Although Tombstone has a freshly repaved highway thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, other projects have yet to be tackled and will likely remain without federal funding for now.

The improvement of Route 80 involved repaving about a mile of ragged asphalt and improving the road’s median strips while adding decorative accents between Fulton and 11th Streets. The project cost about $622,000, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

“It needed to be resurfaced,” said Tombstone Councilman Robert Hause. “It’s a matter of taking care of maintenance before things fall apart so bad that it would cost twice as much to fix it.”

Though the road may have been a necessary fix, the project, as envisioned under the Freemont Enhancement Grant, remains only partially finished.

Proposed improvements, which will restore Freemont Street to its historical look of the late 1800s, have been tentatively rescheduled for 2011.
There are other projects Tombstone would like to pay for with federal funds as well.

Last November, Tombstone Mayor Dustin Escapule, along with hundreds of mayors, presented Congress with “shovel ready” projects in their cities to be considered for funding under the Mayor’s Stimulus Project and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

But as the legislation of the ARRA was finalized and money began to pour into public works projects, Tombstone requests remained unanswered.

“A lot of these projects have been put on the list of shovel ready and it would appear the funding has been awarded and these projects are ready for bid but that’s not the case,” Escapule said. “It appears to me that a little town like Tombstone, even though big promises have been made, is not going to get anything.”

Tombstone’s proposed projects include: improving the city hall, and building a new jail and an addition to the fire department. Escapule wished to take on more demanding fixes first, like improving the town’s sewer and water systems and covering downtown streets with a fresh coat of sealant. In total, the projects are estimated to cost $10.5 million.

At the beginning of this year, it appeared Tombstone would receive funding. However, only a little more than $500,000 was awarded. The city was also unable to dictate how the money was spent because the funds were allocated through ADOT to specific projects, like the repaving of the one-mile stretch of Route 80.

“I wish I could have taken that $600,000 for the highway and spread it through the community instead,” Escapule said.

If anything, federal money may be used to improve the airport, he said.

“If that does come to play I will move those funds from the airport to a project that is prudent to use funds for at this point in time,” he said.

The newly completed repaving of Route 80 is a portion of a larger project that will restore Freemont Street to its historic appearance of the late 1800s. He said that project however, has been postponed until 2011.