The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) recently announced almost $1 billion in projects for roads, bridges, sewer, and water systems to be funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that was signed into law in February. MITA first announced these project lists at the West Michigan, Grand Rapids Industry Night.
The MDEQ will receive about $230 million through the federal stimulus plan for wastewater and drinking water projects funded by the State Revolving Fund (SRF) and the Drinking Water Revolving Fund (DWRF). SRF and DWRF projects on the fiscal year 2009 priority lists will be eligible to receive an equitable share of the available stimulus funds. Added with the existing state revolving fund dollars, MDEQ plans to spend about $650 million in total for these projects this year—a 50% increase over last year’s spending.
MDOT will receive $847 million in federal stimulus funds for road and bridge projects. About $630 million will go to the MDOT trunkline program, with the balance going to local governments for their road and bridge projects. MDOT recently published a stimulus candidate project list totaling about $730 million—$100 million more than their expected allotment anticipating that some states will not meet the federal spending deadline, and that those unspent stimulus funds will be redistributed to other states.
Before any of these infrastructure federal stimulus dollars can be spent in Michigan they must be approved through a supplemental appropriations process. MITA remains actively engaged within the legislature advocating for an expeditious approval of these funds.
At the same time, MDOT continues to work with the Federal Highway Administration in defining more of the specific ARRA funded project requirements, such as man-power reporting and OJT participation.
MITA will keep you up-to-date on all the developments related to the federal stimulus funds for Michigan’s infrastructure as they occur ….. stay tuned!!
Click here for the MDOT Stimulus Candidate Project List
Click here for the SRF Fiscal Year 2009 Priority List
Click here for the DWRF Fiscal Year 2009 Priority List
Please contact Mike Nystrom at mikenystrom@mi-ita.com, Glenn Bukoski at glennbukoski@mi-ita.com, or Keith Ledbetter at keithledbetter@mi-ita.com or call the MITA office at 517-347-8336 with any questions or comments.
