Local road projects to receive federal funds
MADISON — Two local road projects are among 49 Gov. Jim Doyle on Wednesday asked the Joint Committee on Finance to finance with $42.5 million in federal economic recovery funds.
The local projects are on County C in the village of Sharon and a Blackhawk Creek bridge on County A in Harmony Township.
Doyle submitted a list of 19 local bridge projects totaling $8.2 million and 30 local road, bridge and transportation enhancement projects with an estimated cost of $34 million. The projects would be the first local road and bridge projects to receive a share of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.
The local projects were identified through a solicitation conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
The department is conducting a second stage of solicitations to identify additional local projects. The Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided about $529 million to Wisconsin for state and local highway and bridge projects. About 30 percent of this total, or about $158 million, is available for local projects.
The state expects to begin letting these projects out for bid in April.
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Mar 12, 2009 at 11:50 a.m.
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curly, as far as I know, normal federal rules apply. It's not clear the extent to which states can tighten those rules, but a couple are trying for exactly the reasons you state. In any event no matter which contractor wins the bid, they would still probably hire local subcontractors to do most of the work, barring availability and specialization.
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You'll be able to monitor at least the high-level progress at a state website (Wisconsin's was one of the first):
http://www.recovery.wisconsin.gov/
But I don't think the public is normally privy to actual bidding information prior to contract award.
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ResponsibleCitizen, this particular round appears to be small local projects chosen by community leaders -- single bridges and short stretches of road for the most part. This was previously announced as a key part of the state spending plan.
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/44...
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As for I-43, there will be resurfacing north of Milwaukee, and at least one bridge on the "Rock Freeway" portion.
http://media.journalinteractive.com/docu...
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But major reconstruction is due (the old Wis-15 having been built mainly between 1969 and 1976). This will probably follow the rebuild of the I-43 interchange with I-39/90 in Beloit. This has been in the works for about a decade, though. I don't think a reconstruction is anywhere near "shovel-ready".
Mar 12, 2009 at 10:17 a.m.
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question about this bidding process. since this is federal(stimulus) money, does that mean anyone can bid on this project ie. companies from out of state? We want to get the unemployment down in Wisconsin shouldnt we only allow companies from WI to bid? and how do we find out when the bids are and who won the bid. This would be a great opportunity for some local unemployed to apply for a job with the winning company. Keep it Local!!!
Mar 12, 2009 at 9:36 a.m.
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The worst road in Wisconsin is Hiway 67 from Sharon to Beloit. I drive County C every day on my commute to just to avoid Hiway 67.
Mar 12, 2009 at 9:12 a.m.
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I 43... What a joke. The company that laid that concrete, took the money, & ran. They should be held responsible for shoddy workmanship. But we know that will never happen. Wouldn't it be ironic, if they got the bid to fix the problem that they caused !!!
Mar 12, 2009 at 9 a.m.
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How about I43 from Beloit to Milwaukee?
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