Columbia and Marion County are among many Mississippi communities who will see a direct benefit from the BP oil spill settlement.
The Marion County Businessplex will be receiving $500,000 and the Columbia-Marion County Airport $250,000, the state legislature decided this week.
The state already has the money in hand, having received about $140 million in 2016, State Rep. Jeff Smith, R-Columbus, said during debate on the bill.
Also, the state will be getting additional payments of $40 million per year through 2033 that will go into two separate funds for infrastructure. One will be for six coastal counties, which will get 75 percent of those funds, and the other will go to the other 76 counties, who will get 25 percent of the funding.
Some projects of interest throughout South Mississippi include:
• Resurface Hardy Street in Hattiesburg from U.S. 49 East to West Pine Street, $400,000
• Repave 38th Avenue in Hattiesburg, $100,000
• Build a wastewater facility and/or roads at the Gateway Industrial Park in Pike County, $3 million
• Repave Leeville Road/Main Street in Petal from the Evelyn Gandy Parkway south to the city limits and repave Smithville Road, $750,000
• Build East Bank Access Road in Pascagoula, $2 million
• Develop North Rail Corridor project in Jackson County, $2 million
• Repair a sewer on Ramey Lane in Waynesboro, $500,000
• Road repairs in Long Beach, $1 million
• Wilkinson County bridge repair, $1.7 million
• Build the Cook Road Corridor project in Jackson and Harrison counties, $2 million
• Lincoln County road repairs, $500,000
• Brookhaven road repairs, $500,000
• Expand the Harrison County Law Enforcement Training Academy, $800,000
• Improve the U.S. 84 frontage road between S.R. 27 and Old Highway 27 in Monticello, $450,000
• Lamar County School District repairs necessitated by consolidation with Lumberton schools, $1 million
• Mississippi Children's Museum-Meridian, $2 million
• Replace Lower Myrick Road Bridge in Jones County, $380,000, and Ellisville - Tuckers Crossing Bridge, $1.2 million
• Resurface FZ Goss Road in Pearl River County, $525,000
• Replace I-59 overpass at 22nd Avenue in Meridian, $565,000
• Upgrade the town of Magnolia police and fire station, $500,000
