Kauai County successfully competed for a federal grant of more than $13 million that will help it revamp the core of Lihue Town, transforming it into a pedestrian- and bike-friendly community for both residents and visitors.

The money will help make the county’s $17.8 million Lihue Town Core Mobility and Revitalization project a reality — improving road safety and reducing traffic congestion.

"This is very important for Kauai," said Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. "It’s a major addition to what is needed to complete the whole entire project."

The federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program, or TIGER, grant totals $13.8 million.

The goal of the county’s revitalization project is to reconfigure the town into a "thriving commercial, civic and cultural heart of our island," said Lee Steinmetz of the county’s Planning Department, who wrote the TIGER grant application.

The county will provide 15 percent in matching funds or approximately $2.5 million. The project is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2021.

Of the remaining $1.5 million in project costs, Steinmetz said the county plans to discuss its options with the U.S. Department of Transportation — whether it means finding more local matching funds or reducing the scope of the project.

"We’re by all means grateful and thankful," he said of the substantial grant. "We’ll make it work no matter what."

Elected officials in all levels of government supported the project.

"Securing this competitive grant was not easy," said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. "This is the first time our state has received a TIGER grant in four years, and we could not have done it without the support of Mayor Carvalho."

According to the federal DOT, 627 applications were submitted for funding. The Lihue revitalization project is among 39 awarded funds nationwide, totaling nearly $500 million.

"The mayor and all those who contributed to this project have done a great job evaluating the needs of the community and putting together a proposal that will improve pedestrian safety, increase access to employment and education through transit, and contribute to a redesign of the neighborhood that all residents can enjoy," Schatz, a member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations subcommittee, said in a news release.

In fiscal year 2011, the state received a $13.5 million TIGER grant to improve Saddle Road. In fiscal year 2009, Hawaii received a $24.5 million grant to reconstruct Pier 29 at Honolulu Harbor.

For Lihue, creating a transit hub on Eiwa Street and improving Rice Street with bike facilities, wider sidewalks and lighted crosswalks are among the components the grant will fund.

A majority of the grant, $8.6 million, is slated to go toward improvements on Rice Street, the main commercial street in Lihue. Safety has been an ongoing concern on the four-lane thoroughfare due to sight-line problems for both drivers and pedestrians at intersections and crosswalks. Officials plan to reduce the two lanes in each direction on Rice Street to one lane in each direction. Bike lanes and traffic-calming strategies that include curb extensions and landscaped medians are also planned for Rice Street.

Some components of the project are being completed outside of TIGER grant funding, such as the work on Hardy Street now underway using separate federal and county funds. Improvements on Hardy are aimed at creating safe routes for children who attend Wilcox Elementary School.

Officials want to create routes with sidewalks, bike lanes and enhanced street crossings so children who live close to Wilcox can safely walk or ride a bike to school. The effort is also expected to reduce traffic congestion in the area.