Press Release
Cedar City’s Main Street Construction Nears Completion
September 29th, 2009
By Cheri Peacock
CEDAR CITY, UTAH - Cedar City Main Street is in the final stages of being resurfaced, and will be completed by mid-October.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funded the $1.5 million Utah Department of Transportation project. According to recovery.utah.gov, Utah will receive $1.6 billion in direct funding for various projects throughout the state.
Kevin Kitchen, the UDOT Region 4 representative, said each state prepares a list of projects that meet certain criteria, and if the projects qualify under the terms of the act, then the state "goes to work."
"It takes a little time for money to move from the federal government to the state government, but we are reimbursed in a timely manner," Kitchen said.
The American Recovery and Investment Act gets people to work quickly, Kitchen said.
"We prioritize all of the projects in advance, but we don't always have the funding to make them happen," he said. "When this act came along, we were able to push our projects forward."
Kitchen said the key to using government funding is to finish projects on a short timeline.
"States that finish projects quickly can pick up a few more dollars that other states won't use because they can't get to some projects," he said.
Projects that are smaller and more maintenance oriented are the key projects from UDOT's perspective, Kitchen said.
"Smaller projects get done quickly," he said.
Kitchen said the resurfacing of Main Street has been a quick project. The construction itself has only been going on for two weeks.
The only thing left to finish the project is to paint lines, but the road must cure before painting can be completed, he said.
Kitchen said the contractor for the project was Western Rock Products. With each project, there are guidelines, but the contractor has freedom on how to accomplish the tasks. In this case, Kitchen said Western Rock Products "did a fantastic job."
Western Rock Products moved orange cones and barrels in a way that did not disrupt traffic flow and limited the negative impact on business, Kitchen said.
"People also paid attention and moved their cars out of the way," he said. "Western Rock was pleased when they started the project that people had taken notice."
Cedar City Manager Ron Chandler said Cedar City has also applied to build a new fire station at the airport.
"We're supposed to know shortly if we will receive funding for that project," Chandler said.
Kitchen said there have been five federally funded projects in Washington County, including the current Valley View Bridge Replacement Project in St. George. Iron County has a possible project that would deal with state Route 143, but that project has not been verified at this time, Kitchen said.