Update from Commissioner District 1

In 2006 the state legislature passed a law creating the County Improvements for Roads and Bridges (CIRB) program. The purpose for the program was to help counties in constructing or reconstructing high priority roads or bridges on the County Highway System. Funding for the program became available in 2008 and is derived from motor vehicle tax which previously went into the state’s general revenue fund. Since some projects include several miles of roadway and bridge improvements, counties can accumulate funding for up to five years for a specific improvement. Considerations for choosing projects include surface condition of roads, traffic counts, accident history and
bridge conditions.

The process for the program begins with the county commissioners who identify potential projects within their districts. These projects are presented to the Circuit Engineering Board (CED) with which the county is affiliated. The CED assists in preparing a list of projects to present to ODOT. ODOT reviews the proposals and each project phase such as engineering, right-of-way, utility relocation and construction is budgeted for, scheduled and packaged into the CIRB Construction Work Plan. This is then presented to the Transportation Commission for consideration. Once the plan is approved, ODOT coordinates and cooperates with the counties and the CED in managing projects.

The CIRB plan is updated and approved annually. This month the Board of Commissioners will be updating the Logan County CIRB plan before sending revisions to the CED and then to ODOT.

In District 1, resurfacing Coltrane from Waterloo to Seward is a project of the CIRB plan. This year, $5,750,000 has been budgeted through CIRB for Phase I of this project. This money will be applied toward right-of-way acquisition, utility relocation and construction.
An additional $4,246,174 has been approved for construction on Coltrane through the Transportation Improvement Plan administered by the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments (ACOG).

One of the greatest benefits of the CIRB plan is that since it is state money, it can be coupled with federal dollars to provide the 20% local match usually required on federally funded projects. An example of this is the bridge currently under construction on Charter Oak Rd.
west of Santa Fe. We were able to begin the project because $173,000 was provided through the CIRB program to be used as a local match for federal funds we received for the project. In 2011, Western Avenue just north of Waterloo was paved through a combination of federal and CIRB funds. Each of the commissioners are working to effectively utilize this program to make major improvements in the infrastructure of Logan County. If you are interested in viewing the CIRB plan and Logan County projects, the information is posted on the ODOT website.