News-Sun - Nearly $40M flow hits county roads
PUBLISHED: June 13, 2009
Lake County News-Sun - On the phone from the nation's capital, Melissa Bean talked about the hidden elements of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the economic stimulus package.
"One of the indirect effects of the stimulus is the jobs that will be saved," said Bean, adding that she feels "the thing that is most stifling the recovery" is the inability of small businesses to maintain their credit flow and cover things like payroll costs.
But Bean acknowledges that while some $4 billion has been freed for loans through the Small Business Administration, what people really notice on a day-to-day basis is right under their tires.
Or right in front of their noses on the drive to and from the office.
"Putting America to Work: Project Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act." Signs with those sentiments have started to appear along Lake County roadways as the local share of $48 billion in federal transportation and infrastructure funding starts to come home.
In March, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced that $693 million had been allocated for improvements to highways, bridges, mass transit, rail and aviation centers in the state.
"The transportation system is at a crossroads and is in need of the additional federal funds provided by the (stimulus)," IDOT officials said in a statement, adding that "shovel-ready" projects would move to the front of the line.
"In order to access the first half of the highway stimulus funds coming to Illinois, (IDOT) has identified projects in the attached list that can be awarded quickly to put people to work in the construction industry and to utilize the upcoming construction season."
In other words, said Bean, "there's no earmarks here. The funds were forwarded on to the state, and all the decisions were made in Springfield."
All told, nearly $40 million has been programmed to date for transportation improvements in Lake County, covering more than 19 miles of roads and one bridge-deck resurfacing -- on Buckley Road in Libertyville over the Des Plaines River.
That bridge project is an example of one that has already been out to bid and given one of the aforementioned signs. The Buckley Road work was granted $575,000 in stimulus funds, and the contract came in at $606,126. Work began late last month and is scheduled to last through August.
According to IDOT information provided by Bean's office, another project under contract is the resurfacing of 6.5 miles of Route 60/83 in Fremont Township, which came in at $2.36 million after being programmed for $2.9 million. Work is slated to start this month and continue through November.
On the other hand, a $2.6 million contract was awarded last month for intermittent resurfacing in western Lake County, a job that was allocated $1.5 million in stimulus funds. While no exact locations have been designated by IDOT, the work is scheduled to start this month and last through October.
Roadways aside, Lake County's share of other stimulus dollars includes $2.6 million to repair runway cracks at Waukegan Regional Airport; $648,000 to cover two year's worth of salaries for a physician and support staff at the Lake County Health Department; $1 million for homeless prevention and rapid re-housing through Lake County; and $2 million for youth job training and summer jobs through Lake County Workforce Development.
That brings stimulus funds of all kinds to the county to at least $47 million.
The small-business loans have also started to move in recent weeks. Among the county businesses fielding stimulus loans between in late May and early June was Myco Tableware Inc. in Mettawa, though road signs likely won't be posted to that effect.
"I know there's a lot of focus on transportation," Bean said, "(but) more than 80 percent of the jobs that do get created domestically are the mom-and-pop organizations."
For more information on how the stimulus is being dispersed locally and otherwise, visit www.recovery.gov.
