8 months ago
Several months after the federal stimulus program was approved early this year, there's finally signs of some resultant work from it in Western New York in the form of a $648,000 road project, which if nothing else might become the answer to a trivia question.
In most ways the re-paving of a 1.5 mile stretch of Transit Road along the Cheektowaga/Lancaster town line is just like any other project to Mike Roetzer, owner of Amherst Paving.
"It's really just another job for us," said Roetzer, whose firm was the successful bidder on the project.
However, the re-paving of Transit between Genesee Street and French Road holds the distinction of being the first public infrastructure project in Western New York to commence using federal stimulus dollars.
"We actually have about 45 projects in the Western New York area for transportation that the governor has already certified for stimulus funding," said Susan S. Surdej, a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Transportation.
Surdej explained for 2 on Your Side that in this case, the re-paving wasn't scheduled to occur for another year or two. But with the federal stimulus money the DOT was able to move up the timetable and put contractors to work now, as intended by the massive stimulus program.
While the re-paving of Transit Road will never hold the historical significance of the construction of Memorial Auditorium, Civic Stadium, or any other number of local projects born of the depression era WPA (the granddaddy of all federal stimulus programs) ...that's still fine by Roetzer.
"I'm telling you that right now it would have been tough this year. It keeps our guys working. They'd be laid off if we didn't have this, ... and if we get a few more (stimulus projects) we'll be hiring people," he said.
