A lack of funding for transportation is regularly an issue in almost every state. It helped cause bond ratings to fall in Kansas, a near-total road construction shutdown the past two months in New Jersey, and headaches for transportation planners from coast to coast.
However, right now, there are nothing but smiles in Nebraska. The state’s Department of Roads announced Sept. 2 that Nebraska is receiving $19 million from the Federal Highway Administration this month as well as more than $21 million in repurposed earmarked FHWA funds that must go to projects located in Nebraska within 50 miles of the original earmarked project and be let to contract by September 2019.
The extra money comes from other states failing to use all of the federal funds they were allocated under the FAST Act. NDOR Director Kyle Schneweis said his department has never lost funds to other states through this redistribution process which is re-allocating more than $2.83 billion in fiscal 2016.
NDOR plans to use nearly half the money, $19 million, to improve 37 miles of roads including segments of State Highways 1, 20, 30, 64 and 109 and an interchange of Interstate 80 in Lincoln.
“We’re very pleased to be able to use funds … which are left over from completed projects or were unusable,” Schneweis said. “I appreciate Congress releasing these funds. It’s the common sense thing to do.”
The Nebraska Trucking Association is also very happy that the state has more money to spend on improving its infrastructure.
“We’re very fortunate to have such an efficient and effective roads department,” NTA President Larry Johnson told Transport Topics. “They’re great partners with the trucking industry, communities and other motorists in our state to ensure that we’re investing in our infrastructure for safe and efficient roads based on logical priorities that balance safety, engineering and economic development. They don’t spend money we don’t have.”
Johnson noted that all of the projects that the $19 million will cover “are in high density traffic corridors in and around not only our Omaha metro area but also on rural connectors to regional commercial/population consolidation centers. That’s good not only for trucking and getting goods in/out of these population centers but will make them safer and more efficient. The additional funds will allow the state to move several of these projects up in priority and get them done much sooner.”
FHWA spokesman Doug Hecox said most states don’t use all of their allocated funds because projects get delayed or come in under budget.
“Because the needs and the market conditions of the state change every year, it isn’t always easy for all of them to spend the available federal funding they have,” Hecox explained. “We’re simply trying to make sure that we’re using all the available aid that Congress allows us to spend.”
Those states that give federal funds back can also receive them for different transportation projects.
Only Hawaii didn’t receive any such re-allocated money for fiscal 2016. California received the most, more than $293 million. Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania also topped the $100 million mark.
