Page 20 - Flathead Beacon // 5.27.2015

20 | MAY 27, 2015
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HIGHWAY BILL
Continued from Page 6
the 18.4-cents-a-gallon tax has not been raised since 1993. President Obama and lawmakers from both parties have de- clined to support increasing the tax.
While fighting over a solution, Con- gress has passed 12 short-term exten- sions in the past six years.
The House on May 19 approved the latest extension, which would allow states to continue to receive aid through July. The Senate voted late last week on an 11th-hour extension. The federal transportation program’s spending au- thority expired May 31.
Faced with lingering uncertainty and potential funding shortages, state and federal lawmakers are calling for a long-term solution.
Gov. Steve Bullock visited an un- finished section of the Kalispell bypass on May 19 with a group of city leaders, echoing his support for the transforma- tive project and decrying “petty politics” that are hampering state developments.
“We have been waiting a long time to get this done. But we can’t get it done if politics and short-term thinking holds up the federal dollars,” Bullock said.
Joe Unterreiner, president of the Ka- lispell Chamber of Commerce, told the crowd that completing the bypass was vital to the city’s future.
“The bypass is such a critical piece of infrastructure and we need to keep it moving,” he said.
Completing the bypass will benefit the burgeoning commercial district on the north end while also creating ur- ban renewal opportunities for down- town, Unterreiner said. Roughly 100 businesses signed a letter that was sent to the Montana delegation supporting a sustainable source of highway funds, Unterreiner said.
U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, voted in favor of the short-term ex- tension but said he, too, wants a long- term solution.
“The highway bill is one of those must-do bills,” he said.
“Congress right now has no clear an- swer for how to fund it. I’ve long been an advocate for the highway bill in that I look at infrastructure as an invest- ment and not an expense. I can tell you that an investment today in infrastruc- ture will prevent a lot of the problems of the future.”
Zinke said the federal government needs to remove the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. from the equation, but even then there would remain a short- fall in funds. He said he hopes Congress will be able to come up with a solution and pass a five-year plan in the coming months. He did express disappointment
that the Montana Legislature failed to pass an infrastructure bill at the state level that could have helped ailing proj- ects and reduced dependency on the fed- eral government.
“I was disappointed in the Legisla- ture that the infrastructure bill didn’t get hammered out. That was a lack of both sides really trying to get to the so- lution,” he said.
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, has been a vocal advocate for passing a long- term highway bill and has criticized law- makers for neglecting the issue. He said he would reluctantly vote for the short- term extension.
“Congress has known for 10 months that this deadline was coming, yet we are missing another opportunity to make meaningful investments in our nation’s aging infrastructure,” Tester said. “A two-month extension will run dry in the middle of construction season and gives almost zero certainty to folks working construction this summer. I’ll support this extension because we can’t let highway projects come to a screech- ing halt. But it is past time for a long- term bill that will create jobs and make our roads safer.”
Bullock said the persistent short- term extensions are hurting the state’s ability to plan for the future and move forward with projects across the state.
“We need the ability to do long-term planning. We need that opportunity,” Bullock said, adding, “We can’t continue to wait until the last minute to sort these things out. We have significant infra- structure needs all across the state.”
The final phases of the bypass, which are being bundled into one large project that is estimated to cost $40-45 mil- lion,werescheduledtogooutforbidthis month. Administrators with the state’s Department of Transportation were forced to put everything on hold amid uncertainty in D.C. over funding. Now MDT is poised to go out for bid in late Au- gust, meaning the bypass could be com- pleted by late spring 2017 instead of the fall of 2016, according to state officials.
“This is a very important project for this community. It will change this land- scape dramatically,” Ed Toavs, regional administrator for MDT and project lead- er, told the crowd alongside Bullock and Mike Tooley, director of MDT.
When completed, the final 3.5 miles of road will feature four lanes resem- bling an interstate highway that travel from Reserve Loop near Glacier High School to U.S. Highway 2, where the south portion of the bypass currently ends, Toavs said.
“There’s nothing that’s going to stop it except the funding. We’re ready to go today,” he said.
“We need to finish this project.”
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“THE BYPASS IS SUCH A CRITICAL PIECE OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND WE NEED TO KEEP IT MOVING.” Joe Unterreiner
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