Progress on the Recovery Plan in Action

According to my KC Star this morning... The Recovery Bill signed into law by Pres. Obama is going to have great effect in both Kansas and my state Missouri sooner rather than later.

Kansas announced Friday that it is directing $84 million in stimulus money to widen U.S. 69 in central Overland Park between Interstates 435 and 35.
Traveled by up to 87,000 vehicles a day, this stretch is considered one of the state’s worst bottlenecks.
The highway, one of two major north-south routes through suburban Johnson County, gives commuters access to an estimated 90,000 jobs within a three-mile radius of where it intersects with I-435.
“This project will address serious congestion and safety issues and will enhance long-term economic activity,” Kansas Transportation Secretary Deb Miller said Friday.
Bids for the project are expected to be opened in May, with construction starting as early as June.

That's just one, there are several others,including these three projects which are also open for bids:

•$23 million for I-135/47th Street in Wichita.

•$11 million for Kansas 23 in Gove County to improve 16 miles of a narrow, 50-year-old road that lacks shoulders and has steep side slopes.

•$88 million for Kansas 61 in McPherson County to expand a 15-mile corridor from two lanes to four.

In Missouri, work started on the Osage River bridge near Tuscumbia, Tuesday right after Pres. Obama signed the bill into law. Yes, part of that was PR work, but it was also a show of confidence by my Gov. Jay Nixon (D). He is fighting a republican congress, who actually encouraged him to turn down the stimulus money. And of course our own Sen. Kit Bond, who voted against the bill, then scurried home to brag about bring home the bacon.

Here in Missouri, the bids are open for contracts Friday for 32 smaller projects sharing stimulus money.

Among them was the resurfacing of 18 miles of Interstate 29 from Vivion Road toward Platte City.
The bids opened in Missouri were the second wave of several for doling out $640 million in stimulus money for highways and bridges statewide.
Other Kansas City area projects intended for stimulus money include widening Missouri 150 near Lee’s Summit and reconstructing the interchange at I-70 and I-435 in Missouri.

All of the heavy resurfacing and highway repair work here in Missouri is contracted out. The Highway Department does the spot repairs and small repairs and patches. So this will mean jobs and money into the pockets of small and medium sized businesses and people will be going to work here.

I am excited to see this happening. We need this work done. Lots of this work has been put on hold for a long time due to not enough money in the states coffers, we have been told, and also to see the President's plan working. I am sure this is only one or two places it will be seen.

Hopefully we will begin to see other success stories coming out in the days to come. I hope others will post theirs too.