NEWS: Transportation economic development grant to support 72 new jobs in Gratiot County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 2017
CONTACT: Michael Leon, TEDF Program Manager, MDOT Office of Economic Development, 517-241-2568

Transportation economic development grant to support
72 new jobs in Gratiot County

June 8, 2017 -- The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is awarding a state Transportation Economic Development Fund (TEDF) Category A grant totaling $652,000 that will support 72 new jobs in Gratiot County and help leverage $135 million in private investment.

              Zeeland Farm Services, Inc., is Michigan's only soy processor and vegetable oil refiner. The company's affiliate, ZFS Ithaca, LLC, has identified a 435-acre site on Washington Road in Gratiot County as a future location for the company's second soybean processing plant. The company is investing $135 million in this new facility, capable of processing 40 percent of the state's soybean crop, bringing the total soy processing capacity in Michigan to more than 50 million bushels annually. This site in Michigan was selected over three other competing states.

              Washington Road, a two-lane road, serves as the primary access point to the new facility, which expects to see 800 freight trips daily during the harvest season. To provide better access to the facility and to improve traffic flow around the plant, Washington Road will be expanded to four lanes from US-127 to approximately 2,000 feet east. Planned upgrades also include drainage improvements, curb and gutter installation, and shoulder widening.

              The total cost of the project is $875,000, with $652,000 in TEDF Category A funds and $223,000 from ZFS Ithaca, LLC, and the Gratiot County Road Commission. 

              "The expansion of Washington Road is an integral part of important infrastructure to support our new facility in Ithaca as it will help relieve any possible congestion that could result from increased traffic," said Eric Meeuwsen, general manager at ZFS Ithaca, LLC. "Efficient traffic flow is essential for the Ithaca community, as well as our project, which will have a profound positive economic impact on the agricultural supply chain, providing benefits to the Michigan agricultural sector, as well as the whole state of Michigan - further securing our state's agricultural economy."

              Enacted in 1987 and reauthorized in 1993, the TEDF helps finance highway, road and street projects that are critical to the movement of people and products, and getting workers to their jobs, materials to growers and manufacturers, and finished goods to consumers.

              TEDF "Category A" or "Targeted Industries Program" grants provide state funding for public roadway improvements that allow road agencies to respond quickly to the transportation needs of expanding companies and eliminate inadequate roadways as an obstacle to private investment and job creation. Eligible road agencies include MDOT, county road commissions, cities and villages. More information about the program is available online at www.michigan.gov/tedf.

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