Stimulus News You Can Use is one way WSDOT is working to keep transportation stakeholders updated on the fast-moving effort to put people to work and improve the state’s infrastructure. Each edition will have information on project delivery and highlights. Sign up to receive stimulus news e-mail updates. Visit the Newsletter Archive for earlier editions.

This week's stimulus snapshot

• North Spokane Corridor TIGER Project awarded
• Total stimulus highway project payroll tops $100 million
• Two new stimulus projects certified 
• Construction began on second US 97 Recovery Act project in Douglas County 
• Two local Recovery Act projects awarded 
• Congressional committee held Recovery Act hearing July 27 
• Important stimulus dates 
• Useful Recovery Act web links 
• Stimulus data table update

Contract awarded for North Spokane Corridor TIGER project – WSDOT has awarded the latest work on the North Spokane Corridor project to Graham Construction and Management of Spokane. The 3.7-mile project, scheduled to start this year and be completed by early 2012, will add the full southbound lanes between Francis Avenue and Farwell Road, a segment currently open with limited traffic. Five new bridges are part of the work. The winning bid, among four, was $21,455,920. All the bids were lower than the engineer’s estimate of nearly $24.5 million. The project received a $35 million Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant in February. See the news release for more information.


Payroll for Washington stimulus projects has exceeded $100 million to date – Employees working on state and local Recovery Act highway projects in Washington have earned $106 million in payroll since the law’s passage in February 2009. In June, employees working on highway projects receiving stimulus funds logged over 227,000 hours and earned payroll totaling over $8.8 million. The June employment data was a decrease from May, in which revised data showed employees worked over 275,000 hours and received $10.8 million in payroll. The data set is available at WSDOT’s stimulus employment webpage.

Two new projects certified for stimulus funds on July 23 – Governor Gregoire certified two more stimulus projects to receive federal stimulus highway funds on July 27. The WSDOT project, US 395/Lee Rd to Jct I-90, is a $7.85 million project that will receive $4.7 million in stimulus funds. The city of Ellensburg will receive $200,000 to for the Canyon Road Overlay project. The city previously completed an earlier Recovery Act project on Canyon Road.

Two local Recovery Act projects recently awarded to contractors – Local projects to pave roads in Everett and Bothell were recently awarded. The Bothell 2010 Overlay Arterial Roadway Preservation project, which received $480,000 in Recovery Act funds, was awarded on July 20. It will overlay asphalt on Meridian Avenue from 228th St SE to NE 205th in the city of Bothell. The Everett HMA Overlay Broadway and Pacific project, which received $800,000 in Recovery Act funds, was awarded on July 21. The project will overlay sections of Broadway between 24th Street and 20th Street and Pacific Avenue between Maple and Fulton. Both projects received surplus Recovery Act funds that became available due to low bids on earlier projects.

Congressional committee held Recovery Act hearing July 27 – Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood testified at the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Recovery Act oversight hearing on July 27. The hearing focused on the national delivery of transportation projects, including testimony from highway, transit, and rail representatives. LaHood highlighted next month’s groundbreaking of the city of Seattle Mercer Corridor project as part of his written testimony.

Federal Transportation Blog highlights this week – Check the WSDOT Federal Issues blog for recent items on transportation stimulus bill prospects, congressional transportation earmarks, and the latest information on federal transportation funding reauthorization.

Highlight of the week

Construction began on second US 97 project in Douglas County

Two highway improvements projects on US 97 were combined for efficiency: one will preserve the highway with a chip seal and the other creates a passing lane for motorist safety. Starting July 26, crews began adding chip seal paving on 13 miles of US 97 between Orondo and Sun Cove. The speed limit will be reduced to 35 mph through the work zone to minimize windshield damage from un-compacted gravel.

Crews recently built a one mile-long northbound passing lane north of Daroga State Park, which opened on July 20. The project also includes guardrail updates, guideposts, rumble strips, high visibility striping, and new highway signs. Both projects received surplus Recovery Act funds that became available due to low bids on earlier projects.

Important dates

August 6: High-speed rail grant application deadline
August 11: Transit application deadline for TIGGER grants 
August 14: Ribbon cutting for Washougal SR 14 pedestrian tunnel project
August 23: Final TIGER II application deadline
September 30: Deadline for obligating Recovery Act highway funds
September 30: Deadline for next high-speed rail grants

Websites of interest

WSDOT ARRA website: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/funding/stimulus
WSDOT Federal Transportation Issues blog: http://wsdotfederalfunding.blogspot.com
Washington recovery website: http://www.recovery.wa.gov/
Federal recovery website: http://www.recovery.gov/
FHWA recovery website: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/economicrecovery/index.htm
Federal Transit Administration recovery website: www.fta.dot.gov/recovery
Federal Railroad Administration recovery website: http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/2153
Federal Aviation Administration recovery website: http://www.faa.gov/recovery
OMB recovery website: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/recovery_default/

This week by the numbers (project dollars in millions)