The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in the US has received an additional $55.5m in federal funds to improve roads and bridges across the state.

The funds were originally allocated to other states, but were reallocated to Virginia by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) since the states did not have projects ready to go to use the funding.

Some funds were also redirected to other states that have projects in the pipeline and are ready to begin work.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said: "By carefully investing federal tax dollars to deliver road and bridge improvements and having projects ready to go, we have put our Commonwealth in a position to benefit from additional funds that would have gone to other states.

"The bonus funding will go toward rehabilitating Virginia’s ageing bridges and pavements across the state."

"My administration is committed to spending every single transportation dollar to ease congestion and help build a new Virginia economy."

VDOT commissioner Charlie Kilpatrick said: "The bonus funding will go toward rehabilitating Virginia’s ageing bridges and pavements across the state.

"VDOT is committed to keeping our existing infrastructure of 57,867 miles of roadways and 20,900 bridges in a safe and good condition."

The extra money is expected to fund work to re-pave 400 lane miles of roadways across the state and also improve 17 interstate bridges.

Every year, the FHWA reviews all states’ ability to commit allocated money for highways by the end of the federal fiscal year.

States failing to obligate federal funding must return the spending authority to the FHWA, which then redistributes them to states that can obligate all their federal allocations and have additional eligible projects ready to move forward.