Feds Send $2.4 Million For Oakland County Roads: How Should We Spend It?

Members of the Oakland County Federal Aid Committee will discuss how to allocate nearly $2.4 million in federal road funds headed to the county in 2013 during a special meeting at 9 a.m. Monday in Beverly Hills.

The meeting is open to the public and will take place at the Road Commission for Oakland County’s administrative offices at 31001 Lahser Road.

RCOC spokesman Craig Bryson said the additional funds became available when Congress passed the new federal transportation bill last year. It was the first new transportation bill in about seven years. The money must be spent during the calendar year, and can only apply to projects on 'principal arterial' roads, which Bryson described as main roads.

Potential projects could include Avon Road from Adams Road to Livernois Road in Rochester Hills; and Rochester Road from Lakeville Road to the Village of Leonard limits. Bryson said both projects were slated for completion this year anyway with roughly $2 million in existing federal funding. Depending on what the committee decides, those funds could now be earmarked for other projects.

The Oakland County Federal Aid Committee is comprised of representatives from the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC), the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), and SMART (the suburban bus system).

The committee also will consider:

• Proposed changes to projects including the future widening of Baldwin Road between Morgan and Waldon roads in Orion Twp.,
• The future widening of John R Road between Long Lake and Square Lake roads in Troy.
• The future widening of Dequindre Road between Long Lake and Auburn roads on the Troy/Sterling Heights and Rochester Hills/Shelby Twp. borders.