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Friday, 27 March 2009 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
Approximately a mile of Auglaize County is expected to receive work through federal stimulus money.
Eighty-seven of Ohio’s 88 counties are expected to have some type of transportation project paid for with stimulus funding. Noble County did not submit a project eligible for consideration. Some are joint projects, while others were submitted by individual counties or the Ohio Department of Transportation.
In Auglaize County, the ODOT project accepted is a joint project with Shelby County for pavement rehabilitation to Ohio 362. More than $475,000 is being provided for the project.
Auglaize County Engineer Doug Reinhart said approximately 1 mile of the project, which runs southeast between Minster and Fort Loramie, is within the county.
Reinhart had submitted a $1.8 million resurfacing project for County Road 33A, which he hoped to get funded with stimulus money. The project would have created 34 jobs.
“Absolutely, I’m disappointed we didn’t get that, but this did show the need for infrastructure improvements throughout Ohio,” Reinhart said Thursday afternoon, after the announcement of projects was released. “I’m sure it’s helping other areas with their projects.”
He said he remains hopeful that after years of trying to obtain funding through various avenues for the logjam project, that stimulus funding may come through on that.
There has been no word yet on non-transportation projects, including water, sewage or drainage, for which the county submitted a logjam project along the Auglaize River.
Gov. Ted Strickland announced Thursday 149 proposed highway and bridge projects prioritized for full or partial funding by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The transportation projects represent direct support to Ohio communities that are expected to result in jobs and spark long-term economic growth.
“We have identified projects that will put thousands of Ohioans to work quickly,” Strickland said in a news release. “But to make the best use of these resources, we must also leverage them to create tomorrow’s opportunities. In addition to distributing the federal transportation stimulus resources broadly to provide Ohioans in every region with an opportunity to participate in the economic recovery, we are also targeting funds to develop unique regional economic assets.
Doing so will strengthen the state’s infrastructure system while also bolstering each region’s economic vitality in immeasurable ways.”
Federal transportation stimulus funds totaling $774 million are slated to be spent throughout Ohio.
Based on federal calculations for transportation investment, an estimated 21,257 jobs will be created or retained through these stimulus projects, with thousands of additional jobs likely to be spurred by the economic development that expected to occur as a result of the projects.
The funding is being combined with Recovery Act funds allocated under Ohio’s Rural Transit Program.
In total, the state plans to invest more than $9.7 million in non-stimulus transportation funds during the next year.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 31 March 2009 )
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