This article first appeared in the McAlester News Capitol.
By James Beaty
Senior Editor
March 31, 2009 10:59 am
—
The first shot of federal stimulus money is on its way to the
Pittsburg County commissioners — with the money slated for projects in
the Crowder and Quinton areas.
Pittsburg County commissioners
unanimously approved resolutions on Monday which will open the way for
the money to come to the county through the Oklahoma Department of
Transportation.
District 1 is expected to be the only one of the
three Pittsburg County commission districts to benefit from the first
round of the federal stimulus package.
“These had to be shovel-ready projects,” said District 1 Commissioner Gene Rogers, who is the commission’s current chairman.
Rogers
said two of his projects fit that category, making them eligible for
funding through the American Recovery and Investment Act.
One
project is related to a road on a bridge over Lake Eufaula on Crowder
Road, approximately two miles east of Crowder. The site has been the
cause of a lot of concern and a number of meetings over the past few
years.
Rogers said this phase of the project will be on road work
and shoulder work on the county road leading to the bridge. The road
work is to extend east for three quarters of a mile.
“That’s the
most dangerous part,” Rogers said, referring to part of the road
leading to the bridge where parts of the road shoulders are crumbling
into Lake Eufaula.
The first phase, which is part of a larger $11
million project, is estimated to cost $3.8 million — with much of the
funding coming from the federal stimulus package. The Choctaw Nation of
Oklahoma is also contributing to the project.
Another District 1
project which will benefit from the federal stimulus money is for a
bridge over an unnamed creek approximately two miles north and 3.7
miles west of Quinton. Rogers said the project is in the rural
Russellville area.
That project is expected to cost $350,000, Rogers said.
Asked if they expected to get any federal stimulus money, District 2
Commissioner Kevin Smith and District 3 Commissioner Don Mathis said
they don’t — at least for the first round of contracts which are being
let through ODOT.
Smith and Mathis indicated it came down to a matter of timing.
Smith
said he almost has a project shovel-ready for a bridge — but it’s not
quite there yet. The project is for a bridge south of Alderson, he said, Mathis said the McAlester Lake spillway project had gotten under way before the federal stimulus money became available.
ODOT plans to let more contracts for projects funded through federal stimulus money later this year.
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Posted on
Tue, March 31, 2009
by Crystal Drwenski