Photo by Hugh Clarke.

The crumbling Arlington Memorial Bridge is getting a $90 million grant from the Department of Transportation, regional members of Congress announced this afternoon.

“While additional federal resources will be needed to complete this $250 million project, this funding will allow [National Park Service] to move forward with planning and contracting immediately so that construction can begin early next year,” said Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA), and Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Don Beyer (D-VA), Barbara Comstock (R-VA), and Gerry Connolly (D-VA) in a joint statement.

Earlier this spring, NPS warned that the 84-year-old bridge was reaching the end of its design life and could need to close as soon as 2021.

“The National Park Service will need the support of partnerships with other federal, state, and local entities, to compete successfully for funds available from the Department of Transportation,” Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis said at the time.

In June, Warner and Kaine, along with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, toured the bridge connecting Arlington National Cemetry with the Lincoln Memorial, pushing for funds to make necessary repairs.

The money is coming from DOT’s FASTLANE grant program, which authorizes $800 million in road and freight infrastructure projects. But it almost didn’t happen.

From The Washington Post:

The Park Service nearly bungled the application for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FASTLANE grant program earlier this year, officials said; flawed coordination with local jurisdictions nearly led to missing the grant deadline. But last-minute pressure from local congressional representatives and an agreement by the District to co-sponsor the application helped get necessary paperwork filed just under the wire.