Today Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush announced the Texas General Land Office (GLO) approved $1,632,148.07 in Hurricane Harvey disaster recovery grants for Bastrop County to improve roads as well as flood and drainage facilities at 118 sites throughout the county, benefiting more than 45,000 residents.
Bastrop County will make flood and drainage improvements at 38 locally prioritized sites. These improvement projects will include installing new storm sewer pipe, replacing storm sewer culverts, regrading roadside ditches, installing outfall ditches and inlet boxes, installing a bridge structure, providing fill and embankment work, adding topsoil, and performing associated pavement repair.
With these funds more than 50,000 linear feet of roadway improvements will be made at 80 locally selected sites across Bastrop County. Improvements will include reconstructing the driving surface, sub- grade, road base milling, applying asphalt, and striping of several streets. The county will also repair the Pony Express Drive bridge over Piney Creek.
Additionally, Bastrop County will conduct a planning study to inform future improvements to reduce flooding in the watershed between the City of Bastrop and the City of Smithville.
Texas GLO Hurricane Harvey Recovery Funds:
Commissioner George P. Bush and the Texas General Land Office was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to lead the historic Hurricane Harvey housing recovery efforts funded by $5.676 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The GLO allocated $413 million of the allocation for infrastructure projects to protect communities affected by the storm. The GLO allocated the funds to regional Council of Governments' (COGs) based on a HUD approved needs assessment. The locally-led COGs then conducted methods of distribution (MODs) for determining infrastructure and buyout and acquisition amounts for cities and counties within each jurisdiction. COG boards are comprised of officials from the impacted communities elected in part to prioritize funds allocated for recovery programs. The MOD process requires public engagement and the GLO reviewed each MOD for compliance with federal rules and requirements before approving each plan.
To review the approved MODs, please visit https://recovery.texas.gov/action-plans/hurricane-harvey/index.html.