Oklahoma road projects delayed

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Millions of dollars in Oklahoma road project have been delayed because Congress failed to pass a new transportation bill. <br/><br/>``We are extremely disappointed that we don't

Sunday, October 10th 2004, 2:32 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ Millions of dollars in Oklahoma road project have been delayed because Congress failed to pass a new transportation bill.

``We are extremely disappointed that we don't have a reauthorization bill,'' said Gary Ridley, director of the state Department of Transportation. ``We can't let (bids on) a project unless we have the money in hand.''

Under its latest eight-year plan on transportation projects, the state had estimated it would get as much as $400 million more in federal funds over the next six years than it did under current law.

That law expired in 2003 but repeatedly has been extended as lawmakers attempted to work out a compromise on a new bill. Last month, an eight-month extension was passed.

Efforts to get a new six-year bill approved were abandoned before lawmakers left town to campaign for re-election. It appeared the price tag on the legislation would be $299 billion.

Danny Finnerty, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said Oklahoma would have received close to $1 billion more in transportation funding over the next six years had the bill passed.

Inhofe has expressed hope that he can revive efforts to pass a new bill during a lame-duck session in November.

Meanwhile, millions of dollars are not getting into the pipeline to allow the state to move forward on specific projects.

In addition to the actual dollars lost, Ridley said, the delay can cause serious problems in transportation planning.

As an example, Ridley pointed to a major project in Oklahoma City where the environmental process alone took almost 11 years.

Even on a project like the widening of Interstate 44 in Tulsa, where a part of the environmental process had been done, he said, the next step can take several more years.

Projects typically can have 200 deadlines before completion.