Cramer secures funding for another project that should be local concern
Last week, U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, announced he had won in an appropriations bill $1 million to raise Church Street between Williams and Clinton avenues.
Steve Dinges, an assistant director in the Planning Department, said the idea is to raise Church Street similar to the way Monroe Street was raised a few years ago.
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Construction for the bridge has not been scheduled. Bush said that “very rough” cost estimates range from $3 million to $3.5 million.
“We’ll find a way to get it done” if the city gets the $1 million Cramer announced, Fanning said.
The money for the Church Street bridge and other projects is included in a 2008 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill adopted by conference committee members from the U.S. House and Senate, Cramer said.
The bill now must be approved by both houses and signed by the president.
Cramer said the bill also includes:
$1.25 million for the parking garage the city plans to build at Lincoln and Green streets and Holmes Avenue.
$750,000 for widening of Winchester Road from Old Dominion Circle to Naugher Road.
$500,000 for improvements to Wall-Triana Highway.
Next time you hear or read a story about how the federal government doesn’t have enough money to maintain bridges and other infrastructure on interstates just remember this article (and I’m sure identical ones in every congressional district). Every project Cramer listed falls under the purview of the state or local municipality and are not federal concerns.
The Church Street bridge would doubtlessly be a fine and useful structure. In fact I take the family to Big Spring Park frequently and walk across often busy Church Street. But if the crossing is deemed dangerous then it should be up to the city, and the city alone, to resolve the situation. It is most certainly is not a federal concern. Moreover, the current street serves its intended purpose quite well - its not like this is a bridge intended to replace a deteriorating, dilapidated road. If federal dollars for infrastructure maintenance are so tight that some think tax increases are necessary then maybe the federal government shouldn’t be funding unnecessary pork projects just so legislators can get some free, positive press.
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November 18th, 2007 at 5:54 pm
I don’t like the Monroe Street bridge - I think it’s dangerous because the rise obstructs your sight at the intersection - can’t see what’s coming.
November 19th, 2007 at 1:47 am
I read the same story in the Times today, and had exactly the same reaction as you. Huntsville is a wealthy city and can afford to build its own stinking bridge.
This whole debate over “internal improvements” funded by the federal government goes back practically to the Founding. It was a huge issue throughout the 19th Century, when many so-called strict constructionists (most of them Democrats) fought against these kinds of projects on constitutional grounds. The constitutional argument is long lost, but surely Congress can come up with some method of determining which projects are sufficiently “national” in character that they warrant an outlay of federal funds. As it stands, the only method going is “You fund my bridge and I’ll fund yours.” That’s not a good recipe for fiscal sanity or accountable government.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:28 am
The Bud Cramer Patriot Bridge. I need to go out and get some thank you notes….What a magnamimous guy.
December 24th, 2007 at 6:53 am
[...] to renovate a theater just to name a few - and that is just in Alabama. The list also includes the recently announced project to tear up a perfectly good road in Huntsville and replace it with a [...]