Oklahoma Agency Sets $228M of Stimulus-Backed Construction

DALLAS - The Oklahoma Transportation Commission on Monday awarded $228.4 million of construction contracts financed by money the state will receive from the $787 billion federal infrastructure stimulus plan.

The total of $270 million in contracts allocated at the meeting to the 42 projects across the state is almost three times bigger than the previous largest monthly contract volume awarded by the commission. The total includes state highway dollars in addition to the federal stimulus funds.

Work on 78 miles of interstate highways and 35 bridges covered by the contracts should begin soon, said Gary Ridley, director of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. The projects were scheduled for construction in the early period of ODOT's eight-year highway improvement program, he said, and will require little additional engineering before construction can begin.

ODOT will receive $340 million of stimulus funds for highway and bridge projects, with funding also going to public transportation efforts in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas.

Ridley said work will begin on most of the stimulus-financed projects being awarded within 45 days after March 2, when the federal money became available.

"The jobs we selected came out of our eight-year construction program, but were outside the 2009 plan," Ridley said. "We wanted to create additional jobs, not just supplant the money we had planned to spend on existing projects."So we moved these forward."

The commission meeting normally would have been held on the first Monday in April, but it was rescheduled to expedite the first road work financed with the $465 million in transportation funding that Oklahoma will receive from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The commission scheduled three bid opening sessions in March rather than the normal single session so the construction contracts could be issued at Monday's meeting.

Ridley said the construction bids came in 18% to 15% lower than expected.

ODOT has been working on developing a list of projects that could get under way quickly since the stimulus package was first proposed in late 2008, said Brenda Perry, a spokeswoman for the department.

"We have been working for several months to develop a project list since we first heard that the money might be coming," she said. "We are one of the first states to really get this thing under way."

The department developed a list of projects costing $1.1 billion before the stimulus bill passed. If other states are unable to get their stimulus-financed projects under construction before the 12-month deadline, Oklahoma hopes to receive additional stimulus funds for transportation improvements.

Gov. Brad Henry praised ODOT for its quick work.

"When it comes to moving quickly and efficiently to implement the stimulus package on transportation, Oklahoma has really led the way for the rest of the country," Henry said. "Oklahoma was more than ready to hit the ground running."

Approximately $26 million of the federal stimulus money Oklahoma will receive for transportation efforts is set aside for work on county bridges, with another $26 million allocated to projects in small towns.

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