Where will some of the Federal stimulus money be spent here in Freeborn County
The Albert Lea Tribune has this article
Get ready for additional local road construction
Two highway projects in Freeborn County are tentatively scheduled to be constructed in 2009 with federal economic stimulus funds, while one is tentatively scheduled for 2010.
Interstate 90
The first, which involves the bituminous overlay on westbound Interstate 90 from Minnesota Highway 13 to Alden and then unbonded concrete overlay on Interstate 90 eastbound from Alden to Highway 13, would cover 12 miles in each direction.
The improvements would not only benefit people from Freeborn County who drive on I-90, but also motorists passing through, said Freeborn County Administrator John Kluever.
“I think anybody who’s driven that portion of I-90 understands the need that’s out there on that particular stretch,” Kluever said.
Kristine Hernandez, public affairs coordinator with the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said the I-90 project was originally scheduled for 2011 but got moved up two years.
While it is under construction, there will be ramp closures at the state Highway 109 and Highway 13 exits, and MnDOT will set up head-to-head traffic in the westbound lanes while contractors work on the eastbound lanes. Then it will switch when crews are working on the westbound lanes.
She estimated the cost for the project at $13.6 million. MnDOT will open bids March 13 with work tentatively scheduled to begin in May.
“That’s the nice thing about this economic recovery package,” Hernandez said. “We have five jobs scheduled on I-90 that wouldn’t have happened this year. It was a good thing because our interstate is more than 50 years old.”
County Road 46
Piggybacking on the I-90 project will tentatively be the overlay of County Road 46 from Lake Chapeau Road in Albert Lea to Freeborn County Road 6, which is 8.7 miles.
Kluever said this is a project Freeborn County Engineer Sue Miller worked diligently to obtain funds for.
“This is a project that needed to be done and probably would have gotten done at some point in time, but now it’s in a more timely fashion,” Kluever said. “It’s a direct big benefit for the residents of Freeborn County.”
Miller said she worked to submit the project starting in mid-December when there was talk of stimulus funds and about standards projects would need to follow to qualify for funds.
She worked to package the county’s project with MnDOT’s project on I-90 to try to save money for both parties, she said.
Bids for the County 46 project are also tentatively scheduled to be opened March 13. Like many county roads, it is considered a state-assist route. If the project comes to fruition, it would be under a MnDOT contract but would be run by Freeborn County. The estimated cost is $4 million.
Miller said obtaining funds for the project would be of great benefit to the county, as the project costs more than one year of the county’s entire construction budget. As a small county, she said, she looks for grants and other opportunities wherever she can.
“We were all very excited we were able to fold our plans in with MnDOT,” she said.
Minnesota Highway 13
Tentatively scheduled to be completed in 2010 is a project on state Highway 13, starting north of Interstate 90 to state Highway 30 near New Richland, Hernandez said.
It will cover almost 15 miles and will include culvert replacement, mill and overlay, turn lanes and guard rail, she said.
The estimated cost is $3.5 million.
Another project that will affect all of the counties in District 6 is the installation and replacement of various guardrails. Hernandez said the project will cover a span of 12 miles and will include 184 guardrails. It may also involve temporary lane closures.
“These are some very worthwhile projects,” state Sen. Dan Sparks said. “It’s even more important than ever to get these contractors to work.”
District 27A Rep. Robin Brown echoed those comments.
“I’m very pleased there will be stimulus money coming to the Albert Lea area,” Brown said. “I look forward to seeing these projects up and running.”
The translation of the project will mean more jobs for contractors and hopefully more for area businesses too, she said.
According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation Web site, state projects were selected for the economic recovery funds based on the following criteria.
•Project readiness: MnDOT’s top priority is to use the available funds, so it looked for projects that are ready to start, according to the site. A project’s readiness was assessed based on the status of criteria such as environmental review and percent of right of way purchased.
•Consistency with performance-based needs: MnDOT is giving priority to projects with a demonstrated performance need so that it can meet its commitment to make a lasting transportation improvement, the site continued.
•Statewide coverage: Because the intent of the economic stimulus bill is to create jobs statewide, MnDOT wanted to ensure that the program would do just that.
•Balanced program: Using the entire capacity of Minnesota’s highway construction industry.
•Project advancement: For projects to be funded with economic recovery funds, the projects have to be advanced within the State Transportation Improvement Program.
