State DOT Update discusses 2010 successes.

Press Release Summary:



Two-Minute State DOT Update video, featuring Kansas Transportation Secretary Deb Miller, chairwoman of AASHTO Standing Committee on Planning, will discuses how KDOT won public support for T-WORKS $8.2 billion transportation funding package. In February, KDOT announced that work will begin soon on first 3 major expansion projects to be funded by T-WORKS, worth $250 million. Miller said "we're going to save the state money by taking advantage of current low bid prices."



Original Press Release:



Raising Transportation Revenues in Tough Times - KDOT Director Discusses 2010 Success



(Washington, DC)-May 25 will mark the one-year anniversary of T-WORKS, an $8.2 billion transportation funding package approved by the Kansas Legislature and signed into law last year. The comprehensive plan is aimed at maintaining and improving Kansas highways and creating or saving 175,000 jobs over the program's 10-year lifespan.

In a new Two-Minute State DOT Update video, Kansas Transportation Secretary Deb Miller, chairwoman of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Standing Committee on Planning, discuses how KDOT won widespread public support for T-WORKS. In February, KDOT announced that work will begin soon on the first three major expansion projects to be funded by T-WORKS, worth $250 million.

"We wanted to get construction under way as quickly as possible because we're going to save the state money by taking advantage of current low bid prices," Miller said. "The construction season has started and contractors are competing aggressively for work. We're going to begin with three projects that have consistently risen to the top of the list during extensive public meetings across the state."

Miller said that while project construction is vitally important to all state departments of transportation, it is equally important to build bridges to people and communities. Miller said approval of the funding package for T WORKS - which includes bonds, a sales-tax increase, and higher registration fees for heavy trucks - didn't happen overnight.

"What we've done is to focus on a core group of about 2,500 citizen and community leaders all across the state who regularly participates in our decision-making process," Miller said. "Periodically we'll have a specific issue that we'll need to address (like T-WORKS) and we can create a working group around that issue. People have got to know that you're sincere and they've got to see some positive things coming back to prove it. Don't think that you can do this overnight, but by all means, get to doing it."

Watch this and other Two-Minute State DOT Update videos at www.TransportationTV.org.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is the "Voice of Transportation" representing State Departments of Transportation in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. AASHTO is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association serving as a catalyst for excellence in transportation. Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/aashtospeaks.

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