The newly formed Transportation Improvement District is gearing up to offer a financial safety net to projects that might need assistance.

The TID held its inaugural meeting Monday where it adopted bylaws and elected officers.

The chairman is County Commissioner Les Boggs; vice chair, Terry Porter, Union Township Trustee; secretary, County Engineer Doug Cade; and treasurer, County Auditor Jason Stephens.

“A TID is to assist, whether it is a county or state or municipality,” Cade said. “We will have the capacity to bring in different agencies in terms of a collaborative effort to be able to construct a project in a more rapid time frame.”

The district was formed in March and is the 10th in the state. It is comparable to a port authority where it can act as a financing tool to accelerate projects.

A TID can enter into an agreement with an entity like the Ohio Department of Transportation that confirms that funding for a project will be available at a future date. However, a TID can go ahead and finance the project itself, by selling bonds or through other means, and get the construction under way, even finishing it before the future funds are available.

“We at the TID may be able to step in with the state and we can get the financing for this project,” Cade said. “You can pay us back over a period of time.”

The TID will meet on Aug. 18 to prioritize projects.

“Some of the top priority projects are the Ironton-Russell Bridge,” Cade said. “We want to make sure that project has the financing in place so it will be completed, to assist the state to fill in any gaps.”

About five years ago, when the bridge project, then estimated at $88 million, was bid out, bids came in at $110 million.

“That is why it died the first time, not enough funds to construct the project,” he said.

Right now the bridge project, estimated at $85 million, is scheduled to be bid out in October.

Also on the TID radar is the Chesapeake bypass that will connect the bypass in the Proctorville area with highway to be constructed around the village of Chesapeake.

“We want to make sure we can help to move that project along,” Cade said. “And we will be looking at the projects from The Point intermodal facility and also county projects.”

The TID is scheduled to meet quarterly. The Aug. 18 meeting will begin at 8 a.m. at the county commission chamber and is open to the public.