I was pretty excited when Mayor Wooten whispered in my ear on Sunday that "his highness" the governor was coming to town on Tuesday.

I figured we could get the story in for this week's edition of the County Times.

But later, on Monday, Candice Steelman of the Merced County Association of Governments sent me word that the time was changed to Wednesday.

So I figured I'd let our blog readers in on what happened.

The governor speaks, with Mayor Wooten at his side.

Basically, Schwarzenegger rolled up a dirt road near Highway 99 and the end of 16th Street (near the old Nagami restaurant, under the first entrance to Merced coming from Atwater).

All the usual local and district leaders were there, a few more TV crews than usual, some state officials, secret service agents.

There was a governor's podium set up.

Of course, everybody was there to hear about how federal economic stimulus money would benefit Merced and its transportation issues.

Thanks to Obama's stimulus package, Caltrans is spending $625 million on 57 highway projects throughout the state. In Merced, 46.7 million is going to replace aging bridges that cross Bear Creek and 16th Street. Leaders say it will create some 840 jobs.

Caltrans calls it the West Merced Overhead Project.

"In the end, this is about creating jobs," Schwarzenegger said, as he pointed to the state's 10.1 percent unemployment rate.
Under the bridge they gathered

While the governor spoke ... up on the highway ... a trucker blasted his horn as he traveled past ... prompting a laugh from the gathering.

Work is set to begin in August, when crews will begin widening the bridges to add a new lane in each direction.

Said Mayor Wooten (as the governor listened by her side):

"I fee that this project is my first real view of what the economic stimulus will do for us. It will bring us contractors --- JOBS --- who will hire subcontractors --- JOBS --- who will bring in suppliers of asphalt, concrete ... These people will trickle down into our city. They will go to our restaurants, they will go to our movie theaters, our department stores. This is a wonderful thing for the city of Merced.