The Middle Peninsula Planning District Commission voted to support Gloucester County’s request for several transportation improvements during a meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at its board room in Saluda.

The MPPDC endorsement was needed, commission finance director Beth Johnson said, because the projects are on or near Route 17, which is the county’s only “corridor of statewide significance” for the special grant program.

MPPDC endorsed Gloucester’s application for project funding through the SMART SCALE, formerly HB2, process. The application had to be received by Sept. 30.

Gloucester seeks improvements to the following roads:

—Pedestrian improvements on Route 1208 (Greate Road and Greate Road West) from the intersection with Route 17 to the Gloucester Point Beach and Public Boat Ramp;

—Widen Route 17 (George Washington Memorial Highway) for a section in the lower county;

—Reconstruction of Route 614 (Hickory Fork Road), and

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