Local projects on pace for omnibus funding

Several southwest Missouri projects are in line for federal funding in the fiscal 2010 omnibus spending bill passed by the U.S. Senate Friday.

Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., the senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured $118.4 million in funds for Missouri projects in the bill, which also was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and awaits signing by Pres. Barack Obama, according to a news release from Bond's office.

Among the local projects to receive funding:

• $750,000 for the Jordan Valley Community Health Center, for construction, renovation and equipment costs for two of the center's Springfield clinics;

• $1 million for Missouri State University, for equipment, technology and program materials in the agriculture department;

• $584,000 to construct an Army brigade headquarters facility at Fort Leonard Wood, to provide military police, signal corps, chemical corps and other support soldiers with additional resources;

• $2.75 million to construct a new runway at Lamar Municipal Airport;

• $1.55 million to the Missouri Department of Transportation for reconstruction of the Interstate 44 and Range Line Road interchange in Joplin, to address congestion and safety concerns; and

• $1 million to MoDOT for improvements to the U.S. Highway 60 and U.S. Highway 160 interchange in Greene County, widening 160 and adding interchange ramps at Highway 60.

"Local and community leaders in Missouri asked me to help send some of their tax dollars back home for local priorities and with today's passage these critical projects are close to becoming a reality," Bond said in the release.