by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The legislative director for U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown said it was “very highly likely,” that federal money will help pay to finish improvements to Main Street.
Nick Martinelli said a $300 billion transportation appropriations bill currently working its way through Congress would likely provide at least partial funding for the lagging 12-block project. The bill, known as T-21, funds large transportation and infrastructure projects on a six-year schedule. Following a recent call from Mayor John Peyton, Brown was giving “strong consideration” to adding Main Street to a Congressional list of transportation projects, said Martinelli.
“I’d say the project has a very high chance to be funded, because the mayor really pushed the congresswoman,” said Martinelli. “She obviously wants to do everything she can for Jacksonville.”
The $12 million Main Street project seeks to renovate one of the City’s major northern corridors while helping revitalize the surrounding neighborhood. Originally estimated as $4 million surface improvements, the project’s cost tripled once work began. The City discovered deteriorating utility lines and crumbling infrastructure, which pushed the cost to about $1 million a block.
The City and State split the $4 million cost to finish the project’s first four blocks. However, State funding dried up, leaving eight blocks untouched. Peyton said the project’s completion would depend on federal funds.
Federal funding now looks likely, but the amount is undetermined. While Brown’s House of Representatives has requested $375 billion to fund the bill, a competing Senate version provides just $311 billion. A presidential alternative trims funding to $256 billion. The closer the final number comes to the House version, the more likely Main Street will be paid in full, said Martinelli. He said he expects a compromise around $310 or $320 billion.
If bill T-21 can’t pay all the Main Street costs, Martinelli said the City might get help from the smaller annual transportation appropriations bill. A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw said money from the annual appropriation could be made available for Main Street, but probably not enough to complete the project. The bill delivered $9 million spread over several projects to Jacksonville last year.
While other opportunities for federal money are available, Martinelli said Brown wanted the City to make do with the T-21 funding.
“The congresswoman would hope the City could find a way to finish the project with the money allocated,” he said.
“The project is going to get a significant amount of money, if not all of it. Hopefully they can be thrifty and figure out ways to make it work. If we do our part then the City can fill the discrepancy and pony up some money,” said Martinelli.
The mayor’s spokesperson, Heather Murphy has said the City does not plan to spend any more on the project. The City paid for the design work and spent about $2 million on the first four blocks.
The project’s growing price concerned Rep. Brown, said Martinelli.
“We understood the $4 million was to do all 12 blocks, so to get only four done was an area of concern,” said Martinelli. “We don’t know the details, whether money was under-allocated, but our only concern was that the project has already been funded, and it wasn’t done, and now it looks like it has to be done federally.”
At a recent meeting with neighborhood business leaders and residents, Peyton said the City had underestimated the severity of the damage underneath Main Street and the money needed for repair.
“That’s very expensive road work,” said Peyton. “The cost is under the pavement: utility lines and we’re digging up old trolley tracks.”
Federal funding could be available as early as October, said Martinelli. However, he said a lengthy series of Senate committee hearings on the bill would likely push approval to early next year.
Peyton said further work would probably wait until after the Feb. 6, 2005 Super Bowl. He said he does not want streets torn up when the game brings about a hundred thousand visitors to Jacksonville.