Dispatch – A key highway project in Central Ohio has received a $16 million federal grant, Sen. Sherrod Brown announced today.

The East-West Connector in Pickaway County – which will improve the roadways around Rickenbacker Airport and the adjacent shipping and warehousing hub and link it to U.S. Route 23 –has received a coveted TIGER III grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The project is hoped to relieve truck congestion south of Columbus. The federal government also announced grants for a streetcar project in Cincinnati and a light rail station in Cleveland.

The TIGER program, also known as Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, is designed to pay for infrastructure projects that create jobs.