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The Town of Goshen has been selected to receive $211,700 from the state to resurface nearly two miles of road.

The grant comes through the Rebuild Alabama Act and will be used toward resurfacing on South Montgomery Street, Sanders Street and Oak Street and fund drainage repairs on Montgomery Street and Greenville Avenue.

“This will repave about 1.8 miles of road and also replaces a few cross drains that are probably 60 years old and have deteriorated over time,” said Mayor Darren Jordan. “I’m just humbled. I don’t know what made our application better than others, I just consider myself lucky and fortunate. We just have to make sure this money is spent the proper way on behalf of the people that live here. The council has been extremely supportive in wanting to move Goshen forward and supporting grant writing and going this direction.”

The town’s portion of the funding will be just $35,000.

The grant follows another that was announced in November to replace 3-inch water mains with 6-inch water mains.

“One of the main problems with a small community that I’ve experienced in office and on the council is that most municipalities have a much broader sales tax base,” Jordan said. “We have four or five companies we collect sales tax off of, that’s all. We’re very limited in our revenue resources when it comes to tax dollars.”

So Jordan said there has been extra focus and attention recently on winning grants that can give the town access to much more revenue than can be raised by the town’s tax base.

“Between these last two grants, we’re receiving about $600,000 in funding and the town’s portion is about $35,000 on each one,” Jordan said. “The last time I talked to someone, to pave a road costs between $200,000 to $250,000 a mile. It’s impossible to come up with that type of funding on our own. That’s one reason I have been digging in grants for years trying to come up with revenue. The grant is pretty much our lifeline when it comes to something like that.”

Most of the resurfacing money will go to repaving roads, but Jordan said some will have to be spent on cross drain replacement to ensure the money is spent wisely.

“It would be negligent to put asphalt on top of a road where we need to replace a culvert first,” Jordan said. “That’s something that’s got to be taken into consideration. You don’t want to make the wrong investment and in five years have to dig up that asphalt to replace a culvert.”

Jordan thanked Rep. Wes Allen for helping the town in the process of writing and securing grants.