Federal bill benefits Highway 100 in Cedar Rapids

When Steve Gannon started working for Linn County in 1974, Highway 100 ended at Edgewood Road in Cedar Rapids, with local officials planning to connect it to Highway 30 within a few years to open up the city's west side.

A lack of money and momentum has kept Highway 100 at Edgewood Road ever since. Now the county engineer, Gannon said he understands the frustration over the delay.

“The plan was to start heading toward Highway 30, and here we are 30 years later and still waiting to get past Edgewood Road,” Gannon told The Gazette. “At this point there are a lot of environmental hurdles to overcome, but most of them everybody thinks have been answered. So essentially all we've needed is $100 million.”

The Cedar Rapids area received that and much more in the $100 billion transportation bill that Congress passed before its July Fourth recess, of which Iowa will receive $462 million for road projects alone. The bill passed the Senate, 74-19, and the House, 373-52, in a rare show of bipartisan support, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Saturday. The measure was combined with another provision preventing any increases in student loan rates.

The bill continues federal funding for the Highway Trust Fund, a program created in 1956 to finance road construction projects throughout the United States. An 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax provides the fund's monies and will be continued under the bill.

Perhaps the bill's biggest benefit to Cedar Rapids is the Highway 100 extension project. Gannon, who sits on the local Metropolitan Planning Organization, sees a smooth path for the project now, after years of mounting expenses and delays. When finished, he said the project could create large areas of Cedar Rapids' west side for development, and ease congestion on Highway 380 and county roads that have been burdened with heavy traffic flow.

While the bill doesn't fund specific projects, Dan Franklin, a communications manager for the Iowa Department of Transportation, said it calls for current funding levels to continue for the next 27 months, with an inflationary increase in 2014. The state Transportation Commission already last month adopted a five-year project plan that goes to 2017, and included the Highway 100 extension. Fewer funds could have limited the commission's plans.

It will still be several years before motorists can drive on an extended Highway 100. Franklin said plans call for right of way acquisitions and construction starting in 2013 and 2014, with paving tentatively scheduled for 2015 or 2016. By federal requirement, 80 percent of the cost will come from federal funds, with 20 percent provided by local governments.

A lawsuit by the Sierra Club of Iowa and two local residents in federal court is still pending. The suit claims that an environmental-impact statement allowing the extension is “fatally defective” in its failure to comply with the requirements of the National Environmental Protection Act.

Franklin said part of the transportation bill streamlines and accelerates several different procedures for government review of projects.

Franklin said part of the transportation bill streamlines and accelerates several different procedures for government review of projects.

“Right now it takes far too long to get a project through planning and environmental review,” Franklin said. “That's a signature piece of the bill that not everybody talks about.”

Iowa's congressional delegation had nothing but praise for the transportation bill. Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, praised the House for passing a long-term bill instead of temporary extensions, as it had done several times. He pledged to push for even longer-term bills in the future.

“It is clear to any Iowan who drives a car or truck, rides the rails or flies in an airplane that a long-term highway plan is needed,” he said.

Veteran benefits

The bill includes a provision inserted by Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, that will require the federal government and any companies that receive federal funding to give hiring preference to veterans. Boswell called the overall bill “the most substantial job-creating legislation this year.”

“Our returning military men and women face a great deal of challenges when returning home – one of the toughest is finding employment,” Boswell added. “This will help our veterans return to civilian life and ease the high unemployment among our veterans.”

Greg Cohen, the 10-year president of the American Highway Users Alliance, a Washington-based transportation policy advocacy group comprised of motorists and trucking companies, said the bill was the most critical that he has seen in 10 years for highway projects. But he also said Congress took an important step toward improving its image in approving the bill.

“This was the first time since 1956 when the highway trust fund was in serious jeopardy of going bankrupt,” he said. “Projects would have dried up by spring or summer of next year.

“It was also important because the last bill was synonymous with the ‘Bridge to Nowhere' and earmarking. ... This bill was needed to restore public trust. With the atmosphere in Congress being so divisive, people were skeptical that Congress could get anything done.”