This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Feb. 25, 2009 - St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay used today's East-West Gateway Council of Governments meeting to lambast what he calls the Missouri Department of Transportation's "lopsided allocation" of the federal recovery funds it will get for road and bridge projects.
The main item on the board of director's agenda was to allocate $66.9 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commonly known as the federal stimulus program, for local projects. But Slay wanted to complain about the amount MoDOT plans to spend on highway projects in the city. MoDOT and East-West each has a pot of money from the stimulus to pass on for transportation projects.
Slay asked MoDOT District Engineer Edward Hassinger Jr., who was at the meeting, what MoDOT's reasoning was in giving the city only $1.2 million of the stimulus money when priority is supposed be distressed areas.
Hassinger said MoDOT had to work within its long-range plan and at the same time select projects that could be completed within the stipulated time frame. In addition MoDOT's policy is to avoid projects that would impact traffic flow on other city streets during I-64/Highway 40 construction, he said.
But Slay said there are projects in the city that could be underway quickly and would not conflict with traffic flows on streets impacted by the highway reconstruction.
"I don't see it," Slay said of the amount allocated to the city. "I'm a regional guy. I'll support regional projects all day long, but there's something wrong with this."
Slay said MoDOT is "in violation" of federal stipulations that areas that are economically distressed be given priority in funding.
"In order for me to get additional dollars, the city would have to take it from someone else. That's pitting the city against other regional leaders in an inappropriate and unnecessary way," Slay said in comments after the meeting.
Will Metro get more?
Metro riders could get a last-minute reprieve on some of the cuts the agency has announced for next month if East-West Gateway Council of Governments is successful in its efforts to "flex" or transfer $12 million in Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funds that were allocated for other projects.
The funds cannot be used to restore the existing routes that are slated to be eliminated, Metro CEO Bob Baer said in an interview after Wednesday's East-West Gateway board meeting. Federal regulations require CMAQ money be used for new bus or light rail routes.
Baer said Metro is working to develop routes that the CMAQ funds could be used for.
Asked if the funds would be used to restore service to Chesterfield Valley where civic leaders have complained the cuts would hamper business because many employees use Metro to get to work there, he said it is too soon to say where those routes might be.
"We have any number of projects that we've tried to relate to the highest transit need. Getting people to jobs - that's the most important thing to us because a lot of people are going to be disenfranchised when the cuts take happen on the 30th (March 30)," he said. "Getting people to jobs, getting people to school, getting them to medical centers, getting them to high density retail areas - those are all high priority areas so those are the things we'll be looking to bring back in some form or fashion."
In a memo to its board of directors dated Feb. 24, Gateway staff said it plans to begin discussion with CMAQ project sponsors to see if they're willing to "participate in such a fund swap." If they are, the board would have to approve the transfer.
"The flexed CMAQ funds would be used to finance short-term bus operations enabling Metro to restore some bus routes," the Gateway memo said. "This would simply be a swap of funds with no loss of funds to currently programmed highway projects.
"We're not finished with this."
Missouri's Money
MoDOT plans to send a "provisional list" of five projects totaling $164 million for the St. Louis area to the Missouri Transportation Commission for a vote next week. If the commission approves the list, Gateway will vote on it, possibly at a special meeting.
The projects are:
- $71 million for Route 141 in St. Louis County
- $48 million for Route 364 (Page Avenue) in St. Charles County
- $26 million for I-44 in Franklin County
- $15 million for I-55/Route M in Jefferson County
- $5 million for repaving and pedestrian walkway improvements to Memorial Drive in St. Louis
The $1.2 million that Slay cited is the stimulus portion of the $5 million for Memorial Drive improvements, explained Bill Schnell, assistant engineer for the St. Louis District of MoDOT. The remainding $3.8 million is money they are moving up from funds already allocated for the project later down the line. That frees up the $3.8 million to be used later.
While the $1.2 million looks like a small amount, Schnell said that, when you consider all city projects on MoDOT's 2009-2013 schedule, St. Louis is receiving just under a half billion dollars in projects, second only to St. Louis County. Schnell is counting the two largest projects in the state: the Highway 40 reconstruction and the new bridge across the Mississippi River, which are not funded by stimulus money.
Under a separate provision, Metro will also get $41.9 million in stimulus fund money for capital improvements. It will use $25 million to repair and paint the Eads Bridge and $16.9 for MetroLink right-of-way and station improvements.
East-West Gateway Money
Of the $66.9 million in stimulus funds it will receive, Gateway voted to allocate $22 million for projects in St. Louis County, $20 million for the city of St. Louis, $8.8 million for St. Charles County, $4.2 million for Jefferson County and $3.5 million for Franklin County. It also allocated funds for projects in Illinois counties: $3.8 million each to Madison and St. Clair counties and $440,000 to Monroe County.
Gateway Executive Director Les Sterman said the pot of money the area is receiving is small and that smaller projects were selected to spread the funds throughout the area. Smaller projects can also be implemented quickly, which is important because the area would lose them if the time requirement is not met.
Gateway is responsible for selecting the road, bridge and transit projects in the region that will receive federal funds.
The agency's 21-member policy board of directors is made up of the chief elected officials in Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles and St. Louis counties and the city of St. Louis in Missouri and Madison, Monroe and St. Clair Counties in Illinois, six regional citizens and the chair of Metro.
Kathie Sutin is a freelance writer.