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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>
passrailok@yahoogroups.com [mailto:passrailok@yahoogroups.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>sfrr@aol.com<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, September 07, 2009 7:04 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> heartland_flyer@yahoogroups.com; Southwest_Chief@yahoogroups.com;
MOKSRail@yahoogroups.com; passrailok@yahoogroups.com;
centralpassengerrail@yahoogroups.com<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [passrailok] Amusing Highway Contrator Complaint...<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>http://djcoregon.com/news/2009/09/02/contractors-want-roads-not-trains/</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<h1>Contractors want roads, not trains<o:p></o:p></h1>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><em>POSTED: Wednesday,
September 2, 2009 at 01:32 PM PT</em><i><br>
<em>BY: <a href="/news/author/justin.carinci">Justin Carinci</a> </em><br>
<em>Tags: <a href="http://djcoregon.com/news/tag/amtrak/">Amtrak</a>, <a
href="http://djcoregon.com/news/tag/federal-stimulus/">federal stimulus</a>, <a
href="http://djcoregon.com/news/tag/nuca/">NUCA</a>, <a
href="http://djcoregon.com/news/tag/odot/">ODOT</a></em></i><i><span
style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><br>
<br>
</span></i><o:p></o:p></p>
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<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Contractors are criticizing a decision to spend savings from
Oregon’s <strong>federal stimulus</strong> projects to buy passenger trains.
Money saved on road projects should be pumped back into road projects, four
contractor groups wrote in a letter to the <strong>Oregon Transportation
Commission</strong>.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>The commission approved the purchase of two trains, for $35
million, to run on the <strong>Amtrak Cascades </strong>line between Portland
and Eugene. That made up the bulk of the nearly $43 million left over from what
the state planned to spend on transportation stimulus projects.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Because the savings came from contractors bidding below
estimates on road projects, the money should be spent on more such projects,
said Melinda Dailey, executive director of the <strong>National Utility
Contractors Association of Oregon and Southwest Washington</strong>. Dailey and
the heads of the <strong>Asphalt Pavement Association of Oregon</strong> and
the local chapters of the Associated General Contractors and Associated
Builders and Contractors signed the letter.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>“What I found most disheartening was that they’re going to
take (away) that $43 million surplus that came about because all these
companies are doing whatever it takes to stay open, cutting to the bone and
underbidding on projects,” Dailey said.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>“That argument doesn’t hold any water,” <strong>Oregon
Department of Transportation</strong> spokesman Patrick Cooney responded. The
state is getting the projects it paid for, Cooney said, but has no obligation
to spend money left over on similar projects.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>“If you need to buy a new refrigerator, and find out all the
refrigerators are 25 percent less than what you thought you would spend, are
you required to spend the savings on another refrigerator?” Cooney said. “Or
would you buy a new washer, if that’s what you need?”<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>In that example, Oregon’s new washer is a train. The state
now uses a train owned by Washington state on the Cascades line between
Portland and Eugene. Washington rail officials plan to use that train to run
another round trip between Seattle and Portland, said Andrew Wood, deputy
director of the state’s rail and marine division.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>“When that happens, in a couple years, we wouldn’t have a
train set just sitting there in Portland that runs to Eugene and back,” Wood
said.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>“If we want to run one on the more profitable (Seattle-to-Portland)
route, that capability wouldn’t exist.”<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Oregon hasn’t bought the new trains yet. “There’s not a
whole lot of trains sitting out there to be purchased,” Cooney said.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>But buying new trains serves a dual purpose, he said:
continuing the Portland-to-Eugene route and demonstrating a commitment to rail
that will boost the state’s chances to win $2.1 billion in federal rail grants.
“The federal government is looking to the states for that level of thinking,”
Cooney said. “You don’t do nothing and come to the federal government with your
hand out.”<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>ODOT’s decision rankled Dailey. “Instead of putting this
into other projects, they’re putting it toward a speculative venture, trying to
attract $2 billion in stimulus money that may or may not happen,” she said.
“These companies are on the verge of dying on the vine right now and need that
money to stay alive.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>“We’re more concerned with what’s happening right now than
what’s possibly happening down the road,” she said.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>Roughly $5.8 million of the $43 million savings will go to
expand current road projects, Cooney said. Another $2 million will go to expand
the state’s “solar highw ay” array along Interstates 5 and 205.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>The unanticipated money provided an opportunity to address a
pressing need, Cooney said. And just because buying trains doesn’t require
construction jobs, it doesn’t mean the purchase won’t bring jobs to Oregon, he
said.<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal>“The trains don’t operate themselves,” Cooney said.
“You need people to operate and maintain the trains after the purchase, to
conduct daily operations, and to keep the line safe and operating.”<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
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