Groundbreaking of US Route 33/Nelsonville Bypass
Remarks by Victor Mendez, Administrator, Federal Highway Administration
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Nelsonville, Ohio
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Good morning everyone and thanks for inviting me. Unlike some people I brought my coat. It is cold and if it sounds like I’m shivering it’s because I am shivering.
I do want to say a couple of thing before I jump into my script here. Just driving from Columbus up here it’s a beautiful drive, beautiful country, as we’re sitting her there are about four hawks floating out there behind you. It gives you that sense of what rural America’s all about, and it’s out here in rural America where a lot of things are happening.
I do appreciate the invite to be here, it is a happy event and I enjoy that. I also want to say that I bring greetings from Secretary LaHood. He is very busy also traveling around the country, trying to keep the stimulus moving, and he’s doing a really great job.
Now, in the nearly 8 months since President Obama signed the Recovery Act, there have been a lot of scenes across the country just like what we’re doing here today. I personally have traveled around the country to many of these events simply because it is so important, as was just mentioned, what were doing here with the economy, with new jobs, sustaining existing jobs.
Secretary LaHood was in fact in Columbus just last month touring a COTA transit facility being renovated with Recovery Act dollars. So as you can tell by my presence and Secretary LaHood’s presence, Ohio is very important to all of us.
Today, we’re celebrating 305 construction jobs that will be saved or created here. It’s a terrific boost for this area, and more jobs will follow as the ripple effect streams throughout the supply chain and other local companies.
That’s even more important when you consider that without the Bypass, as many as 75 workers may have been laid off without the projects here. I talked to one of the contractors beforehand and he made it very clear that without this project or one of the phases he might be laying people off, which is not good in the situation we’re in today.
The Federal Highway Administration has obligated 73 percent of the Recovery Act funds we have available – almost 19-and-a-half billion dollars for just over 8,000 projects on a national basis.
And things are moving well here in Ohio. The latest figures show that Ohio has obligated about $460 million of the $937 million that was made available to Ohio. That money is obligated for 202 projects, of which 118 are already underway, and when you consider the short amount of time since February to where we are today, that’s incredible progress.
The Recovery Act has kept the tough times from getting tougher and put us on the road to better days.
We’re making major improvements to our infrastructure and we’re saving and creating jobs, many of them in hard-hit industries such as the construction industry.
As I understand it, this is the largest stimulus project in the state. While $150 million was obligated for the two contracts, bids actually came in below the estimates, with a total contract amount of $138 million.
We’re seeing lot of those savings throughout the entire nation. What that means simply is that we’re able to reinvest those savings into more projects and more jobs. Looking at statistics and where we are today, things are going really well.
The Recovery Act itself had many things that are very important. First, it’s going to create jobs today. That’s very important, so that people in Ohio, your citizens here in Ohio can start bringing home a paycheck again and providing for their families the way they want to.
Second, it’s going to reduce congestion, and by relieving a major bottleneck, it will be easier and safer for trucks to go between Columbus and Charleston, West Virginia.
Third, the project is being built with great respect for the environment. From what I’m told, it’s one of the most environmentally sensitive highway projects you’ve ever done in the state.
That is very important to all of us at DOT, and that’s because Secretary LaHood has made sustainability one of the key benchmarks for today’s transportation projects.
And last, but certainly not least, thanks to the recovery funds, Ohio is able to start work on this project today, at least three years ahead of schedule. And that’s attributable to all of you working on a regional basis, and I applaud you for that.
One of the things that’s very important for me is to recognize people that really have a major impact when you come to these important projects.
I do want to congratulate Governor Strickland, ODOT Director Jolene Molitoris and your Senator and your Congressman that are up here with me today. Without their support we would not be here today, we would not be talking about creating jobs, moving the economy forward, and creating infrastructure for the future.
With that I want to say once again thank you all for being here, thank you for inviting me, and I’m looking forward to coming back when we do the ribbon-cutting.
Thank you all very much.
United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration