Rowan gets fraction of grant for bridge

The trucks head North on the I-85 bridge looking toward the Davidson County side of the Yadkin River. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Karissa Minn

kminn@salisburypost.com

Federal officials said Wednesday the state will receive only a fraction of the $300 million grant it applied for to help pay for replacing the aging Yadkin River bridge and widen Interstate 85 in Rowan and Davidson counties.

But N.C. transportation officials say they have a backup plan to pay for replacing the 55-year-old bridge — selling bonds guaranteed by future federal transportation allocations — and work could begin this spring.

That first phase of the project is expected to cost around $180 million. A second phase that would widen the interstate in Davidson County and cost $150 million would go unfunded for now.

"The bottom line is that the bridge needs to be replaced, so we're committed to doing that," said Pat Ivey, Division 9 engineer with the N.C. Department of Transportation. "We're just going to move forward and try to locate additional funding for the rest of the project as well."

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday the state will get $10 million it can accept as a grant or use to pay administrative costs for a loan to replace the 55-year-old bridge. Under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, the U.S. Department of Transportation can directly loan up to one third of the project's total cost, guarantee a loan for the project, or extend a line of credit.

The news drew reaction from officials at all levels of government who had hoped for substantially more federal aid.

"I appreciate Secretary LaHood taking notice of this project, and I am pleased to see that American Recovery and Reinvestment funds are going to such an important and critical project for our state," U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell said. "However, we must be cognizant that there is still much work to be done to get this project fully funded and completed."

Salisbury Mayor Susan Kluttz said that she also was glad for the funding, but she had expected much more.

"Frankly, saying I'm disappointed would be an understatement," Kluttz said. "I was shocked that we did not get the $300 million."

The N.C. Department of Transportation places the cost of the project at about $330 million, but federal documents give estimates of $374 million to $461 million.

In his statement, LaHood said the funding pool from which the state requested the money — the $1.5 billion TIGER Discretionary Grant program — could not support all the transportation projects that had been proposed.

LaHood said each project being offered a TIFIA loan "is a major highway project with planned or potential revenue streams that could be used to support credit assistance. Each of these projects requested extremely high funding amounts (between $100 million and $300 million) that could not be met in a program the size of the TIGER Discretionary Grant program."

Ed McDonald, press secretary for N.C. Rep. Howard Coble, said Coble had pushed for funding for the project.

"We were disappointed that a Democratic governor couldn't get more than $10 million from a Democratic administration, with the backing of the entire North Carolina delegation," McDonald said. Coble is a Republican.

Chrissy Pearson, spokesperson for Gov. Bev Perdue, said the governor has spoken with President Obama on several occasions about the bridge.

"Even if Washington doesn't understand that this is a major interstate commerce corridor, North Carolina does," Pearson said. "That's the reason the DOT has prioritized it to make sure that they had another plan if this funding didn't come through."

Ivey, the Division 9 engineer, said his office is happy with the $10 million.

"It's better than nothing," Ivey said. "We certainly wish it had been more than that, but we're certainly happy we've got what we do have."

Ivey said the grant will be applied to the first part of the project, which includes replacement of the Yadkin River bridge and widening of the interstate. The rest of the estimated $180 million cost can be financed with GARVEE bonds, which will allow the state to borrow money against its future federal allocations.

The bonds would be paid back, with interest, from the district's equity-formula funding over a 12-year period. Ivey said this will allow the DOT to begin the project as early as April, while construction costs and bid prices are low due to the economy.

A 3-mile stretch from N.C. 150 to Business 85 still will need to be widened, he said, but that part of the project — costing about $150 million — will have to be put on hold.

Money paid out of the DOT's equity formula could drain funding that would be used for future capital projects in the district. Ivey said he didn't believe paying for the I-85 project would impact others already scheduled for the next five years, but he didn't know what effect it would have beyond that.

N.C. Rep. Lorene Coates said she was thankful for the $10 million.

"It's not nearly the amount of money that we need, but of course, $10 million is more than we had," Coates said.

But Carl Ford, chairman of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners, said the money was a "drop in the bucket" for this project.

"It's a travesty and a slap in the face," Ford said, "especially when you look down the list and see that Indianapolis has got $20 million for a bike and walking path, and we've got a bridge that could cave in with 60,000 cars a day."

That grant will pay about one-third of the cost for a cultural trail showcasing public art and connecting cultural districts, businesses and offices in Indianapolis, Ind.

Philadelphia and Camden, N.J. also were awarded $23,000 for a pedestrian and bicycle trail to connect the two cities. In all, the federal government got 1,400 applications for grants totaling nearly $60 billion.

The 51 TIGER grants range in size from under $4 million to more than $100 million, and the projects are distributed throughout 41 states and the District of Columbia.

For more information about the grants, visit www.dot.gov.