Transportation Commission awards development grants

The State Transportation Commission has approved a half-dozen grants worth nearly one million dollars designed to spur business development in Iowa. D-O-T spokesman Tom Vaughan says five of the grants were for local development projects.The projects help open up access to industrial parks in hopes of generating new business. As an example, the commission approved a grant for paving a portion of a roadway to the Grinnell Industrial Park.The grant is for just over 150-thousand dollars. Dubuque also won a grant for 197-thousand dollars for a road project.Two other grants went to Waukee for 326-thousand dollars and Peosta for 191-thousand. Vaughan says the Commission also approved a 125-thousand dollar “immediate need” grant for Earlville in Delaware County.The grant will provide access to a new ethanol grant with the promise of creating 23 new jobs over the next two years. The Transportation Commission awarded the grants at their meeting yesterday in Ames.