Agencies in Clark County stand to receive almost $50 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Of that, more than $19.19 million will go to transportation projects, including local road construction, municipal well construction and weatherization of low-income housing.
These projects will not, by themselves, bring the construction industry back to pre-recession levels. But as Brooke Porter, a community relations specialist in the city of Vancouver’s transportation services department said, “It’s a good start.”
Transportation takes a top priority
The Washington State Department of Transportation and the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council have targeted several infrastructure priorities around the county. Not only will these projects create construction jobs in the short-term, but it is hoped they will lead to long-term development and permanent employment opportunities.
The largest construction project receiving stimulus funding is the Port of Vancouver’s West Vancouver Freight Access project, with a total construction cost of $154 million. The project is broken into four areas and 19 projects, said Monty Edberg, port program manager.
Four of those 19 projects are slated to begin construction in 2009 and to be completed in 2010 – including the Terminal 5 project, which received $2.5 million in federal stimulus money to help build a 30,000-foot railway loop on the 218-acre former Alcoa/Evergreen property. The railway will serve tenants on that land, as well as improve access to the 450-acre Columbia Gateway property, Edberg said.
The overall goal, Edberg said, of the eight-year Freight Access project, which could employ a total of 1,900 construction workers in those eight years, is three-fold, to:
• Reduce congestion on the Class-1 railway network and in the port
• Provide dual-carrier access to the port
• Allow the port to create “unit train capacity” (110-car trains carrying only one commodity, such as grain or coal), which would be more efficient and can save the port and its tenants money.
Closely related to the port project is the city of Vancouver’s $43 million Downtown Vancouver Waterfront Access Project, which has received $2.5 million in ARRA funds. Eric Holmes, Vancouver’s economic development director, said he hopes the project will begin construction this summer.
The main project components are two Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway underpasses for Esther and Grant streets, and the extension of Sixth Street from Grant to provide better access to nearby industrial properties.
The Waterfront Access Project is expected to create 615 construction jobs but more importantly, Holmes said, the access it will provide to developable property has the potential to support 12,000 more construction jobs during development of the waterfront and 2,500 permanent jobs at companies that will eventually locate there.
The Interstate 5-state Route 501 Ridgefield Interchange project is the third-largest local transportation project to receive ARRA funds. A joint effort between the WSDOT and the city and port of Ridgefield, the two-stage project has a total price tag of about $40 million.
With $10 million in stimulus funds, the first stage will go out to bid in June, said Abbi Russell, spokesperson for WSDOT’s Southwest Region.
Stage 1 consists of replacing the existing interchange, widening state Route 501 to two lanes in each direction, and adding new turn lanes and sidewalks. The schedule calls for construction to begin this fall and to be completed by early 2012, employing as many as 200 workers, Russell said.
Other transportation projects receiving ARRA funds include Washougal’s state Route 14 Pedestrian Tunnel, Battle Ground’s North Parkway Improvement, Ridgefield’s Hillhurst Road Overlay, Camas’ Leadbetter Drive extension and Clark County’s upgrade of Northeast 99th Street.
Drinking water is tapped
Washington state is distributing about $38.5 million in economic recovery funds for drinking water construction projects, one of which is the $1.6 million Camas Well No. 14 project.
The city of Camas received $1.2 million in ARRA funds for the well, which will be located west of Goot Park in East Camas, said Tim Hodges, city of Camas project manager. It is necessary because as part of its fish-recovery effort, the city is restricting use of its surface water source in the Little Washougal River watershed from May 15th through October 31st.
The city hopes to put the project out to bid in June and start work in August, bringing the well online next summer. Once complete, it will have a capacity of 1,000 gallons per minute and includes a 2,100-square-foot cement block building.
More construction projects on the way
Clark County received a $1.97 million ARRA grant for weatherization of low-income housing throughout the county, including new weather stripping, furnace replacements and general house rehabilitation. The project will start in June, said Marlia Jenkins, Clark County program development manager.
The county had other projects “in the competitive process” that haven’t yet been approved for funding and is seeking $2.7 million overall, she said.
Clark County Community Housing and Development has three projects that would involve some level of construction, said Program Manager Pete Munroe:
• $258,000 to the city of Camas to upgrade restrooms and disabled parking at Goot Park
• $30,000 to the Janus Youth’s Oak Bridge Youth Shelter to upgrade kitchens, bathrooms and floor coverings
• $41,121 to the Clark County Public Health Department
for its low-income on-site septic repair program
These funds are channeled through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the schedule is undetermined at this point, Munroe said.
Other road construction projects in Southwest Washington receiving ARRA funding include the Cascade Drive Pedestrian Walkway in North Bonneville, the Wind River Road structural overlay project in Skamania County and concrete rehabilitation on I-5 from North Kelso to Castle Rock.
Distribution of ARRA funds in Clark County:
Health & Human Services $2,320,709
Education $23,406,431
Transportation $19,194,366
Energy $3,857,700
Environment $357,500
Public Safety $656,698
