A U.S. House and Senate conference committee has approved funding for Greater Des Moines transportation projects that are considered key triggers of economic development.

Among the awards is $1.05 million that would expand Grand Avenue in West Des Moines into an area that has been targeted by Microsoft Corp. for construction of a data center. The project would provide a link from the technology park to Interstate 35 and is part of a long-range plan that would provide a hook up with Interstate 80 via roads in Dallas, Madison and Warren counties.

Park of that link would come from the extension of Alice’s Road out of Waukee. That project would receive $950,000 under the appropriations bill.

The offices of U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and U.S. Rep. Tom Latham announced various pieces of federal funding that is earmarked for Greater Des Moines in the omnibus appropriations bill, which still need approval from both chambers of Congress.

Other projects include $1.9 million to complete the piece of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway from the Des Moines River to East 14th Street in Des Moines and $185,000 for the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s Business Innovation Zone.