Crosstown gets more money
The Crosstown might be getting $14 million more, but that's still a drop in the bucket. The article mentions something interesting......it says the state could use federal transportation money that's annually distributed to the state for maintaining roads across the state. This might be something to consider. Sure, it would take away from other state road projects, but at least these would be federal funds.
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"Crosstown may gain $14 million
By Chris Casteel
The Oklahoman
WASHINGTON - The highway bill headed for a House vote this week has $64 million for special projects in Oklahoma, including $14 million for the Crosstown Expressway in Oklahoma City.
And though Sen. Jim Inhofe is expecting to gain additional money for the Crosstown in the Senate version of the bill, he said the state may have to pay part of the cost of the massive project from its annual allocation of federal funding -- something state Transportation Department officials have resisted.
The highway reauthorization bill has been stalled more than a year, primarily because of disputes over how much it should contain for road and bridge construction for the next six years and how that money should be distributed among the states.
Last year the House, Senate and White House nearly reached a compromise, but the bill fell just short of the votes needed to leave a House-Senate conference committee.
Congress now faces a May 31 deadline to pass a new long-term bill.
The House Transportation Committee last week passed a $284 billion bill, and the full House is scheduled to consider it this week.
Inhofe, the Tulsa Republican who is chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said he hopes his panel can pass its version of the bill in two weeks.
Though the House bill includes special projects for lawmakers' home districts, it is missing the bigger and more important numbers -- how much will be allocated to each state for road construction. The full House could address that question of funding this week.
Oklahoma is one of several "donor" states, those whose motorists pay more in federal gas taxes than the state receives for highway funding.
The state is guaranteed a return of only 90.5 cents for every dollar paid in gas taxes. Under the last long-term highway bill -- passed in 1998 -- that worked out to an average of about $404 million a year.
Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Warr Acres, who spent two years as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees transportation spending, used his position to boost the state's total to the point that it received more in formula funding and for special projects than it paid in taxes.
He no longer is chairman of that subcommittee.
Cross talk
Istook also secured $80 million the last two years for the Crosstown project, raising the total of federal commitments to about $195 million, more than half the project's $360 million price tag.
This year, Istook is pledging all his special project money to the Crosstown project, which will relocate and widen a crumbling section of Interstate 40 near downtown.
Fourteen million dollars are in the bill the House committee passed last week and, according to Istook's office, another $6 million is expected to be added when the bill is on the floor next week.
However, unlike in 1998, when the last long-term highway bill was approved, other Oklahoma House members aren't pledging their allocations of special project money to the Crosstown. They are addressing projects in their own districts.
One example is Rep. John Sullivan, R-Tulsa, who received more than $17 million for projects associated with Interstate 44 in his district.
Inhofe said Friday he will fight for Crosstown funding in the Senate bill. But he said the project logically is one the state Transportation Department could fund out of its annual allocation of federal money.
State officials have pointed to Oklahoma's highway and bridge problems and have said the Crosstown -- because of its high traffic volume, importance to the interstate system and its cost -- should be addressed separately, with specific funding from the federal government.
Istook said to expect federal lawmakers to be able to secure all the needed money is not realistic. He has urged state and Oklahoma City officials the last few years to chip in, and he wrote Gov. Brad Henry in January suggesting the governor schedule whatever meetings are necessary to address the issue.
Henry told reporters last week that talking about the issue would be "premature" until the long-term highway bill is passed and state officials know how much the Crosstown will receive in specific funding.
Gary Ridley, director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, said he also is waiting to see how much would be committed to the Crosstown in this year's bill.
"At that point in time, we can all sit down at the table and say, 'Where do we go from here?'" Ridley said.
The 1998 highway bill included just over $100 million for the Crosstown, but that was the result of some circumstances that won't be repeated this year. Specifically, lawmakers had a windfall resulting from more liberal use of the highway trust fund, and most of the state's allocation for "special projects" was dedicated to the project.
Much of the land has been bought, but the state is negotiating about railroad relocation. Ridley said the state plans to start work on the project this year.
"Our goal is to have a ribbon-cutting in 2008," Ridley said. "We have to move forward as if all the money's in the bank."
Originally Posted by HFK
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