State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne/Carbon, and state Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, announced that two Carbon County projects will receive over $700,000 in state funding through the state's Multimodal Transportation Fund Program.

The Multimodal Transportation Fund provides grants to encourage economic development and ensure that a safe and reliable system of transportation is available to the residents of the commonwealth."Passage of Act 89 created critical transportation dollars that fund not only large scale statewide job creation and economic development projects, but also important projects like the completion of Lime Street in Bowmanstown," Yudichak said."These projects will enhance public safety by shortening EMS response times and provide our first responders the opportunity to obtain required hours of training without traveling hours to other parts of the state. Our infrastructure is in desperate need of an update and I'm pleased to see these projects are receiving funds to be completed," said Heffley.The larger of the two local projects is receiving $494,636 in funding for the completion and connection of Lime Street, located in Bowmanstown Borough. Lime Street would connect the lower portion of Bowmanstown with the Meadowcrest subdivision, which is located on the east end of the borough.The subdivision contains approximately 100 homes with another 25 lots available for new home sites. The subdivision currently has just one access road. The completion of this project would most importantly offer a direct access road for emergency personnel to travel in case of an emergency and cut response time by 15-20 minutes to this area of the borough.The second project to receive funding will be the Carbon County Emergency Operations and Training Center access road improvement project. The county will receive $213,315 to upgrade the current access road (Emergency Lane) and make the road safer and more efficient for safety vehicles to travel on. The current access road is only one lane and not wide enough for the multiple vehicles that will use the new facilities.Yudichak and Heffley also announced that the Borough of Weatherly will receive $20,000 in state funding from the Department of Community and Economic Development Act 13 Greenways, Recreation, and Trails program."The Greenways, Recreation, and Trails program is designed to fund projects that will develop, rehabilitate, and improve our local parks, trails, and recreation areas," Yudichak said."Tourism is a valuable economical asset to the residents of Carbon County and is an important job creator in northeastern Pennsylvania.""The Rails to Trails project is a wonderful resource for our area. It is great to see fitness, recreation and tourism come together to provide opportunities for family fun," Heffley said. "It is important that we continue to expand our trail system to ensure that all Carbon County communities can access this wonderful resource."Weatherly will receive this funding to help complete a trail feasibility study. The borough plans to develop a five mile hiking/biking trail between the borough and the Lehigh Gorge State Park.The trail would create economic opportunities not only for the borough and its residents, but also for surrounding communities.