From the Designing the New West Conference
Transportation Director: Montana Is Ready To Spend Stimulus Money
By Greg Lemon, 4-20-09
The Montana Department of Transportation is receiving $211 million extra dollars from the federal government through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for projects this year, says MDT director Jim Lynch.
On a typical year Montana can expect about $300 million for transportation projects from the federal government. With the extra ARRA money, the state will have more than $500 million to spend this year.
“(Congress) wanted to get it out into the states and out into contractors hands as quickly as possible,” he said.
The ARRA is largely misunderstood by the general public, Lynch said. At its heart, it’s about jobs.
“Don’t lose sight of what this program is,” he told the audience at NewWest.Net’s Designing the New West conference in Bozeman. “This program is a jobs program – it’s an economic development program.”
The buzz word nationally is “shovel ready,” but actually, that means projects where money can be obligated quickly, Lynch said.
Under the law, 50 percent of the money given to the state must be obligated by June 2009. The rest of the money must be obligated by Feb. 17, 2010.
Obligated means the state will have projects bid and contractors secured, he said.
If states don’t have their money obligated, it will go back to a federal pool and issued to states that can get the money on the ground quickly, Lynch said.
“We have a lot of projects that are ready to go,” he said. “This could be very difficult for some states to meet, and we’re hoping very selfishly that that happens.”
In Montana the money is going to be spread to projects around the state and not just focused on one area. The projects have to be completed within three years, he said.
Transportation infrastructure is a good investment and Lynch is hopeful that Congress will see how much this extra funding will benefit communities around the state.
The ARRA will come with strings. The federal government is going to watch closely how each dollar is spent. They want to ensure the projects are necessary and stimulate job and economic growth. If that doesn’t happen, the state would have to give the money back, Lynch said.
“This is going to be the most watched program second to the Super Bowl by the time it’s over.”
[End of article]Watch those Missoulians waste any money they get on study after study, workshop after workshop , go through engineering firm after engineering firm...no roads will get built in Missoula in 3 years. Maybe more bike lane striping ...More than likely Missoula will use the money to TAKE out road lanes.
Comment By Stephen Johnson, 4-21-09It is a perversion of the process that Bozeman was not even consulted about projects that would qualify for this funding. There are several. Where is the transparency?
Comment By Rod Proffitt, 4-21-09Memorial Day in Red Lodge loomed as doomsday. There were 13 breaks in the Beartooth Pass following mud and snow slides that year, which resulted in Red Lodge being isolated from Yellowstone National Park. The ramifications for this gateway community were huge. M-DOT did a great job of doing a one-year fix, but that band-aid is not a solution. I was really hoping Senator Baucus would work to insert long-term solutions into the stimulus package to assure the long-range viability of Beartooth Pass and the economies that depend on access to Yellowstone National Park.
Comment By jcc73, 4-22-09Too bad all the nimbys in Missoula had to squash the Russel St project with - like Hippie said - workshops about workshops....this project needs to get done and now what? the city has the money in hand and Russel will be cyclist danger zone and driver headache for another 3 years. what a shame.
Comment By Hippie, 4-22-09My gawd , now the goofy Grant Creek Trial project is added to the pork list. This is a huge waste of taxpayer funds for a very small number of the well connected pretty people. The proposed Grant Creek trail is an 8 to 10 foot wide ribbon of asphalt carving up the valley, basically a road that will plow right through some of Missoula's most treasured agricultural soils and sensitive elk habitat. There are nesting eagles along the proposed trail and if you wanted to build a driveway there the enviros would not let you. Just put some some shoulders on the road , it should have been built right the first time.
This article was printed from www.newwest.net at the following URL: http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/transportation_director_montana_is_ready_to_spend_stimulus_money/C35/L35/