Most of the time, the Department of Transportation is in the news for their attempts to end distracted driving or provide educational material to states looking to improve highway safety in their area. But we can sometimes forget the important role the organization plays when storms like Hurricane Sandy wreak havoc on our nation’s roadways.
The DOT has made $13 million available to Rhode Island and New York– $3 million to the former, $10 million to the latter. These emergency relief funds will be used to improve bridges, tunnels, and roads that were compromised by Hurricane Sandy in the past few days. For Rhode Island, that means that seawalls that are vital to supporting roadways will receive repairs to ensure safety in the future, while for New York, highways that were adversely affected will receive necessary repairs.
Going even further, the Transportation Secretary also explained in a meeting with officials from 12 other states how they could gain access to similar emergency funding from the Federal Highway Administration. Certain regulations regarding commercial vehicles, such as hours of service regulations, will also be temporarily waived to further aid emergency relief efforts.
Improvements to infrastructure in the wake of a storm are absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of citizens, and being auto accident attorneys, we’re glad to see officials take step to make damaged roads safer for motorists.