The City of Meridian on Tuesday announced it had been awarded a $3.5 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant to cover planning and design of a project for North Hills Street.

The city first applied for the RAISE grant in February 2022 but was unsuccessful in securing the funds. Public Works Director David Hodge told council members Meridian had scored well on its application, but it wasn’t quite enough to make the cut. The U.S. Department of Transportation, which administers the RAISE grant, had more than 1,000 applications for approximately 200 projects worth of funding, he said.

In December 2022, the City Council approved an agreement with Neel-Schaffer, an engineering firm, to help the city beef up its application ahead of the February 2023 application window. Neel-Schaffer helped the City of Jackson in 2015 to secure a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grant, which is an earlier version of the RAISE grant.

The RAISE grant is intended to help cover the planning and design portion of a project on North Hills Street, which has become a major artery on the north side of town. The project, which is being billed as an overhaul, is set to restructure the busy road into a thoroughfare that can handle the high traffic volume.

In a news release announcing the award, the city said the design will include turn lanes, reconfiguring intersections, traffic signals and more. The project itself is estimated to cost $28 million.

“The $3.5 million grant for Meridian will support planning efforts for improvements along a nearly seven-mile section of North Hills Street between Mississippi Highway 19 and the city limits east of Mississippi Highway 39,” the city announced. “The project would include widening roads, adding pedestrian and bicycle facilities, creating turn lanes, reconfiguring and realigning existing intersections, installing traffic signals, rehabilitating the existing pavement and establishing retaining walls.”

Hodge has previously explained the planning grant will put Meridian in position to apply for a larger RAISE grant or other source of funding to cover the actual construction costs. Having the planning and design work completed, he said, opens up more avenues the city can explore to find the money.

In addition to the federal funding, Meridian was awarded $3.4 million by the state Legislature in April that was also earmarked for North Hills Street.