AASHTO Journal, 27 February 2015
Delaware Transportation Secretary Jennifer Cohan said the lack of certainty over federal and state highway funding levels has left her department unable to begin initial design work on a $100 million widening of the state’s Route 1, a project that was expected to start construction in 2016.
DelDOT photo shows bridge deck damage.Cohan has told state lawmakers in recent weeks that the Delaware Department of Transportation has identified $780 million in infrastructure projects it could work on in the next 6 years but is having to delay them for lack of funding.
Of that total, $180 million would be projects to maintain state of good repair of current infrastructure, while $600 million would involve new road and bridge construction.
Cohan told AASHTO Journal some of those delayed projects are shovel-ready, so DelDOT could launch them immediately if it had the funds.
Of the big Route 1 project, she said, “the uncertainty of federal funding along with state funding levels is preventing the initial design work” from proceeding, and that in turn can push back the time that actual construction would get under way.
She made the remarks following a Feb. 25 session of the AASHTO Washington Legislative Briefing, which dealt with prospects for Congress to pass a new Highway Trust Fund authorization before the current one expires May 31.
Cohan also underscored the importance of keeping current structures in good repair, noting that DelDOT closed a road on Feb. 24 due to a hole opening up in the concrete bridge deck.
The agency said it closed part of Route 100/DuPont Road over East Penn Railroad in Elsmere, because “a portion of the concrete bridge deck has failed and is in need of immediate repair.” A contractor was working to replace deteriorated concrete in the southbound lanes of the southernmost bridge span, and patch other areas of the bridge.
That project will take weeks. DelDOT said it is aiming to reopen the route by March 31, weather permitting.