By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
Funding for a number of state highway and bridge projects were announced Friday by the governor’s office, but money for a replacement of the Interstate 85 bridge at the Yadkin River wasn’t included.
It was the timing of the work ó and not the need ó that temporarily excluded the Yadkin River project.
Additional highway and bridge projects that will receive funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were announced by Gov. Bev Perdue’s office.
A spokeswoman for the governor said the Yadkin River bridge simply didn’t qualify for this round of funds, and said Perdue continues to keep the project on a front burner.
“She hasn’t forgotten it at all, I can promise you that,” said Chrissy Pearson, Perdue’s press secretary. “She recognizes it as an important project.”
Pearson noted that Perdue considers the Yadkin River project so important that she included a paragraph in Friday’s news release. This despite the fact that the Yadkin River work has not yet been funded as part of the act.
According to Friday’s release, Perdue announced in February that she will pursue discretionary grant money included in the act to use for the $300 million Yadkin River bridge.
“Perdue and Transportation Sec. Gene Conti are working with Sen. Kay Hagan, Rep. Mel Watt and the rest of North Carolina’s congressional delegation to obtain funding,” the release reads.
The projects announced Friday pertain to an additional 64 highway and bridge jobs totaling about $209 million. They’ll be funded through the aforementioned American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The projects identified to date total $679 million, more than 90 percent of the $735 million in recovery money North Carolina has received for highway and bridge improvements.
“North Carolina is leading the nation in efforts to expedite the selection of projects and get them under way as quickly as possible to get our people to work,” Perdue said in the news release. “Given our current economy, it is critical that we are using our recovery money to help put people to work and create much-needed economic growth for our communities.”
Pearson said projects funded through the current round of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act must be closer to being ready for construction than the Yadkin River bridge project. That’s the reason the work wasn’t included, she said.
“They wanted projects that were ready to go, to put people immediately back to work,” Pearson said.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, every $1 million spent on transportation creates 30 jobs. The governor’s office said that according to the construction industry, every dollar invested in transportation generates $6 in economic impact.
According to the governor’s office, based on those figures, the additional projects announced Friday are expected to help support more than 6,000 jobs and contribute almost $1.3 billion to the economy. Overall, the projects announced to date are expected to help create and sustain more than 20,000 jobs and generate more than $4 billion in economic development.
The N.C. Department of Transportation had already identified about 70 highway and bridge projects to be let to contract between March and June through recovery funding. Eleven projects totaling $65.1 million were awarded to contract in March. The projects announced Friday will be let to contract over the next year.