Legislation to create a $100 million transportation infrastructure fund passed unanimously through the House Appropriations Committee last week.

House Bill 267, sponsored by Rep. Courtenay Sprunger, R-Kalispell, aims to increase state access to federal transportation dollars for infrastructure projects. The bill is also a part of Gov. Greg Gianforte’s proposed budget. Known as the SAFER Act — the Securing Access to Federal Expenditures to Repair Montana Roads and Bridges Account Act — the bill allows the Montana Department of Transportation to put the $100 million toward as much as $800 million in available matching dollars from the federal government.

Projects will be completed as identified by the Transportation Commission, a group of five members who each represent one district for the state.

According to Larry Flynn, the chief financial officer for the state Department of Transportation, the fund likely would last eight years. That could lead to about three quarters of a billion dollars in available federal funding flowing into the state for various undertakings.

The bill is on its way to the House floor. A vote has not yet been scheduled.

– Daily Interlake, Jan. 31