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Last Updated: Jul 26th, 2010 - 10:43:47 |
$600,000 project to be awarded in Aug.
The highway projects awarded in June by the Kansas Department of Transportation are one of the largest ever in Kansas, more than $60 million, but Seward County received nothing. The county will get a project valued at a little more than half a million dollars in August.
KDOT spokesman Stan Whitley said Seward County was left out of funding this time, but it will receive funds in the future for highway projects.
“It just happens that way,” said Whitley. “Every county will be getting work.”
The August KDOT will award a project for the reconstruction of the concrete pavement of the North and Northeast legs of the city's six-point intersection. The estimated cost for this project is $619,000.
The state will pay 90 percent and Liberal will cover 10 percent. The bids that are accepted for this project will be announced on Aug. 18.
Jack Taylor, the executive director for the Southwest Passage for Regional and Interstate Transportation, is an advocate for the funding of the highways that surround Liberal. He said he will fight until Liberal gets the funds it needs for the U.S. Highway 54 and U.S. Highway 83.
“I am happy that these projects ( in Southwest Kansas) are being done,” said Taylor. “I am not pleased that U.S. Highway 54 in Liberal is not included because we have projects that should, in my opinion, be included.”
He said that he understands that projects go where population is dense but rural areas are also in need of funds.
“I do notice that there is a tremendous amount of money being spent in district one, which is Northeast (Kansas). There is almost two pages of projects,” said Taylor. “I realize that is where the population is, and yet people in the rural area need help too.”
Taylor said that the highways that surround Liberal need work to support Liberal's economic development in the future and safety of people that travel on U.S. Highways 54 and 83 that surround Liberal.
“For our economic development future, we must have better transportation infrastructure, for safety and saving the lives of people on the highways, U.S. Highway 54 and U.S. Highway 83.” said Taylor. “We must have better transportation infrastructure.”
Taylor said that he does believe Liberal will get funds in the future for the highway projects.
“We plan to fight really hard for a share of the money for that purpose,” said Taylor. “We pay. We collectively, pay huge amount of money, just in Seward. We pay a huge amount of money for registration of trucks, trailers, buses, cars, and we would like to see a better return on tax investment.”
KDOT granted funding for 85 construction projects with 37 contractors awarded projects. The funding for the projects are attributed to T-Works, transportation works, for Kansas. T-Works legislation was passed by the 2010 Kansas Legislature and is meant to provide funding for Kansas' highway preservation and modernization. The program is meant to last for 10-years with $8.2 billion for highway preservation and $1.7 billion of revenue for highway modernization projects, which includes increase funding for transit, aviation and short-line rail programs.
For the full story, see Sunday's edition of The Southwest Times.
© 2008 Southwest Times
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