KANNAPOLIS — The city has received a $160,000 federal grant as part of the Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant Program that will help fund a study to look at repairing and maintaining certain streets to make them safer.

Kannapolis is one of 11 areas in North Carolina that will receive a total of $3.6 million from the federal government for road safety improvements. City manager Mike Legg had reviewed the federal infrastructure law and found that Kannapolis could be eligible for some of the money that was available.

After getting approval to move forward, he says the city will hire a consultant to do the study in the next three months. Legg said it is “intuitive” that the study focuses on the congestion and safety of major streets, such as Cannon Boulevard, Kannapolis Parkway and the I-85 exits in the city.

The N.C. Department of Transportation will be working with Kannapolis on the study since some of the streets maintained by the state. Legg estimates that the study will last a year  before being ready for city approval. Once it is, Kannapolis can then apply for more federal grants to fund the improvements.