136th Year... and
still
on the job!
Wednesday December 14,
2005
|
|
||
|
|
136th Year... and
still
on the job!
|
Wednesday December 14,
2005
|
The U.S. Senate cleared the way this week for the Federal Highway Administration to use money originally in the defense budget for road projects here.
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., said Monday that the Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee, of which he is a member, has approved a request from the Department of Defense to reprogram $18.6 million so the department can begin construction on a defense access road for the chemical-agent destruction pilot plant at the Pueblo Chemical Weapons Depot.
The $23 million DAR project will make it easier for construction crews and workers to get to the site of a weapons destruction plant that will be built in the northern part of the Pueblo Chemical Depot.
The plant will destroy 2,600 tons of mustard agent contained in artillery shells and mortar rounds.
Work is already under way on a new entrance to the Army base off of "DOT" road, which runs from the city's airport industrial park to the Transportation Technology Center. When that entrance is done, it will be the primary access point for the chemical demilitarization project. Currently, the only way into the base is the main gate off U.S. 50.
Most of what's being called the defense access road already is in existence. Much of the money, $18.6 million from the federal government, $500,000 from Colorado and the rest already spent by the county to improve the DOT road, will go to widen and improve United Avenue and William White Boulevard through the industrial park. The county also will extend William White Boulevard to Colorado 47, providing a second entrance to the industrial park. The state highway also will be widened north of the new intersection with William White to allow for left turns onto the new street.
“This road project is a crucial element needed to better support the pilot chemical-agent destruction project at the depot,” Allard said. “To me, the department’s request was another sign of its intention to move forward with the destruction of these chemical weapons.”
Allard added that the DAR project is a better plan than continuing to use the existing main gate to the chemical depot.
“The existing interchange off U.S. 50 near the entrance of the Pueblo Depot has several shortcomings that this road project has been designed to remedy," he said.
Those problems include structurally deficient bridges, poor lines of sight and a lack of acceleration and deceleration lanes, he explained.
Pueblo County, the lead agency in the project, is currently working on an environmental impact statement that needs to be approved by the Colorado Department of Transportation. Work on the roads should start in late summer or early fall.