The List, Shovel Ready Or Not, Goes To The State

By John Voket

The last time Newtown Public Works Director Fred Hurley saw this level of anticipation over proposed infrastructure funding was when Jimmy Carter was president. At the time, in the late 1970s, Mr Hurley was surveying and helping qualify municipal projects for the Bridgeport Economic Development Corporation.

And President Carter was touting a program backed by Congressional support, which has tremendously coincidental overlay to modern day. President Carter’s Public Works Employment and Economic Stimulus Appropriations Bills were expected to reduce the unemployment rate, which at that time was exceeding eight percent, and jumpstart a national economy toward a normal growth in prosperity.

One of those bills, House Resolution 11, provided $4 billion in immediate funding for state and local governments for projects that would create an estimated 300,000 jobs, and at least another 300,000 in related industries concerned with construction.

President-elect Barack Obama’s public works stimulus package was tagged on December 29 to be hovering at $850 billion. According to the Federal Highway Administration, for every $1.25 billion spent on transportation projects, approximately 35,000 jobs are created.

In a recent radio address, the president-elect called the proposal “the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s.”

Now that’s the kind of talk that gets officials like Mr Hurley thinking about projects, many projects, large and small. And he recently helped First Selectman Joe Borst compile a list of these projects, more than $100 million worth, the public works chief believes could be shovel ready in zero–180 days if funding was committed.

Ahead of a meeting with Mr Obama that took place in early December, Governor M. Jodi Rell asked state agencies to come up with a list of projects that are ready to be built if the state receives federal stimulus funding. The governor directed the state’s Public Works, Transportation and Economic and Community Development departments to prioritize any “shovel ready” projects.

The list could include road, bridge, rail, and public buildings projects, as well as economic development and housing initiatives in their final design stages. So local officials went to work, and obliged the state with nearly 60 ideas ranging in scope from a new fire station for Newtown Hook & Ladder ($4 million) to much of the demolition and infrastructure installations required at Fairfield Hills (almost $13 million) to a renovation on Key Rock Road ($75,000).

“I’ve got ten projects I could bid today, and another ten I could bid in 30 days,” Mr Hurley told The Bee recently. And, he has no worries if the money comes with “use it or lose it” strings attached. “Timing will be the key — we have a great many projects ready to go.

“I’m very confident we’re going to get some money out of this,” the public works chief said, adding that he started the process of building Newtown’s “list” two months ago when the idea of a federal infrastructure stimulus package was just beginning to gain traction.

At the regional level, Jonathan Chew, executive director at the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials pointed out that even state-level projects being proposed can indirectly benefit Newtowners. He cited transportation projects including adding regional bus lines and controls for the Danbury to Grand Central commuter rail line, which handles many local riders every day.