09.17.09

Senate Passes Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill

Murkowski Secures Funding for Anchorage’s Abused Women’s Shelter -- Bill Includes $8.1 million for Alaska Projects

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate today approved a $122 billon Transportation and Urban Development Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010 that includes $200,000 for the Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis, or AWAIC, shelter in Anchorage, according to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who secured the AWAIC funding.

“This funding will help AWAIC make needed structural repairs to its facility so they can continue providing a safe haven for victims of domestic violence,” said Murkowski, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Murkowski today announced a total of $8.1 million in funding for Alaska projects in the Transportation and Urban Development bill.

“This funding will pay for a variety of vital roads and bridges, airport lighting and urban development projects across Alaska, ranging from municipal bridges and trestles replacement in Ketchikan to the relocation of a crisis center facility in Anchorage,” Murkowski said.

The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill provides funding for the following Alaska items:

• Denali Commission Transportation Programs -- $1 million

• Fairbanks North Star Borough Road and Bridge Improvements -- $1 million

• Juneau International Airport Medium Intensity Approach Lighting System with Runway Alignment Lights -- $1 million

• Matanuska-Susitna Borough Road and Bridge Improvements -- $1 million

• Multi-Disciplinary Combined Facility (governmental and health services in one building) for the Copper River Native Association -- $1 million

• Bristol Bay -- $1 million for infrastructure expansion at the Port of Bristol Bay

• Covenant House Alaska Crisis Center -- $500,000 for the relocation of a crisis center facility in Anchorage

• City of Ketchikan replacement and rehabilitation of municipal bridges and trestles -- $500,000

• Sitka Waterfront Development -- $500,000

• Anchorage Community Land Trust -- $400,000 for rehabilitation and renewal of key blighted property along Mountain View Drive

• Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis Domestic Violence Shelter in Anchorage -- $200,000 for infrastructure improvements.

The Senate bill must now be reconciled with a House version by a joint House-Senate conference committee.

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