By Brenda Starkey
The Chronicle

     REPUBLIC – The Federal Highways Administration and the state Department of Transportation are working to prepare responses to reports from people about funding for Golden Tiger Pathway projects.
     It is not an investigation, DOT spokesman Al Gilson said.
     The construction project in question consists of two separate federal aid enhancement grants and Ferry County funds that were combined under one project, he said.
     The funds were spent on the design and construction of about 1,100 feet of new off-highway vehicle, bike and pedestrian trail and a trailhead parking area, plus improvements to an existing 16-foot section of trail by installing benches, singing, landscaping, a concrete vault-style toilet and drainage improvements, Gilson said.
     State officials are waiting on information from Ferry County so that they can forward it to federal officials, Gilson said. A time line for that report can’t be formulated until those materials are received, he said.
     The Tiger Trail grant for $89,000 had a selection date of March 9, 2006. A Golden Tiger Pathway West expansion project grant for $142,506 was selected Nov. 27, 2007.
     The $230,142.50 contract was awarded to Crea Construction Inc. on July 3, 2008. Nearly $25,000 of county funds also went to the contractor, Gilson said.
     Various sources have at public meetings questioned the use of the federal transportation enhancement grants for a project that involved OHV recreational use.
     Federal guidelines state the funds are to be used for “including pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and safety programs, scenic and historic highway programs, landscaping and scenic beautification, historic preservation, and environmental mitigation.”
     The federal agency's policy is to allow motorized use on non-motorized trails or pedestrian walkways "only in exceptional cases,” according to a memorandum issued Feb. 26, 2008.