The State of Missouri on Tuesday announced $97.2 million in bond funding to help pay for the rebuilding of the Fulton State Hospital.

The $211 million project is currently underway, and the bond sale is the final funding piece for construction of the new campus.

The project will replace aging facilities with a state-of-the-art mental hospital that will be safer and more conducive to modern treatment. Construction began in 2015, and the project is currently on time and on budget, with completion expected in 2018.

The Missouri Development Finance Board gave final authorization on the issuance of $97.2 million in bonds to allow for continued progress on the project. An initial bond issuance was approved in November of 2014 for the first portion of the $211 million construction project.

Including the bond sales for Fulton State Hospital, Gov. Nixon’s office says state government will still have lower levels of state-issued debt than when the Governor first took office.

Fulton State Hospital, built in 1851, is the oldest state psychiatric hospital west of the Mississippi River. The Biggs and Guhleman Forensic Centers on the campus treat patients with serious mental illness who are committed by Missouri courts for evaluation and treatment related to a crime, or who have seriously assaulted patients or staff in other state psychiatric hospitals.

In 2014, the General Assembly backed Governor Nixon’s plan for replacing the outdated and deteriorating maximum-security psychiatric facility. Demolition, abatement and construction began in May of 2015. The last building to be demolished will be the maximum security Biggs Forensic Center after the patients have moved into the new facility.