Improvements to Missouri Street in Harrisburg part of federal appropriations bill

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The city of Harrisburg is set to receive a relatively little slice of the $447 billion spending bill that was passed by Congress last week.

President Barack Obama has indicated he will sign the bill into law.

Rep. John Shimkus announced $400,000 was appropriated to the city of Harrisburg to improve access to Harrisburg Medical Center from Missouri Street.

The plan is to raise Missouri Street to reduce the chance of it being blocked by flooding, thus providing a second access road to HMC during periods of flash flooding. During the flood of 2008, Sloan Street - the main road to the hospital - was flooded. Employees were brought to the hospital on ATVs in some cases, Mitchell said.

City officials brainstormed projects that could be included in one of the stimulus packages passed by Congress this year. This project was a high priority, Mitchell said.

"What we tried to do is put together a list of projects that we felt were shovel-ready, which is what the president wanted," Mitchell said.

Shimkus voted against the measure.

"These are earmarks that I specifically asked for within the federal appropriations process," Shimkus said in a news release from his congressional office. "And while I did not vote for passage of this bill, these projects would not be getting these funds had I not made the initial request.

"I have expressed my discontent with how much money is being spent in Washington, and my votes reflect that position. However, I am elected to represent the people of the 19th District, and it is my job to work to get our fair share of funding."

The bill contained thousands of congressional earmarks. In all, projects in Shimkus' 19th Congressional District received $5.72 million.