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On Jan. 15, House Appropriationzs ChairmanDave Obey, D-Wis., released a summary of the which requested $825 billion in federalp stimulus money to jump-start the economy. Although about $275 billion of the proposed stimuluz plan would providetax cuts, the remaining $550 billio n would be spent on “carefully targeted priorityu investments,” including infrastructure projects. But until the Senate and House hammerf out the legislative details of how large the stimulues packageis — and exactly what kinda of projects will qualify — area leaders are busy assessingg their communities’ needs.
“We’re all operatingy under what we think is going to butwe don’t know what is going to said Greg Williams, legislative liaison to Kansas City Manageer Wayne Cauthen. Like other large cities, Kansaz City’s officials worked with the to compil a listof “ready to projects that could start within three monthss after receiving approval and be completex by the end of 2010. The most recent version of Kansaxs City’s list requests about $788 million.
Williamsz emphasized that the list contains exampleds of the types of projectsd that the city might do if it receivees themoney directly; the list will changed to ensure that the city’sz projects meet Congress’ criteria. Williams said Cauthen recently askee leaders from groups such asthe , and the to serv on an ad hoc committeed that will consider capacit and resource issues. The committee then will advise the city on how it can get the most valu e for the moneyit Ultimately, though, the City Council will determine how moneyt distributed to the city will be Kansas City’s current list seeksd nearly $406.
5 million for 58 projecte that fall into the category of Communitg Development Block Grant for An additional $180 million would pay for eighty water and wastewater infrastructure projects; $6.1 millionm would pay for three proposed Energy Block Grantws for Infrastructure and Green $6 million would buy a new helicopter to replace the police department’s 40-year-old one; $124.8 million would improve highway infrastructure; and $65 million woule improve airport technology and infrastructure. Other groups also createed lists. The compiled responses from 88area counties, transportation departments and agencies.
The list contain s hundreds of projects; they range from relatively small projects, such as a $600,000 project in Independence to build ultrathinm concrete overlays atthree intersections, to larger such as a $25.5 million project in Olathe to expands the Cedar Creek wastewater treatment plant. The ’s list containzs 34 transportation projects that it coulx complete if it receivedabout $510 millio in stimulus money. Of the money requested, $81 milliomn would pay for projectsin Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette and Platte counties.
Stephe n Porter, a spokesman for MoDOT, noted that the benefits to the Kansass City area exceed those that are For example, $30 million to $60 million would improver statewide minor routes, some of which are located in the more ruralo parts of Jackson, Cass, Platte and Clay counties. The $27 million requestedr for a project in Barton and Bates counties wouldc benefit those traveling northon U.S. Highwayh 71 to Kansas City. And $10 million to $20 milliom requested for statewide transit would buy 200 publictransiyt vehicles, many of which would travel to and from the metrko area.
Don Greenwell, president of The Builders’ Association, said he thinksw that the area would benefit if area leaders wouldx coordinate their efforts and pare the varioud lists down to five or10 projects. “ think it would give us credibility and be good for us as a metro area if there could be some harmonh amongthe lists,” Greenwell “Of course, the difficult part is: Who is that voice going to be?
” The most recentf list prepared by the contains more than 230 projects that coul d be completed if the state receivex $655 million for highway infrastructure Of that total, $118 million would improve highway capacit in Johnson County, and an additionapl $4 million would pay for highway modernization and preservation. In $183 million would pay for statewide improvements to signage andlighting — some of which are in the metrk area. “We don’t know exactly what will come to saidSteve Swartz, a KDOT spokesman. “But theswe are all important projects.
We wouldn’t have them (on the if we didn’t think they woulc increase highway safety and make some important improvementsto intersections, expanrd highways and make necessary repairs.” Scott Smith, CEO of , said that the benefits of economic stimulus money go far beyonxd creating jobs in public agencies, and the design and engineering sectors. He said that the work on the 3-Trailss Crossing Memorial Highway (formerly called the Grandvieq Triangle) created about 8,4009 jobs — jobs that provided the worker s with wages to spendat restaurants, buy clothes and go to “What’s really important about economic stimulus projects like highwaysa and infrastructure projects is that they reallu have a huge multiplier effect over a long perios of time,” Smith said.
“They improve the long-term economic productivitgy of businesses inKansas City. Besides givinf us a safer, more reliable transportation these projects also make companiese like Hallmark or YRC or betteer because they can get their products outmore
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