On Wednesday, Governor Eric J. Holcomb and INDOT Commissioner Joe McGuinness announced 283 Indiana cities, towns and counties received a combined $100 million in state-matching funds for local road projects through the Next Level Roads: Community Crossings Initiative. Now in its third year, Community Crossings has awarded nearly $400 million in state matching funds to local governments for construction projects. In 2018, 444 communities applied for funds making this year’s call for projects highly competitive. State law requires annually that 50 percent of the available matching funds be awarded to communities within counties with a population of 50,000 or fewer. State lawmakers identified long-term funding for Community Crossings as part of House Enrolled Act 1002, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Holcomb in April 2017. Beginning in 2019, INDOT will make it more convenient for local communities to pursue Community Crossings grants by offering two calls for projects per year. Moving forward, INDOT will accept project applications in January and July each year, with a given community being eligible to apply for up to $1 million once per year during the call of their choice. The list of all communities receiving matching funds in 2018 is online at www.in.gov/indot/communitycrossings.