A delay in plans
ODOT officials hold off on plan’s public comment period
By LARRY MEYER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Monday, November 10, 2008 10:43 AM PST
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| A project to install left-turn lanes at the intersection of U.S. Highway 20-26 and Lincoln Drive (seen here) is scheduled for construction in 2011. |
ONTARIO — The economy has Oregon Department of Transportation officials hesitating to move ahead with the proposed 2010 to 2013 state transportation improvement plan while they wait to see if there is going be an economic rebound or a stimulus package that would include transportation funding to help keep construction project on schedule.
The 2010-2113 STIP was scheduled for a public comment session among ODOT Region 5 counties Thursday via a video conference with a site in each county.
However, ODOT officials elected to hold off taking any public comments until sometime next year after the new administration takes office.
“We’re basically delaying the public (comment) period until next spring,” Tom Strandberg, ODOT Region 5 public information representative, said. ODOT officials are waiting to see if they will be able to fund all the planned projects as scheduled or need to move some further into the future.
“We don’t know what is going to happen next year, such as the economy,” Strandberg said.
Two years of every STIP periods overlap — 2010 and 2011 in this case — and projects in those years have been funded or the funding has been committed, he said. The 2012 and 2013 projects could be pushed back, depending on the financial picture.
In Malheur County, that could mean delaying a paving project on a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 84 from the Snake River to milepost 368.16, presently scheduled to begin in 2013, and a project to install rumble strips on U.S. Highway 95 from the Idaho border, south to Nevada, as a safety project. Other projects, include a paving project through Nyssa, from 11th Street to the Snake River Bridge and the installation of left-turn lanes at the intersection of U.S. Highway 20-26 and Lincoln Drive. However, their funding should be considered safe, Strandberg said.
“The economy and fewer miles being driven, bringing in fewer gas tax dollars,” Strandberg said is the reason for delaying the STIP. “We are looking at lots of things to help us.” ODOT officials will be watching to see if a federal stimulus package, being discussed in Washington D.C., will include money for highway construction, he said.
