Major transportation projects compete with each other and hundreds of smaller jobs

Vermont Business Magazine, Nov 01, 2001 by Ballou, Jec A

By drastically improving its speed of planning and designing projects, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (AOT) has actually created a delay for many highway jobs that were slated to begin in 2001 and 2002. The problem is securing funding as jobs enter the construction phase faster.

"Up until this past year, we've had sufficient money to do every project as it became ready to be constructed. A lot of these jobs have been taking 10 years to start," reported Dave Scott, director of project development for the AOT. That time line is different now. Scott estimated there is $80 million worth of designs ready to begin construction this year, but no funding available.

"What you're going to start to see is that your project is all designed and permitted and we're going to tell you that you have to wait a year," he stated.

The AOT's increased efficiency isn't the only factor contributing to this bottleneck. There are several big highway improvements in the works at once, which are straining the budget. These include the Missisquoi Bay Bridge, Chittenden County Circumferential Highway, Shelburne Road, Bennington Bypass, and Main Street Burlington.

The Circumferential Highway alone is a $180 million job. The three-leg Bennington Highway has a price tag so far of $135 million. Highway work of such scale funnels money away from the over 400 smaller AOT projects under way at any given time.

Brian Searles, AOT secretary, admitted recently that his agency faces impressive challenges and choices in the next two years. Looking ahead to next year, he expects to see $75 million worth of roadwork fully permitted and designed, but still lacking funding, and therefore going nowhere.

"Simply put, we have a math problem - we have more projects ready for construction than we have dollars to pay for them," reported Searles in a written statement in July.

Large projects like the Circumferential Highway will be soaking up funds for at least the next few years. Many regional planners and town officials throughout the state are unhappy with delays and want their smaller jobs given more priority. The AOT has never found itself in this situation, said Governor Dean.

"What's happened is the Agency has done a great job and pruned out a lot of projects that are not going to be done and sped up getting projects advanced faster," said Dean.

Once the state's five major jobs get finished, the bottleneck will go away, but this might take up to 10 years. Some regional planners have asked the Legislature to consider bonding to fix the problem.

Lance Matteson of the Bennington County Industrial Corporation has urged the House Ways and Means Committee to bond to complete the state's five major highway jobs without holding up everything else.

Matteson is concerned with completing the Bennington Bypass in a timely fashion. Construction will add new highway segments in combination with existing roadways to direct traffic on Routes 7 and 9 around Bennington village and Old Bennington.

The first phase, connecting the route from New York up around the northwest of town is actively under construction. The second phase, a road to the north of town, has received a commitment and priority from the AOT and is awaiting funding. Matteson has met resistance in trying to move ahead with design of the third phase, however.

"The big issue here is if it's all happening fast enough. If you get the first phase done without the second, it could be a disaster with traffic flow... And taxpayers will be wasting their money if the first and second legs are completed without the third," said Matteson. State officials have failed to recognize the importance of this last leg and have tried to prune it out, he stated.

"We've got to do this project right, as it was originally designed with three legs. We have perennial battles over the third stage and we need to stop those. We need to secure commitment from the administration and Legislature to finish this whole project. We're not going to give up. It would be like having a tricycle and deciding to try to save money by taking off a wheel," he said. Matteson explained that the longer the third leggets delayed, the more expensive the entire project becomes.

"My view is if we look at accelerating the construction of this whole project by investing earlier and financing through bonding, we may save taxpayers money," he said.

Bonding might involve financial risks for the state, but it would free up the AOT to finish more projects.

"What everyone wants to avoid is running up a lot of debt. Vermonters traditionally don't like to bond," Matteson admitted.

Governor Dean is quick to point out that bonding doesn't make sense.

"The reason we don't bond is the problem is a federal shortfall, not a state problem," the governor said. The AOT budget operates on an equation based on the amount of estimated expenditure of federal funds. On average, the state matches a percentage of these federal funds. For instance, in the last fiscal year, $126 million came in federal expenditure dollars and the state estimated it needed to match 20 percent of that amount for its expense budget.