I’m behind in posting general transportation news. Here is an update from the Dispatch from a few days ago on the status of stimulus funds. I copied and pasted the parts relevant to transportation.
Most local stimulus projects still pending
Sunday, July 12, 2009 3:36 AM
By Doug Caruso
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCHThe federal stimulus has yet to pay Columbus, Dublin and Westerville to install energy-efficient light bulbs.
Bexley hasn’t poured a single wheelchair curb ramp. Upper Arlington hasn’t started its new sidewalks. And the Rich Street Bridge in Downtown Columbus is still a blueprint.
Few of the 90-plus stimulus projects The Dispatch has identified in Franklin County have begun. Most of them still are awaiting federal approval.
…The Central Ohio Transit Authority has workers doing site preparation and renovations at two of its facilities on Fields Avenue near the state fairgrounds. The work is expected to draw about $6.8 million in stimulus reimbursement, said Marty Stutz, COTA spokesman.
Approved
Three transportation projects worth about $1.5 million have received federal approval to be put out for bids.
Repairs to a bridge on Broad Street over I-71 will go out for bids on Wednesday, said Nancy Burton, an Ohio Department of Transportation spokeswoman. A project to rehabilitate a rail bridge over Darby Creek will go out in August, she said, and a resurfacing project on W. Broad Street from Hague Avenue to Central Avenue has no date for bids set.
Awaiting approval
Most projects in Franklin County are still awaiting approval from federal agencies. That’s no surprise to those who have been watching the process from the beginning.
“Everything’s moving on the schedules we understood,” said Mike Brown, an aide to Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman. “They’re doing what they said they were going to do.”
About $70 million in transportation projects for Franklin County is awaiting Federal Highway Administration approval.
That includes $26 million for projects identified by the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) for Franklin County, $25 million for improvements at the intersection of Parsons and Livingston avenues near Nationwide Children’s Hospital and $14 million to upgrade Alum Creek Drive and Groveport Road near Rickenbacker Airport.
Some of those projects will start more quickly than others. Resurfacing projects, which require less environmental documentation and don’t require purchasing right-of-way, are further along, said Nick Gill, assistant director for transportation at MORPC.
He said he expects to receive authorization in August or September to seek bids for about $6 million in resurfacing work. Upper Arlington’s $500,000 project to install sidewalks in residential neighborhoods is likely close behind, Gill said.
Strickland accused of being slow to act on stimulus aid:
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