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Congress allocates $4.4M for Catwalk Trail repairs in Gila National Forest

AJiveMan

AJiveMan

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Congress allocates $4.4M for Catwalk Trail repairs in Gila National Forest - Silver City Sun-News

Some good news for a change.

SILVER CITY >> U.S. Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich announced Wednesday that $4.4 million in funding to restore the Catwalk Trail in the Gila National Forest is now available from the Federal Highway Administration from the Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Road program, according to a news release.

"It means an awful lot to us," Director of Silver City/Grant County Chamber of Commerce Scott Terry said. "Almost daily I get people calling here asking if the Catwalk is open. Not having it has had a bad economic impact on us. This is a very welcome announcement for Grant County."
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For people who don't know what the catwalk is, here's some photos of it.

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en....0....0...1ac.1.42.img..0.15.1445.j6BH2htyxxk
 
That's nice thing for a beautiful sight and for stirring up jobs. :thumbs:
 
Bob N said:
That's nice thing for a beautiful sight and for stirring up jobs. :thumbs:
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That's a big tourist draw in that state. So are the Gila Cliff Dwellings, which made me dizzy when I visited there.

250px-GilaCliffDwellings_NatlMonument.jpg
 
It sounds good except for the cost of $757/foot for the trail rebuild project. ;)
 
WCH said:
We were there last spring. We stayed at the hot springs camp down on the river. It got washed away later in the year in that giant flood.
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It has been or will be rebuilt. Difficult to find news on it since we're not in the area any longer.



Did you ever visit Monticello Box, you can take a four wheeler into it to a hot springs. It's kind of neat.

 
Unless Congress had an earmark for the project, they only allocated general funds to the Transportation Department, Federal Highway Department. More than likely some bureaucrat used his discretion for this project.
 
AJiveMan said:
It has been or will be rebuilt. Difficult to find news on it since we're not in the area any longer.



Did you ever visit Monticello Box, you can take a four wheeler into it to a hot springs. It's kind of neat.

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I was actually referring to the cliff dwellings. (never went to the cat walk)

Guessing the same flood got it too.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
I understand that concept. I was simply questioning the bid price. How long will it take to have that $4.4 million in "make money" happen?
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Probably about six months. But, like appropriations, paid for by U, Me & Us, they might not have to be paid back. But in knowing that money, especially taxpayer money is being spent on something that all can visit and enjoy is satisfying.
 
WhyteRash said:
agreed. so what did they do with the "millions" from the tourism theyve surely taken in?
the 4.4million seems to be for covering every last dime, having nothing come from the tourism this mustve been bringing.
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This link gives some insight to where tourist dollars are going, they add to the GDP and employ many people.

WTTC | Benchmarking Travel & Tourism
 
Lord of Planar said:
Fine, but it shouldn't be coming from the Highway Fund!

We pay gas taxes on fuel to fix the nations highways.
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No, fuel taxes are used for highway repairs, maintenance and reconstruction, along with funding from the fed.

Some states have budget problems with funding highway repairs as it is. Taking funds from what's supposed to be used for highways and using it on other projects would hurt funding highway maintenance and reconstruction. My state has such a budget shortfall for highway repairs that they're considering making state roads toll roads, to close the budget gap.
 
WCH said:
I was actually referring to the cliff dwellings. (never went to the cat walk)

Guessing the same flood got it too.
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Yes, the catwalk was all but destroyed due to monsoon flooding.

Rock slides.
 
AJiveMan said:
Yes, the catwalk was all but destroyed due to monsoon flooding.

Rock slides.
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It hard for us to believe after seeing how dry it was there last May. As in Texas, it's either feast or famine.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
It sounds good except for the cost of $757/foot for the trail rebuild project. ;)
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That's a lot, but I can see there's a lot of expense in the engineering and construction of suspended catwalk. The materials aren't where the cost is.
 
AJiveMan said:
Probably about six months.[b/] But, like appropriations, paid for by U, Me & Us, they might not have to be paid back. But in knowing that money, especially taxpayer money is being spent on something that all can visit and enjoy is satisfying.
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Really? Do you believe that single 1.1 mile trail generates $88 million per year in added tourism revenue?
 
WCH said:
It hard for us to believe after seeing how dry it was there last May. As in Texas, it's either feast or famine.
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Yes it is. It's so dry out west, wildfires are already popping up. The way I understand, wildfires strip the ground of vegetation, and when the monsoon rains come, everything that was held in place by tress and grasses is washed out.
 
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American said:
That's a lot, but I can see there's a lot of expense in the engineering and construction of suspended catwalk. The materials aren't where the cost is.
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I understand that but this is a rebuild so much of that engineering is already done. Of course, Davis-Bacon act wages are involved so that likely doubles the labor costs. ;)
 
AJiveMan said:
Yes it is. It's so dry out west, wildfires are already popping up. The way I understand, wildfires strip the ground of vegetation, and when the monsoon rains come, everything that was held in place by tress and grasses is washed out.
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That's true for the Gila Cliffs area...a major fire a not long ago.
 
AJiveMan said:
No, tourism as a whole in the state, not in one area.
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Did tourism in the whole state drop when the trail was damaged? I understand your point but if increased tourism revenue would pay for that in 6 months then AZ should have done this 6 months ago. ;)
 
ttwtt78640 said:
I understand that but this is a rebuild so much of that engineering is already done. Of course, Davis-Bacon act wages are involved so that likely doubles the labor costs. ;)
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What caused the failure?
 
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