Daily Nonpareil wrote:Funding for approximately $4 million in highway work for southwest Iowa was approved Thursday by the House of Representatives as part of a national package designed to ease congestion, repair crumbling roads and reduce traffic deaths.
Included in the bill is $1.5 million for the East Beltway Roadway, east of Council Bluffs, and $2.5 million for the U.S. Highway 34 Missouri River bridge relocation and replacement project near Glenwood.
The announcement was made by the office of Rep. Steve King, R-5th District.
"These are earmarks the Congressman was able to get in the House," said spokesperson Summer Stitz. "The Congressman worked real hard in getting this."
The House, on a 417 to 9 vote, approved a six-year, $284 billion highway bill that comes 18 months late. The last six-year highway bill, funded at $218 billion, expired in September 2003, but has been kept alive through short-term extensions.
It will now go to the Senate for its vote, and if approved, then on to the president's desk for his signature.
"Opening up southwest Iowa through roadways will bring people, business, jobs and wealth," King said in a press release. "Economic development for this region has been one of my top priorities since I've been in Congress. I'm encouraging the Senate to approve and add to these earmarks, and I will continue to do everything I can to see these projects to completion."
The East Beltway is a collector/arterial roadway that will improve access to the Council Bluffs Municipal Airport, accommodate economic growth and provide alternate routing for traffic during emergency closures of Interstate 80.
The Highway 34 project will extend that road from Interstate 29 across the Missouri River on a new bridge and hook up with U.S. Highway 75 just south of Platteview Road in Sarpy County.
$4M planned for area highway projects
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