Although it had bipartisan support by local U.S. Representatives, Butler County failed to obtain a $68 million federal grant that commissioners would have used to widen the remainder of Route 228.

Commissioners Leslie Osche and Kim Geyer were disappointed on Thursday when U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced the 20 recipients of $856 million in Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant funds and Butler County did not appear on the list.

Osche said the county applied in February for a $68 million INFRA grant to widen Route 228 West from the Mars railroad bridge through Seven Fields.

In December, the county received a $20 million federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant to widen and straighten Route 228 West from Route 8 to Quality Gardens.

That grant was also awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Osche said she is not sure if the receipt of the BUILD grant had an effect on whether the county would be chosen for the INFRA funds.

“Possibly,” Osche said, “but no INFRA grants were awarded in Pennsylvania in this round.”

She praised the efforts of U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly, R-16th, Glenn Thompson, R-15th, and Conor Lamb, D-17th, who wrote Chao on Tuesday to support the county's application for the INFRA grant.

“Completing the Gateway 228 project means more jobs and better economic connectivity for Butler, Beaver and northern Allegheny counties,” Kelly said. “It will also improve safety, traffic, congestion and environmental issues while making Western Pennsylvania's infrastructure more suitable for the 21st century economy.”

Osche and Geyer said since all the work gathering information and data for the grant is complete, they will submit another application in the next INFRA funding round.

Osche was not sure when that would be.

“We are disappointed, but we're not going to stop here,” Osche said. “We already have done all the work for this, so we are going to continue and go back again.”

Geyer agreed.

“We are resilient. We are going to keep on fighting,” she said. “We are going to keep on advocating for Butler County.”