Funding problems might delay projects

• By WILL SENTELL
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 5, 2009 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:25 a.m.

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State leaders tentatively plan to delay action on 43 road and bridge projects because of Louisiana’s budget problems.

One of the most expensive projects caught in the logjam is a $12 million plan to widen O’Neal Lane between Interstate 12 and Florida Boulevard.

Meanwhile, a report issued Wednesday by the Public Affairs Research Council said state transportation leaders face a three-front financial crisis.

“This paints a pretty bleak picture,” said Jim Brandt, president of PAR, a governmental research group.

Plans to delay action on 43 projects stem from a shortage of state dollars to match federal aid, said William Ankner, secretary for the state Department of Transportation and Development.

The state is $25 million short of what is needed to match about $100 million in federal aid, Ankner said.

As a result, he said, transportation leaders tentatively plan to delay awarding contracts for work on 43 projects until sometime after July 1.

Exactly how long the projects will be delayed is unclear. The state will get an injection of road funds starting July 1 but a wide range of factors will determine whether delays last two or three months or much longer.

The state is looking for money, Ankner said, because the first installment of a plan to increase aid to roads and bridges has been shelved because of a drop in state revenue collections.

Funding for state services face a $1.3 billion decline in state revenue expected for the financial year that begins July 1.

However, the state also has an $865 million surplus from last year. Highway advocates hope that money will be used to ease delays on more than three dozen projects.

The administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal and House and Senate finance leaders have been asked for just such assistance, said Jennifer Marusak, a spokeswoman for Driving Louisiana Forward, which represents highway contractors and others.

The 2009 regular session begins April 27.