The county's application for a $25 million federal Department of Transportation grant is complete and on its way to Washington.

The commissioners at their Wednesday meeting approved submitting the application for the federal Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development grant, which is a $1.5 billion pool of discretionary funds for transportation projects.

Commissioner Kim Geyer said the application included many letters from trucking companies, businesses, school districts and others that would be positively impacted if the county's main thoroughfares were improved.

Geyer said the commissioners contacted many businesses along Route 228 which use the highway for commerce. Business owners mainly talked about safety, congestion, small bridge closings for repair and the commodities they ship, she said.

“They wholeheartedly wanted to lend their support and share some of their experiences on that road,” Geyer said.

Organizations in the region, including those outside of the county, also hope the county receives the BUILD grant for transportation improvements.

“Last night, we unexpectedly received letters of support from the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Transportation Alliance,” Geyer said. “We're very grateful for their support.”

The commissioners said along Route 228 in the county are 11,618 businesses that ship $5.67 billion in commodities annually on the highway; 10,000-plus businesses on Route 8 ship $5.03 billion in commodities; Route 68 sees 9,200 businesses ship $5.67 billion; and more than 7,000 businesses on Route 422 ship $3.8 billion in commodities each year.

On Route 68, $8 million worth of those commodities are farm-related.

Those highways also carry scores of school children and elderly residents, Geyer said, and those vulnerable residents would be made safer if the highways were improved using the BUILD grant and other funding sources.

The commissioners decided to approve an additional $5 fee onto most county residents' vehicle registrations, which they did Wednesday.

The fee not only kicks in a $2 million state transportation grant, but improves the county's chances of having its BUILD grant application approved.

“We're demonstrating as a county that we are willing to put skin in the game to get our roads and bridges completed,” Geyer said last week.

No county residents attended Wednesday's meeting to oppose the $5 fee, which Commissioner Kevin Boozel said he was surprised about.

“I guess that means we explained it adequately,” said Leslie Osche, commissioners chairman.

The commissioners admitted that some of the safeguards they built into the $5 fee ordinance could potentially be reversed by future commissioners, including the fee's elimination at the end of 10 years and a clause preventing the fee from being increased in the future.

The $25 million BUILD grant, if received, would be used to expand and straighten Route 228 from Route 8 to Quality Gardens.

The $2 million in state funds is earmarked for the repair of three bridges in the county, and the $900,000 generated by the $5 fee would augment projects that municipalities have on hold because they don't have all the funding in place to complete them.

Geyer said the U.S. Department of Transportation should notify the county by the end of December regarding the BUILD funds.