Stimulus funding to resurface Janesville streets
JANESVILLE — The federal government will pay for the resurfacing of five Janesville streets this summer.
Rep. Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, announced that $1.5 million in federal stimulus money will pay for the work.
The streets are:
-- Black Bridge Road, Highway 51 to Mayfair Drive.
-- East Milwaukee Street, Ringold Street to Sumac Drive.
-- Kellogg Avenue, Center Avenue to Jackson Street.
-- Mount Zion Avenue, Pontiac Drive to Milwaukee Street.
-- North Oakhill Avenue, Court Street to Highland Avenue.
The work probably will begin in August or September, said Brad Cantrell, director of community development for the city.
“Improvements to Janesville’s infrastructure will make the city stronger and more prepared for the economy of the future while putting folks here in Janesville to work,” said Rep. Mike Sheridan, D-Janesville, in a news release. “At a time when our state and local budgets are under significant strain, we must maximize our share of federal recovery funds.”
Engineering design is done or nearly done on the city projects, Cantrell said. The state will let bids on the projects along with a large number of other projects around the state.
Also approved was work on the Raccoon Creek Bridge on County H in Newark Township.
The stimulus funding was designed to put people to work, so state officials looked favorably on “shovel-ready” projects, Cantrell said.
The city had moved forward with the project design in hopes of getting the stimulus funding, Cantrell said.
The money from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 also was intended to target economically distressed areas, and Rock County is classified as one of those, said Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit.
“The local projects that are eligible for these funds far exceed the amount of stimulus funds we have available,” Robson said in a news release. “The DOT received eligible project requests that cost over five times the available funding. I’m pleased that so many of our local projects were funded. This will free up existing transportation dollars for other pressing needs.”
Sheridan added: “This is the second round of local transportation projects to be funded with federal stimulus dollars. The third and final round is scheduled for bid letting in 2010. The projects have not yet been identified.”
May 16, 2009 at 3:02 p.m.
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jackson street USED to be a main street.
I hear you can see threw the street and see the river. CRAZY. how about we just get this fixed before we build a parking garage??????
May 16, 2009 at 2:57 p.m.
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tj24- my thoughts EXACTLY.
now maybe all 4 of the city workers in the group will be working except just the one with the shovel. I know it is a stereotype but I HAVE Seen this with my own two eyes. One shovels and the rest watch him shovel.
May 15, 2009 at 2:11 p.m.
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Any idea on why Congress restricted the money so it could not be used on neighborhood streets? I drive through the Fourth Ward once or twice weekly en route to a friend's home and am absolutely appalled at the condition of those streets.
May 15, 2009 at 2:07 p.m.
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whoanellie, the "A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage" line was Herbert Hoover.
http://www.presidentsusa.net/1928slogan....
.
Roadmaster is correct. The city does not have complete discretion in where this money can be spent. One way to look at this is that the city now will have money available for other street repairs. What this does is accelerate the maintenance schedule. Even if these streets were "recently" resurfaced, that only extends the lifetime of a roadbed so far.
May 15, 2009 at 10:19 a.m.
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Federal stimulus money can only be used for connecting streets and main thoroughfares. It can't be used for neighborhood streets.
May 15, 2009 at 10:01 a.m.
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Your tax dollars @ work! I just hope our grandchildren & great-grandchildren have jobs to pay it back. oh wait Obama promised a chicken in every pot right??? Oh no that was another big time liberal spender!!
May 14, 2009 at 10:49 p.m.
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I have a truck Milwaukee st. seems fine to me. Crap now when I cross it in those months it will take longer to get to and from work. Can you say speed bump. Oh wait are they going to repave it. Then tear it up after to put in new sewer. Like Delavan does. Then patch it back up so it is just as bad as before they started in the first place?
May 14, 2009 at 9:42 p.m.
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Are you kidding me? Every one of the streets on that list have been resurfaced within the past 15-20 years and are actually in very good condition! This angers me when streets such as Jackson St. from Delavan Dr. to Rockport is aweful and River St. from Racine St. to Court St. is almost undrivable at this point and needs to be torn up and redone after being neglected for so many years, Mr Cantrell you make me sick if you think that the streets on that list need repair more than just about all of the streets down in the forth ward! Or is it about which areas pay more taxes in this case? So one more question to Mr. Cantrell and to you Mike Sheridan, if your taking bids on this work and hire an out of town crew to do the work how is that helping our local economy? Sounds like another big bag of steaming LIES!
May 14, 2009 at 8:47 p.m.
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"Leesbunny...your children, grand children and great grandchildren already inherited a trillion $$$$ ++++++ debt from Dubya....what's the big worry about adding it to another generation???"
Ahh yes, the liberal mating call. If Bush did something, we liberals should be able to do it tenfold because we're "informed" and "sophisticated". I wouldn't use that logic on my pets much less when running a country. And we wonder why we've been stuck with that crook in the Governor's mansion for the past 6 years.
May 14, 2009 at 8:43 p.m.
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Funny, I thought that's what my "regular" tax dollars were supposed to be paying for. Guess when you whizz money down the rat hole on pet spending projects, then expect the taxpayers to fund the restoration of a "historic" dellapitated house there's not much money left for nuisance things like snow plowing or road repair.
May 14, 2009 at 7:15 p.m.
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tj24: Thank you! I also don't recall that these portions of roadway seem in need of repair ... the Fourth Ward streets, however, are a mess!
May 14, 2009 at 6:55 p.m.
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Leesbunny...your children, grand children and great grandchildren already inherited a trillion $$$$ ++++++ debt from Dubya....what's the big worry about adding it to another generation???
May 14, 2009 at 6:01 p.m.
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Um, why not just pave the roads to the job center and the unemployment office? Cuz they sure arent going to be used to drive to work around Janesville.
May 14, 2009 at 5:54 p.m.
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Welcome to Obamanomics. This is where you think everything is rosy, but when you wake up, you have trillions of dollars of debt. Oh wait, that was "inherited"......Yeah it will be inherited alright, by your children.
May 14, 2009 at 4:37 p.m.
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Help me understand...I don't see this creating any NEW jobs. It might be keeping those that are working, working but what else? I can't even say that I *think* those roads need to be paved.
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