Chagrined by media attention on its plan to build four bus shelters at a total cost of $530,000, the small southern Oregon town of Grants Pass (population: 33,225) is set to cancel the project its city council approved only a few days ago. Although the city council voted 5-2 on January 4 to use $150,000 from the city’s allocation of the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program on the bus shelters, on January 13 the council voted 6-1 to reconsider that decision at its meeting set for January 18, 2012.

 

The story begins in 2008, when the city council decided to build more bus shelters in order to attract more riders, reduce auto emissions, and thus improve air quality. That green connection allowed Grants Pass to qualify for special highway funds under the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality program. Although in 2009 the city had a total project estimate of a little more than $300,000, the amount had swelled to $530,000 by January 2012, when the city council approved the expenditure.

 

While it seems that everyone agrees the price tag is too high, federal, state and local officials are having a harder time agreeing who is to blame. “The price is obviously high,” said Grants Pass Mayor Mike Murphy. “It makes everyone want to hold their nose and gag a little bit here.” Murphy also points out that even if the town nixes the project, the federal funds will not go unspent, but will go to some other locale.

 

Murphy blames the high price tag on allegedly onerous state and federal spending rules, such as a requirement that towns lacking employees with sufficient construction and design certifications hire outside firms, which Grants Pass did. But State Department of Transportation spokesman Patrick Cooney contends that the state only ensures that money is spent properly, but that “the scope, what's in the project, how much art is in the project–that’s all the city’s decision.” The arts budget approved by Grants Pass was $15,000 per shelter. Federal highway officials have not thus far commented publicly.

 

By way of comparison, bus shelters for the city of Roseburg, a slightly smaller city to the north, cost between $7,000 and $11,000 each, which the city’s bus system manager Toby Notenboom described as “pretty plain-Jane ones.”

-Matt Bewig

 

Federal Highway Dollars Pay for Southern Oregon Bus Shelters that Cost as much as a House (by Harry Esteve, The Oregonian)