Stimulus funds could go Cass Highways

WALKER - Cass County could gain $4 million in federal stimulus funding for highway improvements and could be able to move one highway improvement from 2012 to this year.

County Engineer David Enblom told the county board Tuesday the county has $1 million in federal funds toward the $3 million needed to resurface County State Aid Highway 1 from Pine River south to County Road 114. If Congress approves the current Jobs For America bill, the county could receive $2 million to complete that project rather than having to provide a $2 million local match with state aid funds.

Enblom said Leech Lake Reservation has applied for Bureau of Indian Affairs unallocated stimulus funds, which the reservation has sought to enable the county to resurface County State Aid Highway 8 this year instead of 2012 from Highway 200 to just south of Federal Dam.

These stimulus-funded projects would free state aid money for improvements on other county roads, he said.

The commissioners voted to send Enblom and Commissioner Dick Downham to Washington, D.C., on the annual Transportation Alliance Legislative Fly-in to lobby in June for more federal highway funds.

They referred to the board's capital improvement subcommittee, Commissioners Jim Dowson and Jeff Peterson, a state proposal for the county to join the state in constructing a new joint highway department garage at Pine River.

MnDOT has already purchased property for the project and expects to construct a new building whether or not the county joins the project. The existing county garage there is inefficient to operate and has limited space for the number of vehicles housed in it.

The board awarded a resurfacing contract to low bidder Knife River Materials for $116,677.15 to resurface Sucker Bay Road, which runs from Highway 2 to Ottertail Peninsula on the north shore of Leech Lake. The bid was the lowest of six received and ran 14.99 percent under engineering estimates.

Forest Highway funds will pay for $625,000 of that project and $491,000 federal stimulus dollars, pay the balance.