NORWICH – Federal stimulus money most likely won’t come directly to Chenango County for identified, shovel-ready highway projects despite the nearly $1 billion in highway funding headed to New York.

Chenango County Department of Public Works Director Randy Gibbon said he wasn’t optimistic about receiving stimulus funds for county Rts. 35, 34 and 32. As vice chairman of the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) Highway Committee, Gibbon said he returned last week from the organization’s annual conference feeling that the county “would be happy” to get as much money as it had lost ($500,000) in Consolidated Highway Improvement Programs funds for the year.

“The state doesn’t have any money. At this point we do not know if any of the projects will receive stimulus funding,” he said Friday.

Gov. David Paterson’s proposed CHIPs budget cuts for 2009 would already force county and town road crews to cut back on hundreds of miles of stone and oil projects this year.

The following are the projects that were submitted to the New York State Department of Transportation Region 9 for the stimulus package: county Rt. 35 Phase II for $2.688 million; county Rt. 34 bridge for $1.12 million; county Rt. 32 Phase II for $216,000; and traffic signs on federally designated Chenango County highways at $120,000.

Gibbon said he and Commerce Chenango President Maureen Carpenter also requested $14 million for the state Rt. 12 corridor improvement project. This funding would be used for Phases III and IV of county Rt. 32, completing the work on 32 from state Rt. 23 to state Rt. 320 and from 320 to state Rt. 12.    

The DPW director had considered submitting the Main Street Bridge in Oxford project for the list, but decided to leave it off since the NYSDOT has it back on the program to be bid for December 2009.

“Plus, the price tag ($3.2 M) was such that we figured we’d never get it,” Gibbon said.