Minnesota is expected to receive more than $596 million for state and local highway and transit projects over the next two years as a result of the federal legislation, according to a news release. About 30 percent of the highway funds are available for local governments, with the remaining 70 percent for MnDOT projects.
I am glad to see this work being done. One project I have not heard about for a while now is the replacement of the dam on Albert Lea lake. this is a project that needs to get done. It might be time for the public to put some pressure on your county commissioners!
Click here for contact info for your commissioner. Please tell him to get this job done !!!!!!!!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Earmarks
I have been ran over the coals over the years by my Republican friends for promoting legislation that would put people to work.
But it looks like my GOP friends have to mentality of "do as I say and not as I do"
I found this on "The Hill" Website
Some GOP critics love their earmarks
By Alexander Bolton
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and other Republicans are drawing criticism for sponsoring hundreds of millions of earmarks in the $410 billion omnibus that they themselves have blasted as fiscally irresponsible. Vitter is the most obvious target because he holds himself a fiscal conservative, a position that often serves him well. In the midst of a heated debate over earmarks, however, Vitter finds himself ducking charges of hypocrisy
The criticisms undercut the GOP’s weekend effort to frame omnibus as a Democratic Christmas tree. “Even though Vitter has been styling himself as a fiscal conservative he has been more willing to team up with [Democratic Sen. Mary] Landrieu [La.] and belly up to the bar and take more than his fair share of earmarks,” said Steve Ellis, the vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group that tracks earmarks.Vitter, for example, threatened to hold up Senate action on the omnibus unless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) promised him a vote on an amendment to eliminate automatic pay increases for lawmakers. “In a lot of ways he’s trying have his cake and eat it too,” said Ellis. “He talks about being fiscal conservative and then brags back home what he was able to deliver to the state.”John Alyosius Farrell, Tip O’Neill’s biographer, singled Vitter out for ridicule on the Thomas Jefferson Street blog. “The self-righteousness among Republicans on the issue of government spending is rank and overwhelming. The GOP is acting as if federal spending is a Democratic monopoly.” The Huffington Post, a liberal-leaning online publication, ran an article discussing Vitter’s earmarks entitled, “Red States Gobble Up Omnibus Earmarks.” This barrage of criticism comes as a surprise considering that Vitter has positioned himself as one of the staunchest fiscal conservatives in the Senate. Vitter, however, defends his actions even while he criticizes the torrid spending pace Congress has set in the last six months.“I have strongly supported fundamental spending reform, including complete openness and transparency and significantly lower budget number,” Vitter told The Hill in a statement. “As I do that, though, I am proud to stand by my specific funding requests for critical transportation, law enforcement and hurricane recovery needs.” “These represent serious Louisiana needs, which have not been met even as Congress has passed trillion dollar spending and bailout bills,” said Vitter.
Vitter, of course, represents New Orleans, which is still recovering from the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina. A study of nearly 9,000 earmarks in the omnibus showed that showed that Vitter is the fifth-biggest recipient of earmarked funds in the Congress.Vitter has sponsored or cosponsored nearly $250 million in earmarks, according to the study by Taxpayers for Common Sense. Two other Republicans topped the list of biggest earmarkers: Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), senior Republican on the Appropriations Committee; and Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss). Of the ten lawmakers who sponsored or cosponsored the largest sums of earmarked funds, 6 were Republicans. Several of them, such as Cochran and Sens. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), are members of the Appropriations panel. This has caused grumbling on conservative Websites. A contributor to a discussion forum on conservative television host Sean Hannity’s website lamented that Cochran, Wicker and Vitter were three of the biggest sponsors of earmarks in the omnibus.“So much for GOP fiscal responsibility,” griped the anonymous commentator. "Leading Republicans in the House and Senate pushed for a better solution: a spending freeze that would strip the omnibus bill of all its airdropped earmarks and hold government spending at current levels,” House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio), wrote in an opinion editorial published Saturday. “Democratic leaders in both chambers scoffed at this common-sense proposal.” Vitter managed to steer hundreds of millions of dollars to his home state despite not serving on Appropriations by teaming up with a Democrat, Landrieu, his home state colleague. As a member of the Appropriations panel who faced a difficult re-election last year, Landrieu received special consideration from Democratic leaders who ultimately control Congress’s purse strings. Landrieu sponsored more money in earmarks than any Democrat in Congress. Nevertheless, Vitter told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he would vote against the omnibus because it is “just too expensive.”Vitter claimed it is not inconsistent to win money for projects in a bill likely to become law but vote against it because of broad fiscal concerns.
