FeedsState aid furthers road repair plans
Westland residents should prepare themselves for the return of the big orange barrels as crews fast-track plans to rejuvenate part of Ann Arbor Trail and set to work on some neighborhood streets.
Although Westland received a $2.5 million federal grant for the project last summer, in order to utilize the money the city needed to come up with more than $500,000 in matching funds.
The city received it last week when Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the State of Michigan revealed that Westland was one of the 49 municipalities and 47 counties expected to benefit from the new Jobs Today program. The program essentially provided the communities with the matching funds each area needs to move forward with projects that have already received federal grants. Westland received $548,100 for the Ann Arbor Trail project.
“This is really an ‘extra’ for the City of Westland,” said Westland Mayor Sandra Cicirelli.
The upcoming Ann Arbor Trail project is only one of the many roads-related tasks the Westland Department of Public Service plans to tackle. Among the larger projects, she said, is the transformation of Edwin Street. Using some roads funds with the primary funding coming from the residents, the currently gravel Edwin Street is expected to be paved between Sutton and Avondale streets this fall. The city also hopes to institute some repairs to Wildwood Road south of Ford Road.
Some of the busiest streets in the community, including Wayne Road, Ford Road, Warren Road, and Cherry Hill Road, are maintained by Wayne County.
According to Cicirelli, road repair funding—paid for by gas tax revenue—has traditionally been skewed so that major roads received the bulk of the funding even though, in Westland, it is the smaller local roads that need the most work.
That is a problem, said Tom Wilson, director of the Westland Department of Public Service, because although Westland is responsible for maintaining nearly 48 miles of roads considered major, the city is also responsible for more than 161 miles of other local streets.
It was a problem city officials lobbied hard to correct—and it worked, at least to a certain extent. Cicirelli said that Westland is now among the municipalities statewide benefiting from a temporary moratorium on matching fund requirements for state road repair money. Cities are also now allowed some leeway in determining how to spend road funds. The freeze was granted due to declining revenue from the state that made it difficult for cities to find the matching fund dollars in their already strained budgets.
“It allows us to have more local control,” said Cicirelli. “We know which of our roads need it the most.”
The biggest project the city plans to undertake is the major renovation to Ann Arbor Trail. With construction scheduled to begin in 2007, city staff members are finalizing the details of what they hope to accomplish beyond simply resurfacing the battered street and improving the intersections.
“We’re going to try and hook in a bike path,” Wilson said. “We thought that would be a nice addition to the area.”
He added that with the popularity of nearby Hines Park with cyclists, city officials hope that by expanding the bicycle route they will be able to provide access to existing trails and to help entice some of the cyclists out of the park and into the various Westland businesses.
According to www.michigan.gov, the $44 million Jobs Today program “will be used to jumpstart 210 local road projects around the state this year and next, creating nearly 5,000 jobs and stimulating economic development in communities from the tip of the Upper Peninsula to Monroe County.”
Westland is one of only six communities in Wayne County to benefit from the Jobs Today program. Other areas that received funding include Garden City, Livonia, Inkster, Highland Park, and Detroit.
Individuals concerned about potholes in their area that need to be patched are asked to contact the Westland Department of Public Service at (734) 728-1770.
