Marion city leaders travel to D.C. to rally support for major infrastructure projects

MARION, Iowa (KCRG) – Marion City officials, including Mayor Nicolas AbouAssaly, returned from a tip to Washington, D.C. to get support for major regional infrastructure projects.

Mainly, they were working to get more funds for the Tower Terrace Road Project, which AbouAssaly could take decades to finish. There is $56 million left to raise to complete the 8.3 mile long venture.

Marion officials, along with city leaders across the region, had private meetings with policymakers.

”I feel they [the meetings] were very productive,” AbouAssaly said. “At the every least, we put Marion on the map for some of the decision makers and the people who can influence policy.”

The Tower Terrace Project will connect Interstate 380 and Highway 30, which Marion officials predict would be majorly beneficial to the community.

A major expense is the three bridges needing to be built along the way, two of those bridges are in Robins. With several cities coming together, they hope they can garner more funds.

”Robins is a small community that really wouldn’t even be able to build one bridge because of the size of the community,” AbouAssaly said. “We’re all partnering together as a region and making this effort to secure federal funding to help us with the bridges.

The city says these grant announcements should be made in the fall. Depending on how much they receive, it could shave a few years off the Tower Terrace Project’s timeline

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