Seems the Republicans have a fondness for earmarks.
But it looks like my GOP friends have to mentality of "do as I say and not as I do"
I found this on "The Hill" Website
Some GOP critics love their earmarks
By Alexander Bolton
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) and other Republicans are drawing criticism for sponsoring hundreds of millions of earmarks in the $410 billion omnibus that they themselves have blasted as fiscally irresponsible. Vitter is the most obvious target because he holds himself a fiscal conservative, a position that often serves him well. In the midst of a heated debate over earmarks, however, Vitter finds himself ducking charges of hypocrisy
The criticisms undercut the GOP’s weekend effort to frame omnibus as a Democratic Christmas tree. “Even though Vitter has been styling himself as a fiscal conservative he has been more willing to team up with [Democratic Sen. Mary] Landrieu [La.] and belly up to the bar and take more than his fair share of earmarks,” said Steve Ellis, the vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group that tracks earmarks.Vitter, for example, threatened to hold up Senate action on the omnibus unless Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) promised him a vote on an amendment to eliminate automatic pay increases for lawmakers. “In a lot of ways he’s trying have his cake and eat it too,” said Ellis. “He talks about being fiscal conservative and then brags back home what he was able to deliver to the state.”John Alyosius Farrell, Tip O’Neill’s biographer, singled Vitter out for ridicule on the Thomas Jefferson Street blog. “The self-righteousness among Republicans on the issue of government spending is rank and overwhelming. The GOP is acting as if federal spending is a Democratic monopoly.” The Huffington Post, a liberal-leaning online publication, ran an article discussing Vitter’s earmarks entitled, “Red States Gobble Up Omnibus Earmarks.” This barrage of criticism comes as a surprise considering that Vitter has positioned himself as one of the staunchest fiscal conservatives in the Senate. Vitter, however, defends his actions even while he criticizes the torrid spending pace Congress has set in the last six months.“I have strongly supported fundamental spending reform, including complete openness and transparency and significantly lower budget number,” Vitter told The Hill in a statement. “As I do that, though, I am proud to stand by my specific funding requests for critical transportation, law enforcement and hurricane recovery needs.” “These represent serious Louisiana needs, which have not been met even as Congress has passed trillion dollar spending and bailout bills,” said Vitter.
Vitter, of course, represents New Orleans, which is still recovering from the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina. A study of nearly 9,000 earmarks in the omnibus showed that showed that Vitter is the fifth-biggest recipient of earmarked funds in the Congress.Vitter has sponsored or cosponsored nearly $250 million in earmarks, according to the study by Taxpayers for Common Sense. Two other Republicans topped the list of biggest earmarkers: Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), senior Republican on the Appropriations Committee; and Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss). Of the ten lawmakers who sponsored or cosponsored the largest sums of earmarked funds, 6 were Republicans. Several of them, such as Cochran and Sens. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), are members of the Appropriations panel. This has caused grumbling on conservative Websites. A contributor to a discussion forum on conservative television host Sean Hannity’s website lamented that Cochran, Wicker and Vitter were three of the biggest sponsors of earmarks in the omnibus.“So much for GOP fiscal responsibility,” griped the anonymous commentator. "Leading Republicans in the House and Senate pushed for a better solution: a spending freeze that would strip the omnibus bill of all its airdropped earmarks and hold government spending at current levels,” House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio), wrote in an opinion editorial published Saturday. “Democratic leaders in both chambers scoffed at this common-sense proposal.” Vitter managed to steer hundreds of millions of dollars to his home state despite not serving on Appropriations by teaming up with a Democrat, Landrieu, his home state colleague. As a member of the Appropriations panel who faced a difficult re-election last year, Landrieu received special consideration from Democratic leaders who ultimately control Congress’s purse strings. Landrieu sponsored more money in earmarks than any Democrat in Congress. Nevertheless, Vitter told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he would vote against the omnibus because it is “just too expensive.”Vitter claimed it is not inconsistent to win money for projects in a bill likely to become law but vote against it because of broad fiscal concerns.
Seems the Republicans have a fondness for earmarks.
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