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Lack of Revenue Delays Road Projects
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Mr. Shumejko said the article included in the packet was from an issue of the Oakland Press that came out in early February. It dealt with how the lack of funding has caused the postponement of many of the road projects in the area, including the M-59/Crooks interchange. That project has been in MDOT’s five-year transportation plan for funding, been out of the plan, then back in, and now technically it is out of the five-year plan. It was one of the projects that MDOT was moving along with the design on in hopes there would be a second round of “stimulus money” this year. The U.S. House passed a version that would have funded it, but the Senate approved an alternate bill which didn’t include any stimulus money for road funding. As a result this project is currently unfunded. Another project that lost funding is the downtown renovation project of Main Street in Rochester. MDOT had also planned to add a center left turn lane to widen Auburn Road, which was to be done in 2014, but that has also been removed from the five-year plan. However they are still going to do an overlay on Auburn later this year. Mr. Shumejko explained those were the three local projects that would be affected. Chairperson Colling added that he assumed this would be subject to further changes by the Feds.
Mr. Hunter asked whether the intersection at Auburn and Dequindre would be included with the work on Auburn. Mr. Shumejko responded that it was basically a resurfacing project so they will overlay it, but since they will not remove pavement and will just cap what is there he was not sure how long it would last. Chairperson Colling asked when the overlay would occur, and Mr. Shumejko replied in late summer or early fall, September or October of 2010. As part of the resurfacing project MDOT is going to upgrade the existing pathway ramps for ADA compliance so they will have the proper slopes and detectable warning plates.
Vice Cha...
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