by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Springfield advocates are encouraged by $5 million set aside for Main Street in the mayor’s proposed budget, but what they really want is work continue on street improvements.
The City has already spent about $3 million to renovate Main Street from First through Fourth streets. If the money budgeted this year survives the City Council, the City will still be about $4 million short of extending the project to 12th Street as planned. The City is waiting on federal funds to make up the difference. Neighborhood advocates said they hope the City doesn’t wait too long.
Louise DeSpain, president of the Springfield Preservation and Revitalization Council, said she’d rather the City spend the money it has to renovate another four-block section and worry later about paying for the rest. She said that further delays could push the project down the list of City Hall priorities. The entire 12 blocks was scheduled to open in time for the Super Bowl.
But contractors found a much more involved project when they tore open the streets. Utility lines had to be replaced and other crumbling infrastructure repaired. The project was postponed until after the game. DeSpain said she wanted work to start as soon as possible.
“We don’t need to have this one thing hold back the progress of Springfield,” said DeSpain. “When you look at the private investment here and the residential development and new retail, Main Street needs to be happening along with it.”
The earliest construction could start is after the Feb. 6 Super Bowl, but the project could be pushed back to mid- or late 2005, depending on the fate of a federal transportation bill that is currently tangled in a budget debate among both houses of congress and the White House. That bill has money earmarked to complete Main Street, but it’s unknown whether the project will survive the Capitol Hill deliberations, or when the money might become available.
The City’s preferred course of action would be to wait until the federal money comes through and then renovate the remaining eight blocks all at once. Breaking it into phases would further stretch out the construction schedule and its budget said Brad Thoburn, the City’s director of state and federal affairs.
“We viewed the money committed by the City as matching funds,” he said. “We’ll have to make a decision whether it makes sense to wait for the federal dollars. By waiting until we’re fully funded, we potentially save some money since . . . we wouldn’t have to set up twice for the same project.”
Thoburn said the City hadn’t thought about breaking the project in half, but he said it would be considered if the federal money is delayed past early 2005.
“The sentiment is that it’s not likely . . . it (the transportation appropriation bill) will pass this year, but it’s not dead,” he said. “I wouldn’t write it off entirely, but there’s a good chance it won’t happen.”
DeSpain said the City should consider alternatives if the federal money falls through. She suggested the City could borrow the money to be paid back when the federal money is approved. Mayor’s office spokesperson Heather Murphy indicated that wasn’t likely.