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The Office of the State Treasurer announced Friday that it has received a share of a $250,000 grant to conduct a feasibility study of financing options for overdue public works projects.

According to a 2008 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers, 25 percent of Oregon’s bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete, 122 of its dams are high hazard structures, 18 percent of its roads range in condition from mediocre to poor, and 42 percent of its major urban highways are congested.

Additionally, the report found that the state needed wastewater infrastructure improvements totaling $2.88 billion, and drinking water infrastructure improvements totaling $4.27 billion.

The grant comes from the New York-based Rockefeller Foundation and will be shared jointly by Oregon, Washington and California. Oregon Treasurer Ted Wheeler applied for the grant in coordination with Gov. John Kitzhaber and California Treasurer Bill Lockyer.

鈥淥regon’s infrastructure is inadequate and it undermines our competitiveness,鈥� Wheeler said in a statement. 鈥淚t is incumbent on us to seek innovative solutions to repair and enhance our transportation and energy facilities, which will put people to work in the short and the long term.鈥�

The feasibility study will gauge whether it makes sense to finance some construction privately, and look into the possibility of creating a central clearinghouse for data about projects that need financing. Also, the study will learn how efforts might be coordinated through a new multistate collaboration.

The Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on General Government on Thursday preliminarily approved the grant, which will be part of the upcoming budget reconciliation bill.