Tuesday, 06 July 2010 06:28

Jackson Road Projects Aided by Local Partnerships, Grants

slide6-jackson_road_projects_aided_by_local_partnerships_grants.pngAmador County – The newly-approved Jackson budget for fiscal year 2010-11 means the City is once again void of any capital improvement projects paid for by the General Fund. But according to Jackson City Manager Mike Daly, “the successful partnering with regional agencies and acquisition of grant funding…will keep construction activity going at a moderate pace.” Daly laid out a list of budget-related challenges the City may face in the coming fiscal year at a sparsely attended council meeting last week. Many Jackson road projects are being kept alive through a combination of local support and federal and state grants. Receiving the most attention as of late is Mission Boulevard Extension project, which was celebrated in a ground-breaking ceremony last month attended by the Jackson City Council and various other dignitaries. The road will be extended to intersect with Broadway for the cost of roughly $1 million. Sutter Amador Hospital CEO Anne Platt said extending the road was a “tremendous opportunity to serve the community.” District 1 Supervisor John Plasse, representing ACTC, said the commission “is proud of this project,” and “it’s great to see something happening.” The project is partly financed by a state grant and Regional Traffic Mitigation Fees. In addition, the Amador County Transportation Commission obtained a Proposition 1B State and Local Partnership Program grant to fund half the construction costs of this project. The original construction estimate was $1.6 million. Daly said they were in “a favorable bidding climate” that lowered construction costs. “This project will improve local and regional traffic circulation, reducing congestion at the busiest intersection in the County at Highway 49 and 88 adjacent to the Jackson Civic Center,” said Daly. He said “other projects moving through the preliminary engineering and environmental review process include an improvement to the Court Street and Highway 88 intersection funded by a Highway Safety Improvement Project grant from Caltrans and construction of a new slab bridge over the south fork of Jackson Creek at Marcucci Lane with funding from a Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, intended to eliminate a bottleneck in the creek from the inadequately sized culvert in this location that causes flooding to South Avenue residences during major storm events.” Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.