FEMA Funds Awarded for Improvements to Waianuenue Avenue Bridge

More than $1 million in federal funding is being allocated for work on the Waianuenue Avenue Bridge in Hilo.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawai‘i Democrat, announced Monday that the state will receive $1.5 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to improve the bridge and protect it from flooding and earthquakes.

“This new federal funding will modernize the Waianuenue Avenue Bridge, making it safer for local families to use and get where they need to go,” said Schatz, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing. “In addition to this funding, Hawai‘i is set to receive at least $2.8 billion from the new bipartisan infrastructure law to strengthen roads and bridges across the state.”

The modernized bridge will be designed to withstand earthquake forces and erosive forces of flood waters as established by current national standards.

The $1.5 million grant is funded through FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, which provides funding to state, local, tribal and territorial governments so they can rebuild in a way that reduces future disaster losses in their communities.