By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

Four local projects have received a combined $646,800 in federal stimulus money through the Transportation Enhancement Program of the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Three of the projects are for trails. The other is for a Route 66 Welcome Center in Webb City.

In Joplin, the money will fund two trail extensions. The Turkey Creek Trail, which connects the Frisco Greenway Trail to St. Louis Avenue, will receive $279,500. The Ozark Memorial Park Trail, which connects St. Louis Avenue to Florida Avenue, will get $160,000.

The Joplin trails represent phases one and two of the Frisco Greenway Trail extension.

Phases three and four eventually will connect to Missouri Southern State University, but that work is yet to be funded.

At Carl Junction, $181,472 will be spent to expand the Thom’s Station Trail between downtown Carl Junction and the Briarbrook area. The money will finance phase three of the project south of Center Creek.

The Route 66 Welcome Center in Webb City is to be developed in an old gasoline service station at Webb Street and Broadway. The project received $25,828 of the $47,000 that was requested.

Wendy Brunner-Lewis, spokeswoman for MoDOT’s regional office in Joplin, said the projects will proceed through the normal federal-aid procedure, including environmental and cultural reviews, but at an accelerated pace. The projects also must complete the design procedure.

“We expect most projects will begin construction at some point after the first of the year,” she said.

The projects were selected by a local committee composed of representatives of the Harry S. Truman Coordinating Council, the Joplin Area Transportation Study Organization, the Kaysinger Basin Regional Planning Commission and the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments.

The Transportation Enhancement Program is a federally funded program administered by the state in which up to 80 percent of eligible costs may be reimbursable.