, neither could our state, county, or towns move forward to maintain their roads at the costs of maintaining them today. I think this is a very smart tax and it is being used wisely.”

Governor Kay Ivey announced the awards on April 5. The funding is made available through the Annual Grant Program under the Rebuild Alabama Act.

“Just recently, we marked the fourth anniversary of Rebuild Alabama, and it has continued to show it produces nothing less than real, tangible results,” Ivey said in a recent press release. “With this grant, 21 new projects will be underway and under development, ready to benefit folks in all corners of the state. I’m proud of Rebuild Alabama’s success, and I look forward to seeing it improve such critical infrastructure. Alabama’s roads and bridges are making substantial progress, and we look forward to this continuing.”

Cities and counties contributed a total of over $2.9 million in local matching funds for some of the awarded projects. Matching funds were not required to be eligible for the awards and McKenzie’s grant did not require matching funds.

Ivey expects many projects will begin by the end of this year and all projects must move forward within one year of funding awards.

Odom said the town applied for funding for highly traveled areas of town.

“All these areas are highly traveled,” Odom said. “We had to do all the footwork before we could apply. What we are trying to do is get the most traveled roads resurfaced first and we will continue to apply for grants for secondary roads and the arteries coming into those,” Odom said.”

This round of funding completes more than $145 million in state transportation dollars awarded through the local grant programs created by the Rebuild Alabama Act. Projects have been awarded in all 67 counties.

For more information about the Annual Grant Program, visit the program’s dedicated webpage at https://www.dot.state.al.us/programs/RAAGrantProgram.html.