TRAC approves #036;30 million for Chesy bypass
Published 12:00 am Friday, January 14, 2005
Lawrence County got more good news than expected Wednesday when the Transportation Review Advisory Committee met to discuss project funding.
TRAC members agreed to provide another $30 million in additional funding for water-soaked Phase 1B of the Tri-State Metro Outer Belt, also known as the Chesapeake Bypass.
The TRAC also put Phase 2
back on its list of
so-called Tier II projects that could be funded at a later date.
Phase 2 had been dropped from that list last year, against vehement protest from many local officials.
Ohio Department of Transportation District 9 officials explained that wet weather has created hillside slips that have in turn driven up the cost of finishing Phase 1B.
District 9 spokeswoman Kathleen Fuller said work continues in areas of the work zone that have not be affected by slips.
"We've already begun the reengineering process and contractors have already addressed some of the, I hate to say, minor slips. They have already made some repairs," she said. "As for the major slips, those have to be reengineered and we need to look at how best to correct these situations."
The project, originally price-tagged at $26.8 million, was supposed to have been completed by summer.
Fuller said the problems with the weather will no doubt push back the completion date.
Meanwhile, Fuller said Phase 2 was added to the TRAC's list of 13 projects approved for further development but not yet funded at this time. What changed things? A little push from Washington, D.C.
"The reason was the $1.25 million (U.S. 6th District) Congressman (Ted) Strickland had gotten earmarked for this project," Fuller said.
"Because that money was earmarked for Phase 2, it can't be spent on anything else. …This puts it back into the play of things."
She cautioned, however, that the Phase 2 project still has a long way to go before it is approved for funding and must compete with other projects in a complicated TRAC rating system.
"TRAC only has so much money it can spend statewide and they have to determine what can be funded in certain fiscal years. It's still very much up in the air," Fuller said. "I don't want to mislead anyone."
Still, the news was met with optimism by local officials who went to Columbus last summer and lobbied TRAC members to keep Phase 2 in their minds.
"I think it's a good positive sign and I feel good about it," Ralph Kline, assistant director of the Ironton-Lawrence County Community Action Organization, said. "This move re-establishes that, yes, this is a project. … I am truly encouraged. It's back on track and that's where we wanted to be."
TRAC's draft of proposed projects will be subject to a 90-day public comment period before the committee approves a final list in May.