Two county highway projects slashed

Two Bourbon County projects are among $86 million worth of state-funded projects that the Kansas Department of Transportation has removed from its list of 2010 projects due to budget cuts within the department.

One of the projects, at a cost of $430,000, would provide for a one-inch overlay on a 6-mile stretch of Kansas Highway 31 from the Bourbon and Linn county line to the east junction of K-31 and Kansas Highway 7. The other is a $725,000 project to provide a one-inch overlay on an 11-mile stretch of Kansas Highway 65 from the junction of Kansas Highway 3 east to the K-31 junction in Mapleton.

KDOT officials have suspended both local projects, along with dozens of others across the state that were scheduled to be let for bid through June, due to recent budget cuts announced by Gov. Mark Parkinson in an effort to help balance the state budget amid revenue shortfalls.

Parkinson announced Friday that KDOT's budget would be reduced an additional $28 million, bringing the department's total loss for 2010 to $257 million.

"There are few options left to balance the budget this late in the fiscal year, so I understand the steps the governor has taken," KDOT Secretary Deb Miller said in a statement Friday regarding Parkinson's recent announcement to sweep $28 million in funds from the State Highway Fund into the State General Fund. "But in this tough economic time, the $257 million in cuts this year to the State Highway Fund are beyond stunning."

Miller added, "The burden of balancing the state budget has fallen very heavily on the construction industry. Today, I am suspending $86 million -- or 65 percent -- of the $133 million in state-funded projects we'd planned to have under contract for the remainder of the fiscal year. That will eliminate jobs for both contractors and suppliers. The saving grace is that the federal Recovery Act will fund $112 million in new projects to be underway this summer. We will also continue as planned with projects that involve federal and local dollars."

There are 120 projects on KDOT's list for $232 million, $47 million of which is state dollars, that will be let to construction this year. These are projects that KDOT has already committed to under the Comprehensive Transportation Program and involve the final phases of the project, such as a $31 million U.S. Highway 54 project in Kingman County, and a $2 million Kansas Highway 61 project in McPherson and Reno counties.

Other projects that will be let include those funded through federal and local dollars, including 20 projects on the list totaling $112 million that will be funded through money provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; and small city and county projects that are funded primarily through federal and local dollars and generally involve resurfacing. There are 98 city and county projects on the list totaling $87 million. Of that, only $14 million is state money, according to KDOT.

Miller said KDOT's construction spending for 2010, which is down to $192 million, is "in real dollars" lower than it was in the 1970s.

"Kansas citizens, communities and businesses won't get the kind of services they've gotten in the past," she said. "Considering the winter that we've had, Kansans are going to see rougher pavement and more potholes, and we're going to be very limited in our ability to address them.

KDOT has lost $504 million in three years, and there may still be additional cuts. Since construction projects are paid for over multiple years, Friday's $28 million reduction means $87 million worth of projects will be cut, according to KDOT.

For more information on how funding cuts have affected KDOT's budget, visit www.ksdot.org.