Driving from Marmet into Racine, one is bound to pass a Department of Highways vehicle working alongside a slick new green sign designating the construction as possible through funding by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“People who live and commute through there are starting to recognize and take note of the work that is being done,” Boone County Circuit Clerk Sue Ann Zickefoose pointed out.

The work in the Peytona-Racine area is just one of five projects in Boone County currently being funded through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act monies.

According to the State of West Virginia’s Economic Recovery Portal web site, the Mountain State is projected to receive $1.8 Billion in federal assistance through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Already, $2,724,523 of that $1.8 billion has been spent in Boone County, according to the official reports.

$673,000 was spent on the Department of Transportation’s shovel-ready project to resurface the roads in the Racine-Peytona area.

Another $4,044 was spent by the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program for public safety.

Currently topping the list of recipients is the Boone County School system. Administered through the Department of Education, Boone County schools has been given $744,998 in Title 1 Grants, $59,333 for preschool special education programs and $1,243,148 to fund IDEA Part B School Age Allocation, also a special education program.

However, the construction work in the Peytona-Racine area, though employing regional workers and resurfacing a road heavily traveled by coal and

timber trucks, was not listed as one of 170 unfunded projects identified by the West Virginia Division of Highways as top

priorities for the state.

In an effort to quantify the unfunded needs associated with requested highway corridors, executive staff of the WVDOH requested a review and

prioritization of all WVDOH planning and engineering studies.

At that time, many projects were at various stages of development and the cost to complete all of the projects far exceeded the State’s budget.

Thus, the WVDOH Division of Engineering and Division of Planning teamed up to compile and rank a list of 170 unfunded WVDOH projects.

The unfunded projects that ranked as the top ten projects for the West Virginia DOH to begin work were all situated in the 2nd Congressional District. The number one project being along W.Va. 9 at Kearneysville to Charles Town, estimated to cost $18,150,000, and is currently under construction.

As of today, 19 of the identified 170 unfunded projects are

currently receiving some funding and is either under construction or construction has been completed.

West Virginia’s roads have changed in the four years since the WVDOH released the top 170 projects.

There have been amendments to the statewide transportation improvement program for 2009 that have included transit projects in Boone County.

These adjustments have included the construction of a Walhonde Water Trail walking trail, with a funding obligation date of March 27. $24,8000 of federal funds went to assist this project, according to West Virginia Department of Transportation documents.

Waterways Trail Phase II also benefited with the

construction of a trail extension with federal dollars spent on the project recorded at $50,000.

According to WVDOT

documents, $577,000 of federal monies were obligated by June 28, for work on a project titled Danville Traffic Signal.

Just $673 in federal funding is for the approved resurfacing project of the Peytona-Racine area on W.Va. 3, (state project No. S303-3-20.33) according to DOT documents.

Boone County’s Prenter Bridge was listed among candidates for advanced construction with an estimated construction cost of $800,000, according to DOT

documents dated March 30. The project has a state No. S303-5-8.49, as well as a federal project number ACBR-0005(001)D.

Another $50,000 of federal money has an obligation date of December 28, 2009 for future work on a project titled Danville-Madison Signal, as of current DOT documents. On that same project, with a funding obligation date of Sept. 28, 2010, more work is scheduled to be done on the Danville-Madison Signal.

Projected plans in the works for the years 2009- 2011 include replacements of the Camp Creek Bridge, Skin Fork Bridge and Kirbyton Bridge, according to DOT documents.

Approval of these future

projects do not constitute a

commitment of federal funds; federal funding for projects included in the statewide

transportation improvement

program is finalized when a request for project authorization is approved by the Federal Highways Administration of upon approval of a grant by the Federal Transit Administration, according to a letter written by Federal Highway Administration Division Administrator Thomas J. Smith to the WV DOT.