Some Muskogee County Residents Angered Over Stimulus Funding For Sidewalks

By Alex Cameron, Oklahoma Impact Team

BOYNTON, OK -- Residents of a small town in rural Muskogee County say they've discovered a big problem -- tax dollars being wasted on useless construction. But what some see as waste, others say is necessity.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is spending $13 million in stimulus funding to build sidewalks in dozens of rural Oklahoma communities in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. ODOT said the program saves the towns the expense of doing the work themselves, and paves the way for other improvements down the road.

Under U.S. law, the state can't use federal dollars to make significant alterations to a roadway, unless any and all adjacent sidewalks meet ADA standards. A recent overlay project on State Highway 72 had to stop on either side of Boynton because the sidewalks in town didn't meet code.

By selecting Boynton for the sidewalk program, ODOT officials say, they make it possible to complete the overlay project, and improve the town's handicapped accessibility at the same time.

ODOT officials call that a 'win-win.'

Ray Allen, a long-time resident of Boynton, calls it "100 percent a waste of money."

Sitting in a booth in the town's lone convenience store, Allen said the sidewalk construction had been the talk of the town recently, and none of it positive.

"When you don't find anybody that's for this, here in this town," Allen mused, "it's pretty bad."

Certainly there are towns where residents are grateful to have been included in the program. When the Oklahoma Impact Team visited Okarche last fall, Mayor Richard Raupe said the sidewalk upgrades, funded by the federal Recovery Act, would be a big help during this tough economy.

"Small towns have an awful hard time coming up with money to do things," Raupe explained. "We don't have a very big tax base."

With an official population of 274, neither does Boynton. The town clearly would be hard pressed to come up with the $94,000 that ODOT is paying the contractor, Glover Construction, to fix the sidewalks along Highway 72.

But, according to Mike Lance, another long-time Boynton resident, that's the point -- the town's sidewalks don't really need to be fixed.

"It looks like, to me," Lance charged, "ODOT has got money to spend, they're needing to spend it quick, and this is a quick way of getting it done."

Lance said it makes no sense to him that the contractor had replaced one section of sidewalk that was in perfectly good condition.

"This was brand new sidewalk, five years old," said Lance. "I mean, it didn't even have weather stains on it."

ODOT Operations Director Casey Shell couldn't confirm the age of the existing sidewalk, but he could confirm that it didn't meet ADA specifications.

"Just because a sidewalk looks good and has a new appearance, does not necessarily mean that it meets with the ADA requirements," said Shell.

But Lance said the best indication of the absurdity of the project is what the contractor did with a section of sidewalk at the north end of town -- one that fronts no homes or businesses, and leads directly into a ditch.

"It's goin' to nowhere," said Lance, pointing.

Still, the contractor tore out the old and replaced it with new: "This sidewalk looked just like this before they started," exclaimed Lance.

And then the contractor did it a second time.

The day after the OIT visit, Lance sent a photo showing the sidewalk completely torn out. Another photo the following day showed a freshly poured sidewalk in the same location.

ODOT's Shell confirmed the sequence of events.

"Yes," Shell explained, "that was an area where the contractor had actually built the replacement sidewalks not in ADA compliance."

Shell said an ODOT inspector caught the mistake and the replacement was installed at the contractor's expense.

Still, Lance, Allen and others in the town feel the stimulus money could have been better spent fixing things like the state's crumbling bridges or at least roads that are more heavily traveled than theirs.

"They're absolutely throwing money away right now," said Allen, "[and] if they're doing it in a town this size in Oklahoma, they're doing it everywhere."

"If I'm wrong, convince me," challenged Lance. "If I'm wrong, I'll say I'm sorry...but I just don't see me saying I'm wrong on this project."

Shell said Lance is wrong, ODOT is not wasting tax dollars: "No, we're not. What we're doing is improving the roadway and also improving the ADA accessibility in the community."

Officials with the Federal Highway Administration say each state received a portion of transportation stimulus funding that had to be used on enhancement projects like sidewalks.

"The Department [of Transportation] is committed," an FHWA statement reads, "to providing transportation options and improving mobility for all Americans -- which includes more accessibility for people with disabilities, pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users. Transportation is about improving the quality of life for everyone."

Read the full Q&A with the Federal Highway Administration.