Genesee, local agencies offer up land, cash to win federal funding for $23-million Dort Highway connector
The Flint Journal
By Ron Fonger
GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Michigan -- There's no bigger road project that the township,
Genesee Health System or Genesee County want more than a new connection between Dort Highway and Baldwin Road.
Need proof?
Just look at what the hospital and local governments are offering to convince the federal government how badly the
area needs the massive $23-million construction project:
Genesee is offering almost 20 acres of land in the area to make the proposed four-lane boulevard a reality, the township has agreed to
spend $1.1 million in water and sewer upgrades, the county is offering $1.8 million cash, and the county Road Commission another $674,000,
according to an application for federal funding for the project.
A decision on the application is expected in the first quarter of 2012.
"Everybody is putting money in it," said county planner Derek Bradshaw. "We're not just saying, 'We want federal money' ... There's a lot of local money secured."
The county Road Commission is proposing to build the new boulevard from Dort Highway to Baldwin, right along the western edge of the Genesee complex.
The big local investment would pay off, officials say, with a vast expansion of the Genesee campus, including senior citizen living, research facilities, retail and conference space that the county estimates would create up to 6,000 new jobs on the site and another 10,000 to 15,000 spinoff jobs.
"I'm looking at the future of Genesee County," said township Supervisor Micki Hoffman. What we are asking for -- "it's not grandiose. It's very practical, (and) we're very optimistic about it."
Representatives of the Road Commission, county Planning Commission and township won't handicap their chances of winning the federal money they need to build the connector, which they say would pay off in jobs and transportation benefits by taking some traffic off Holly Road.
Holly Road is considered congested, carrying about 25,000 vehicles daily in the area of I-75.
"We have a lot of support (and) it encourages business growth," said Fred Peivandi, director of engineering for the Road Commission.
The economic benefits of the connector are front and center in the county's application for the U.S. Department of Transportation funds.
The application calls this a "deeply economically distressed county."
"The traits that once defined the Genesee County of our past are on the verge of extinction ...," the application says. "Our communities are plagued with poverty, high crime rates, failing infrastructure, unprecedented percentages of unemployment, elevated infant mortality rates, and soaring levels of significant population loss.
"To put it bluntly, Genesee County has passed what some would consider the breaking point ... The proposed Dort Highway Connector is a critical step in this process and will be a major catalyst for growth."
The application identifies several parcels of property that would need to be acquired to complete the new boulevard, including those being offered by Genesee.
Pollock Road resident John Sortman, a 30-year resident of the road, said he has mixed feelings about the potential for selling his home and starting over.
"I like living here," said Sortman, whose home is identified as a potential acquisition in the application. "The 'con' would be having to relocate. I'm just waiting and seeing. The rest of the neighbors are aware of what's going on. If it's a benefit to Genesee in general I know it would benefit the county."
Genesee has worked with township and county officials to push the project forward and acknowledged its interest in expanding the hospital campus previously.
Nick Evans, Genesee vice president of business development, said in an e-mail statement to The Flint Journal that Genesee "fully supports the Dort Highway extension and is very happy to join this community partnership that ultimately will lead to the creation of 4,000 to 6,000 jobs in Genesee County."
"Providing 19.38 acres of our property on the Genesee Health Park campus to help make room for the Dort Highway extension is our contribution to help facilitate and build business that we expect will reap huge benefits toward the revitalization of the local economy," the statement said.
Genesee is already one of the county's largest employers.
The connector project is part of a wider series of recommendations from a study by The Corradino Group of Michigan Inc. The consultant recommended spending $46 million in road improvements in the immediate area from 2015 to 2019, largely because of the potential for new job creation.
A report given to the county Board of Commissioners in January called for spending $24 million to extend Dort to Baldwin Road, $13 million more to improve the Holly Road to I-75 interchange and turning Baldwin Road into a carefully landscaped boulevard from the Dort extension to Holly Road at a cost of $9 million.
