Another major road project District 2 has planned for the near future is paving Douglas from Waterloo to Forrest Hills. Engineering has been completed and a plan-in-hand meeting was held with our engineer and ODOT. Right-of-way and utility paper work was submitted and the
environmental clearance process is underway.
For several years we have been working to finance the project. Earlier this year Douglas was approved for funding through the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) administered by the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments.
In order to qualify for TIP funding, a road has to be classified by the Federal Highway Administration as a major collector. Projects qualify for funding based on a point system and competition is stiff
among various entities. Douglas scored high based upon an average daily traffic count of 4,451; an accident severity rate in which from 2007-2011 there were 5 accidents resulting in injury and 13 accidents resulting in property damage; air quality rated “moderate” and a road surface rated as “poor”.
Costs for resurfacing the four miles of Douglas are projected to be $1,525,000. Since the funding we were approved for is federal money, it will pay for only 80% of the project. The county must provide the remaining 20%. And, since the project was approved for funding in 2013, we had to plan quickly on how to come up with the $300,000 match.
Last week I wrote about meeting with Circuit Engineering Division 5 to review projects for the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges Program (CIRB) 5-year plan. Since CIRB is funded through the Oklahoma State Legislature, those dollars qualify to use as match money for
federally funded projects. By working with CIRB officials, we were able to secure $310,000 in match money for Douglas.
As a result, it appears that everything is on track to begin this major improvement in 2013.
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