The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure included $7 million in funds for the Pioneer Mountain to Eddyville Highway 20 realignment project as part of a highway and mass transit re-authorization bill it passed Wednesday, Congresswoman Darlene Hooley announced this week.
The bill, with about $284 billion of expenditures, includes about $217 million for Oregon and southwest Washington.
The funding will compliment some $133 million the Oregon Department of Transportation has allocated towards the project. By cutting off three winding miles of the current road and creating a highway that meets modern design and safety standards, the project will alleviate bottlenecks and enable motorists to avoid areas of highway that have been the source of regular, sometimes fatal, accidents.
With the federal money, about $140 million should be available for the project. The cost of the project has climbed over time, doubling from a $60 to $65 million estimate some seven years ago. Additional environmental issues, the discovery the route is literally rockier than had been expected, and the inflation-added cost of delay, all added to the total expense of the project.
"The ability of Oregon workers and Oregon goods to reach their destination quickly and safely is vital to growing Oregon's economy," said Hooley. "Federal funding for Highway 20 will create job growth in the area.
State Rep. Alan Brown (R-Newport) said he is "sure glad to see that the federal government is participating in this important project for our region. That's another positive step in keeping this project on-line."
Ed Bortz, the general manager for the Georgia-Pacific mill in Toledo, also lauded the Congresswoman's efforts, thanking Hooley "for her persistent efforts on this issue." Tractor-trailer rigs carrying supplies for Georgia-Pacific must currently use a detour route through Lincoln City to reach the mill, as the trucks are too long to safely and legally negotiate portions of Highway 20.
In addition to the $7 million for Highway 20, the Lincoln County Transit District is authorized to receive $250,000 for the repair and replacement of aging buses.
The bill now goes to the floor of the House of Representatives, where it is expected to be voted upon next week.
That same dollar amount - $7 million - had been included in a similar transportation funding package, supported by Hooley, that cleared the House committee and later, in April 2004, the House of Representatives. That legislation stalled in the Senate, and when the Senate did produce a parallel bill - the Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users - it weighed in at $318 billion, much larger than the House version's $275 billion. At the time, President Bush set a $256 million maximum on the legislation.
Three-way negotiations between the Senate, House and White House failed to reach a figure that all three sides could agree upon, and the legislation died.
The new legislation the House just authorized carries a bigger price tag than the 2004 bill. This time, however, a knowledgeable source says, the indications are the White House will accept a higher figure.