Infrastructure News Summary
For April 11, 2008

A LONG ROAD TO THE NEXT 'HIGHWAY BILL'
Land Line Magazine
David Tanner
4/9/08

Members of Congress have begun a long journey to write the next major transportation funding legislation, which is due in 2009. One important leg of the journey began on Wednesday, April 9, with a hearing in the Highways and Transit Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The hearing dealt with congestion and other challenges that metropolitan areas face. It was the first in a series of subcommittee hearings that will review freight and goods movement; infrastructure preservation and modernization; highway safety; mobility; connectivity of rural areas; and other issues. DeFazio, who is chairman of the subcommittee, and others have taken issue with Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and the Bush administration's viewpoint that the federal role in funding transportation be frozen or reduced in favor of more private-sector involvement. http://www.landlinemag.com/todays_news/Daily/2008/Apr08/040708/040908-04.htm

STATE BLVD. TO BE WIDENED IN 2011
WANE-TV
4/10/08

In 2011, things will start to look different along a busy stretch of State Blvd., from Cass Street all the way to the St. Joseph River bridge. A 9 million dollar improvement plan will create a two lane road in each direction, will expand the road. Throughout the process the city needs to buy millions of dollars of property from businesses and homeowners, primarily along the flood plain on Eastbrook drive. A new road will cut through a neighborhood there, eliminating the sharp curve that exists now. http://www.wane.com/Global/story.asp?S=8150814&nav=0RYb

$65 MILLION IN BIG ELKHART COUNTY PROJECTS AHEAD
ROAD, BRIDGE AND OTHER WORK GOING TO BID IN NEXT 14 MONTHS
The Truth Newspaper
Tim Vandenack
4/11/08

Though times are uncertain and money for many is tight, more than $60 million in big-ticket projects is in the hopper in Elkhart County. Elkhart County Administrator Tom Byers said bidding out such work is one of the things local government can do to stabilize things when the economy hits a snag, further noting that the projects won't require property or income tax hikes. The work, expected to cost $65 million to $67 million, is to be bid out in the next 14 months, most of it in the form of road and bridge projects, Byers said. Two building projects also figure in the mix -- a new juvenile detention facility and a new administration building for the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department. http://www.etruth.com/Know/News/Story.aspx?ID=445604