Landscapers plan to plant 1,354 daylilies around the Austin Boulevard interchange, part of more than $2.1 million in public funds to be spent in the next year at two area interchanges on transportation enhancements.

In the past two decades, more than $13.4 billion in federal transportation funding has been spent on 27,000 enhancement projects, devoted to scenic beautification, bike trails and historic buildings. In the Miami Valley, federal and local funds have paid for transportation enhancements off Interstate 70 in Huber Heights, Ohio 48 in Englewood and Interstate 675 at Far Hills Avenue.

In February, the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission (MVRPC) recommended another seven area projects receive almost $1.9 million in federal transportation enhancements for $3.3 million in work proposed in Brookville, Centerville, Dayton, Fairborn, Miamisburg, Troy and Vandalia.

Last year alone, $927.5 million in federal highway funding — $31.4 million for Ohio, was committed to transportation enhancement projects, according to the Federal Highway Administration. The federal funds can be spent on “landscaping, bike/pedestrian facilities, scenic beautification and restoration of historic transportation facilities,” MVRPC spokeswoman Laura Loges said in an email.

Congress first endorsed funding of such non-infrastructure improvements with passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act in 1991.

Federal funding for such enhancements comes from a 10 percent set-aside from the federal surface transportation program — 1.5 percent of overall federal highway funding, according to the Federal Highway Administration.

An 18.4-cent-a-gallon tax paid by motorists funds the Highway Trust Fund, which is used to pay for highway and transit spending. Last week, Congress voted to leave appropriations at current levels for the next two years and transferred $35 billion in general funds to the trust fund to cover the anticipated expenses.

The Ohio Department of Transportation provides no funding for transportation enhancements, according to Mandi Abner, public information officer for ODOT District 7.

ODOT sets guidelines designed to help local governments determine how much and what varieties of landscaping can be used. “Local jurisdictions and cities decide the appropriate level of landscaping. This can be done through public hearings or council meetings. ODOT will then work with the municipality,” Abner said in an email.

Austin Boulevard

At Austin, Evans Landscaping was awarded a $1.6 million contract with the Montgomery County TID for landscaping and lights, as well as signs and stone walls alerting motorists they are entering Austin Center. Evans was the lowest among five contractors, whose bids were as much as $250,000 higher.

Evans’ contract calls for $768,489.79 in landscaping and miscellaneous items, including the daylilies, as well as 490 knockout roses, 114 Colorado blue spruce and 100 sycamore trees, according to a unit-price breakdown for the project.

Federal transportation enhancement funds paid for $300,000 in earlier preparation for the transportation enhancements at Austin, said Steve Stanley, executive director of the Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District. The TID is financing the landscaping, lights and signs through a joint agreement with Springboro, Miamisburg and Miami Twp. used to underwrite a range of improvements around the interchange. The communities expect to offset the bond debt through tax incremental financing using property taxes on improvement made by companies moving to the interchange area.

Among the local projects recently recommended for funding is $441,000 for the “continuing the concept plan” for Austin Center enhancements around Byers Road, according to the MVRPC. Byers leads from Austin Boulevard into Miamisburg, past the new Motoman headquarters and other planned and existing commercial developments.

The city of Miamisburg is to be paid $32,000 for inspections of the Austin enhancements, Miamisburg Engineer Bob Stanley said in an April 2012 memo to city council.

“City staff has worked closely with the TID, the neighboring jurisdictions and the engineering design consultants on the project. This cooperation will continue during the construction phase of the project with the construction inspection and field oversight,” Bob Stanley said in the memo to City Manager Keith Johnson.

Miamisburg already was paid for inspections of road and other improvements on Byers and around the Motoman headquarters, just west of the new interchange. On the new project, “city engineering staff will provide daily field inspection, record keeping, construction oversight and project support to the TID project manager,” Johnson said in the memo.

West Carrollton

At Exit 47 in West Carrollton, $567,656 in planting areas, signs and stone walls are planned to welcome motorists entering the city off the redesigned interchange.

The city expects to spend $257,962 from its capital improvement fund and $309,694 in federal funding through the MVRPC.

West Carrollton’s share of funding for the project will come from its capital improvement fund — 0.5 percent of the city’s 2 percent income tax. The work is to begin next July.

Last week, West Carrollton City Council picked the design of the enhancement off Exit 47 from four options presented by two consultants from Columbus. Landscape architects, Jim Dziatkowicz and Franco Manno are to be paid $40,500 for their work. City Council and staffers discussed maintenance and aesthetic pros and cons of the various options, but there was no discussion of the project cost.

Manno said the consultants could begin “crunching the numbers toward the funding we have.”