The City of Hattiesburg will receive a $1.7 million economic development grant to rehabilitate and improve Lamar Boulevard’s drainage as part of the investment by Regions Bank to locate its mortgage loan headquarters along the road.
Dr. John Fleming, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the Economic Development Administration
Dr. John Fleming, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for the Economic Development Administration, made the announcement on Thursday, June 20, at the Regions facility.
Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker said, “The EDA’s mission is to provide matching grants across the 50 states and its possessions for economic development and job creation in distressed areas and communities hit by natural disasters.”
Fleming said the grant is part of the Trump administration’s 2018 Disaster Supplemental.
“It will be matched by $455,000 from the local community,” he said. “It will create or save 400 jobs and is worth $23 million in private investment.”
Barker talked about earlier travel along Lamar Boulevard. “It’s been its own saga for several years,” he said.
Mayor Toby Barker
“When we took office two years ago, there was no road more complained about than Lamar Boulevard,” Barker continued. “There were some less-than-stellar construction practices. However, with the new project, instead of the two drainage outlets at the end of the road, there will be 33 drainage outlets all the way up and down to get water off the road and prevent flooding.”
Barker said the city also was going to rebuild the road.
“Instead of six inches of base and two inches of asphalt, we are going to have 12 inches of lime and soil and six inches of asphalt on top of that,” he said. “You are going to have a road that will last. ... This a great story of collaboration because it took so many people to get it done.”
Total Roadway Project Cost is $2.48M. That breaks down into the following agency contributions below:
▪️EDA Grant Amount = $1.7M
▪️MDA DIP Grant Amount = $456K
▪️City of Hattiesburg = $324K