(Source: USDOT Press Release)

 President Barack Obama today announced funding for the 2,000th transportation project under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), only six weeks after approving the first project.  The President made the remarks at the U.S. Department of Transportation with Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

“Just 41 days ago we announced funding for the first transportation project under ARRA and today we’re approving the 2,000thproject,” said President Obama.  “I am proud to utter the two rarest phrases in the English language – projects are being approved ahead of schedule, and they are coming in under budget.”

“The Recovery Act is being implemented with speed, transparency and accountability,” said Vice President Biden.  “Don’t take my word for it – just look at what’s happening today. We have the 2000th transportation project now underway – that’s going to help create jobs, make it easier for folks to get to the jobs they have, and improve our nation’s infrastructure all at the same time. The Recovery Act is full- steam ahead on helping us build an economy for the 21st century.”

“This is the government working for the people, creating jobs today and laying the foundation for a bright economic future,” said Secretary LaHood.

The 2,000th project is in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.  The $68 million project involves widening of I-94 from two lanes both east and westbound to three lanes in each direction.  The project will improve safety and ease congestion by providing a more efficient interchange.  

State departments of transportation around the country have reported to FHWA intense competition by contractors for ARRA projects.  Bids have been roughly 15 to 20 percent lower on average, and as much as 30 percent lower in some cases, than engineers anticipated.  For example, in Colorado, the state’s first five ARRA transportation projects announced on April 2 were 12 percent lower than anticipated.   In Maine, one bridge project was 20 percent lower than estimated.  In Oregon, during February and March 2009, bids have averaged 30 percent lower than expected. 

President Obama secured passage of the ARRA and signed it into law on February 17, less than one month after taking office.  Less than two weeks later, on March 3, the President, Vice President Biden and Secretary LaHood released the first funding to the states and localities for highways, roads and bridge projects.  That release of funds came eight days earlier than required by law.   

ARRA provides a total of $48.1 billion for transportation infrastructure projects to be administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation.  Of that $27.5 billion is for highways and bridges, $8.4 billion is for transit, $8 billion is for high speed rail, $1.3 billion is for Amtrak, $1.5 billion is for discretionary infrastructure grants $1.3 billion is for airports and Federal Aviation Administration facilities and equipment and $100 million for shipyards.   

In early February, prior to the passage of the ARRA, Secretary LaHood established within the U.S. Department of Transportation the TIGER (Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery) team to ensure that economic recovery dollars for transportation infrastructure projects is rapidly made available and that project spending is monitored and transparent.  On March 3, the President unveiled a TIGER logo, as well as an ARRA logo, that will be placed on construction signs across the country, to mark projects being built and jobs created with Recovery Act funds. 

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Due to heightened competition among contractors for recovery construction work, Transportation agencies across the nation are receiving project bids substantially lower than engineers’ initial estimates.  These lower than expected bids are allowing states to stretch economic recovery funds to pay for additional projects, which the Department of Transportation predicts will create even more jobs and yield further infrastructure repair nationwide. Below is a sampling of state transportation projects set to break ground across the country at a fraction of initial estimates. 

“At Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, a recent project to reconstruct the area around Piers C and D received six bids instead of the usual two or three. The result: The estimated $50 million project will be built for $8 million less than was budgeted, and the savings will be allocated to other projects. There were 21 bidders for a $200,000 drainage project in Carroll County, more than anyone could remember.” [Washington Post, 4/8/09] 

Click here to read the entire presser.

(Source: GAO)

 The Department of Transportation received about $48 billion of recovery funds for investments in transportation infrastructure from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. As with other executive agencies, DOT is faced with the challenges of using these funds in ways that will aid economic recovery, making wise funding choices while spending the money quickly, and ensuring accountability for results. GAO will report to Congress bimonthly on how states and localities use the recovery funds received from DOT.

DOT and Congress will also be faced with numerous challenges as they work to reauthorize surface transportation and aviation programs.

Click here to read the HTML version of the entire report.  Or download the PDF file here. 

