The Wisconsin Department of Transportation recently issued more than $99 million to municipalities across the state to support a variety of local transportation projects — money that comprises second quarter General Transportation, Connecting Highway and Expressway Policing Aids payments for 2021.

"The work we do with local governments across the state keeps goods and services moving throughout Wisconsin," said Craig Thompson, secretary-designee of the Wisconsin DOT, in a statement — adding that funding for all local transportation programs makes up almost one-third of the state transportation budget.

"Cooperatively, we are committed to investing wisely and working hard together to come up with good transportation solutions that support economic development and our quality of life," he said.

The Wisconsin DOT noted that, for calendar year 2020, local governments received more than $505 million in general transportation aids or GTA financial assistance to support transportation related projects, a 10 percent increase over calendar year 2019 allocations.

The local assistance increase is part of more than $465 million in new funding for transportation projects included in Wisconsin's 2019-2020 state budget. In addition to the 10 percent GTA increase, the budget included $320 million in new funding for the State Highway Rehabilitation program and provided $90 million in one-time funding for the Local Roads Improvement Program-Supplement grant program.