Funding cutback puts off projects

More than $7 million in funding cuts will delay several local road and bridge projects, including the widening of the Moores Mill Bridge overpass and part of Frederick Road.
At Tuesday’s meetings of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Planning Organization’s two advisory committees, members learned that $7,425,077 in funding has been cut for projects in the local transportation improvement program. The cut comes from Congress’ budget reduction of $175 million to the Alabama Department of Transportation.
After this cut, all of the organization’s $1,180,489 allotment and the 20 percent local match of $221,382 will be dedicated to the Interstate 85 interchange at Auburn Technology Park, Beehive Road.
For the most part, Congress’ cuts impacts those MPOs with populations of less than 200,000 population.
The loss of $7.4 million in funds means, with one shift, the following local projects have been moved out of the Fiscal Year 2008-2011 transportation improvement program:
- The utilities and construction phases of the Moores Mill Bridge widening at overpass I-85 to five lanes,
- The construction phase of Frederick Road from Auburn’s city limits to Gateway Drive (Phase 1A),
- The right-of-way and utilities phases of three laning Donahue Drive from 300 feet north of Bragg Avenue to Bedell Avenue.
- The pre-engineering corridor study from I-85 at Lee County Road 26 to Alabama Highway 280, and
Also, the utilities phase is being shifted in the program from FY 2010 to FY 2011 for Frederick Road from the Auburn city limits to Gateway Drive (Phase 1A).
In a resolution related to Opelika’s Frederick Road, two advisory committees heard about a funding solution for a portion of the $1.2 in cost overruns owed by the city of Opelika to the Alabama Department of Transportation on that first completed section of the ongoing Frederick Road project.
Responding to a petition from the city of Opelika seeking relief from the $1.2 million in cost overruns from the Frederick Road (1B) Project, the Alabama Department of Transportation provided for a funding adjustment of $600,000 to be applied to what is owed by the city.
“There were delays in the completion of the Frederick Road project because of utility relocations and then the contractor not doing his work,” said Walter Dorsey, Opelika city engineer, after the Technical Advisory Committee meeting Tuesday.
“And even though the contractor and the utility relocation workers were not there, the DOT inspectors were there on the job site every day. With them being on the job site every day, they were billing their services to that job.
“When all of the project was completed and all the financial numbers were crunched, the city of Opelika owed approximately $1.2 million more than what we anticipated at the start of the project.
“The Department of Transportation graciously agreed to split the difference in the overage with us. They provided $600,000 toward the project and the city of Opelika was responsible for the other $600,000.
“We have already paid our $600,000 and this just lessens what we owed the department of transportation by $600,000,” Dorsey said.
At two different meetings Tuesday the Citizen Advisory and Technical Advisory committees of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to recommend the four resolutions to the MPO Policy Board related to amendments to the FY 2009 and FY 2010 Transportation Improvement Plans, a 69-page final 2010 Rebalanced/Updated FY 2008-2011TIP document as well as the DOT’s financial adjustment.
Those resolutions involved hardware/software purchases in the FY 2010 Unified Planning Work Program; the final FY 2010 TIP Rebalance/Update; an amendment to include the Northern Perimeter Road Corridor Study from Oak Bowery Road to Andrews Road; and two American Recovery and Reinvestment Act items related to preventative maintenance for vehicles serving in rural areas and to help Lee-Russell Transit budget.