West Central Michigan News

Sen. Curt VanderWall (R-Ludington) praised the Michigan Community Service Infrastructure Fund (CSIF) program for awarding Rose City, which is in Ogemaw County, a $125,000 road funding grant.

VanderWall said, according to MiSenateGOP, that the money will be spent on repairs to Page Street, with Rose City officials providing matching funds.

“It is vital we do what we can to maintain and improve our infrastructure, and this grant will help toward that end,” the senator said, according to MiSenateGOP. “Road improvements help the entire community.”

Sen. Curt VanderWall | #MiSenateGOP

Rose City, which is home to around 650 people, was among the 23 villages and cities across the state to receive a CSIF grant during the current fiscal year. Administered by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the CSIF is a stopgap program established by the Michigan Legislature in 2018 to help small communities finance their road projects.

Grant recipients were chosen because their projects were combined with planned infrastructure work, involved coordination with other road agencies, sought to prolong the usual life of the road and had no other funding resources.

VanderWall’s explained that the state’s Transportation Economic Development Fund provides monetary assistance to highway, road and street projects that are critical to the movement of people and products, as well as taking workers to their places of employment, materials to growers and manufacturers, and finished goods to shoppers.

“The mission of the Transportation Economic Development Fund is to enhance the ability of the state to compete in an international economy, to serve as a catalyst for economic growth of the state, and to improve the quality of life in the state,” MDOT says on its website. “The funds are available to state, county, and city road agencies for immediate highway needs relating to a variety of economic development issues.”