POLSON - After receiving $12 million dollars in grant money, Lake County has a long way to go before actually tearing up roads.

"I'll tell you, I'm just jacked about this," Lake County Commissioner Paddy Trusler said last Tuesday night at a public meeting to discuss the grant. "I'm real excited. The grant is a godsend."

Out of 1,400 applications, Lake County was picked for a Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery grant. Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that Lake County would receive $12 million in grant funding requested to upgrade roads and walk/bike paths in the county. Lake County was one of 51 approved grants and one of only two in Montana.

"If you were to tell me months ago when we started this that I would be standing here telling you that we were actually getting money, I would have thought you were nuts," Trusler said.

The feature project will be a complete rebuild of Skyline Drive between 17th Avenue East and Caffrey Road in Polson. Construction is estimated to start in late 2011. A bike and pedestrian pathway is also slated to move in next to the road, but will be separated to keep users safe.

Lake County Community Development, Polson, Ronan, St. Ignatius and Tribal leaders partnered together to come up with a proposal. Trusler said it was hard to keep all of the agencies focused as each had different suggestions on what projects needed to be prioritized.

"It was like herding cats, but we did it," he said.

The county has until May 2010 to sign a contract with Federal Highway Administration but wants to complete that task by April 15. Fifteen days later, the county hopes to have a contract with an engineering technical consultant nailed down so final budget and design information can be completed by September 30 of this year.

"If you think you're going to see tractors up there tearing things up tomorrow, you're wrong," Lake County Commissioner Bill Baron said.

On the estimated schedule, design and construction bids are expected to be completed by September 2011, with construction happening soon after, ending by June 2013.

"Any sooner than that is wishful thinking," Barron said.

The full $12 million dollars needs to be spent by 2016. With the strict deadlines, Baron is confident that each will be met on time.

"We are going to make these deadlines," he said.

The original plans called for $60 million dollars and, due to the steep decrease in awarded funds, projects have to be prioritized.

The result is that Trusler and company were forced to downsize the entire project while keeping the main focus on Skyline Drive.

Any funds that are left over will be used for other projects that have yet to be determined. One suggestion is adding bike and pedestrian pathways from the end of Caffrey Road to Highway 93, among other things.

"We haven't set a priority list but I know Main Street in Ronan will be high on that list," Barron said.

In order to start the other projects, Lake County doesn't have to wait for Skyline Drive to be completed.

Wanting to keep the community involved, Barron said the committee plans to hear from the public.

"This is a huge thing for the community and we want a lot of community comments as we go," he said.

There will be additional meetings relative to environmental review and design where residents will be able to ask questions and voice concerns on the project.

For more information on the project, visit www. lakecounty-mt.org or www.cityofpolson.com

Updates won't come during the first couple months but "once it's rolling, we will put up as much information up to keep it up to date," Barron said.