NewsOK
BY RANDY ELLIS
Published: May 9, 2010
Modified: May 10, 2010 at 9:01 am
SHAWNEE — Controversy is churning in Shawnee over plans to spend $8 million to $10 million to build a new Interstate 40 interchange near where Gov. Brad Henry and state Highway Commission Chairman Dan B. Overland own property.
The prospect of spending millions of dollars on an interchange some view as political at a time state programs are being slashed and employees furloughed has some residents upset.
"I strongly believe that ODOT (Oklahoma Department of Transportation) should spend its limited resources on more important and needed projects, especially since bridges and roads are in such a state of disrepair in Oklahoma,” Bonnie Boone wrote in an e-mail to the Transportation Department. Boone is board president of the Grove School District, a prekindergarten through eighth-grade school district that includes the proposed Bryan Street interchange.
Henry and Overland said they did not initiate the project and don’t think they would profit from it, even though they have land for sale in the area... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Sun, May 9, 2010
by Crystal Drwenski