By Political Reporter Marshall Zelinger
m.zelinger@krdo.com
Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mzelinger

COLORADO SPRINGS - It's your money, but do you know where it is?  Four road projects in Southern Colorado have still received zero dollars from the federal stimulus package.  The projects total $65 million and are:

1.    Woodmen from I-25 to Powers Blvd.
2.    US 24 Bridge east of Falcon (near Judge Orr Road)
3.    US 287 South of Springfield (Baca County)
4.    I-25 bypass in Trinidad

Those projects were selected because they were deemed shovel ready, but construction hasn't started yet.

"Shovel ready really means approval from federal highways to spend the money."

Once construction begins on the projects, the Colorado Department of Transportation will start to pay contractors, and then submit for reimbursement from the federal government.

$19 billion in federal stimulus money is ready to be paid out for road construction nationwide, but only 2% or $369 million has actually been paid out.

"You'll be seeing that money soon, if not already being spent currently under construction," said CDOT Engineer Mark Andrew.

Getting approval for stimulus money takes a few steps.  First local organizations (in the Pikes Peak region it's PPRTA) put together road construction lists and submit them to CDOT.  CDOT then picks from those projects and submits a list to Governor Bill Ritter.  The Governor then sends his choices to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).  The FHWA then makes final approval and distributes money back to CDOT.

"It's very typical for a project that has federal money," said Andrew.  "The timeframe between, typically approval and construction, usually runs about two months."