Keep I-39 overpass open during repairs

When Whitaker said that the subsurface of the road is deteriorating, I asked him if this is because the shale taken from the Minonk Jumbo was used in the fill. Whitaker said that he knew nothing about the Jumbo and did not know if that is the reason the road is crumbling. Whitaker also mentioned that the $495,000 budgeted to repair the overpass did not include leaving the overpass open with one or two lanes. The cost to leave the interchange open during repairs was $90,000 for one lane and $117,000 for 2 lanes and is not included in the budget. When I asked Whitaker why the County didn't budget for the cost of leaving the interchange open during repair, he back pedaled and said that he did not want to be quoted.

I want to make it clear that I respect Larry Whitaker as Woodford County Chairman. He is a very professional speaker and is a great moderator at the Woodford County Republican dinners. He is making an honest and strong effort to help Minonk keep the interchange open. The person who should have been at the meeting was the Woodford County Road Commissioner Dennis Bachman. He is probably the one who made the decision not to include the cost of keeping the interchange open during repairs. Would the county shut down the I-39 overpass at El Paso if it had similar problems? The money for the repair is 80% financed by the Federal government. The funds available for repair is already locked into the budget. Whitaker said that money had already been transferred from other items to the I-39 repair cost.

The extra money needed to enable keeping the I-39 interchange open during repair will not be federally funded and will require political pull. Unfortunately, Minonk has no representation on the County board. Minonk has a hard enough time getting support even when we had representatives on the board. Minonk is situated at the far northeast corner of the county and away from the action, so to speak.

It doesn't help either that Minonk residents have become politically apathetic. The last city election had two races uncontested and a third had write-in candidates only. We have no one on the county board. Whether we like it or not, we live in a political world. The stronger we are politically the more we can expect from the government. Now we are at the mercy of the Woodford County Board to help us keep the I-39 interchange open during its repair. If Minonk had representation on the county board, the cost estimate to repair the I-39 overpass might have included the cost to keep it open. We will never know.

Minonk businesses will be hurt by the repair work done on the I-39 interchange even if it is kept open. Getting on and off the interstate will be cumbersome. The County may have to dig into its revolving loan fund to help these businesses recover from the downturn. Officials from the City of Minonk and Woodford County should do whatever they can to come up with the extra money to keep the I-39 interchange open during repair. In addition, Minonk residents must get more involved in politics if the city is to have any clout when future problems arise.