[ipaper id=13181892]

(Source: Smart Growth America)

A detailed report titled, “Spending the Stimulus: How Your State Can Put Thousands Back to Work by Jumpstarting a 21st Century Transportation System” published by Smart Growth America (you can find the full report here) illustrates the breadth of investments that a state can make with the STP funds it receives through ARRA, by outlining 20 project types in 5 main categories, and providing an example for each.

The website says “Smart Growth America is launching an immediate, six-month campaign to support our state partners in shaping stimulus spending and state DOT budget decisions. The need and opportunity are clear. States and DOTs, asked to develop lists of “ready to go” projects, have developed lists that consist almost entirely of road and other conventional projects. Without this campaign, the stimulus money will likely fund destructive road expansion projects rather than providing a down payment on a clean, green transportation infrastructure for the 21st Century.

This campaign aims to:

1. Influence how state DOTs and governors spend the substantial amounts of money they receive from the federal government,
2. Hold the state DOTs and governors accountable on the stimulus spending; and
3. Increase the capacity of state advocacy groups for subsequent state, local, and federal campaign work.”

Click here to read the entire article.  Also click here to read a related write-up by our Sarah Goodyear, at Streetsblog.

 Transportgooru encourages readers to Donate to Smart Growth America today and help in furthering its mission and to ensure that the future for America is a bright one. Click the Donate button to proceed.

Attached is the detailed report called Spending the Stimulus published by Smart Growth America:

[ipaper id=13172497]

(Source: Bizjournal.com)

The federal stimulus funds, furnished through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will help the state proceed with 29 construction projects throughout the state. The Texas Department of Transportation will leverage the $1.2 billion in stimulus spending to build more than $2.6 billion in new transportation projects throughout the state.

In San Antonio, the state will proceed with the construction of new interchange lanes along U.S. Highway 281 and Loop 1604. The total project will cost $140 million to build. TxDOT will combine $60 million worth of stimulus dollars with $80 million worth of existing funds to proceed with construction. TxDOT also is combining $8.1 million in stimulus funds with $4 million in existing funds to construct new roadway lanes along Loop 1604 from FM 78 to Graytown, which is located near Randolph Air Force Base.

(Source:  Rocky Mountain Institute Via Tree Hugger)

(Source:  Whitehouse.gov via Planetizen)

Just two weeks after signing that legislation, we’re about to start the biggest investment on our nation’s road, bridges, highways and tunnels since we built the Interstate Highway System over 50 years ago.  It’s a big deal.  The work is beginning now, with hundreds more projects getting underway in the next few months.  Some project will start this month, some won’t get going until the summer.  We’re going to do everything we can to get them moving as quickly as possible.  But Americans didn’t get in this mess overnight.  And unfortunately, unfortunately, it’s going to take some time for us to get out of this.

     Mr. President, you also made it clear that we have an obligation to the taxpayers of this nation to make sure their money is being used wisely, to make it accountable and transparent.  Folks, we’re going to ask of you a sense of diligence and transparency and responsibility as has not been asked before, because we’ve never made this kind of investment before.  This is a big deal.  Never before in the history of this country have the people been more able to see with such complete transparency how we’re going to put their money to work, not just in this agency but particularly here. 

Excerpts from President Obama’s address:

     Of the 3.5 million jobs that will be created and saved over the next two years as a result of this recovery plan, 400,000 will be jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools, repairing our faulty levees and dams, connecting nearly every American to broadband, and upgrading the buses and trains that commuters take every day.  Many of these projects will be coordinated by Secretary LaHood and all of you at the Department of Transportation.  And I want you to know that the American public is grateful to public servants like you — men and women whose work isn’t always recognized, but whose jobs are critical to our nation’s safety, security, and prosperity.  You have never been more important than you are right now, and for that we are all grateful.  (Applause.) 

     Now, in the coming days and weeks, my administration will be announcing more details about the kinds of transportation projects that will be launched as part of the recovery plan.  But today, I want to speak about an investment we are making in one part of our infrastructure.  Through the Recovery Act, we will be investing $28 billion in our highways, money that every one of our 50 states can start using immediately to put people back to work.  It’s an investment being made at an unprecedented pace, thanks in large part to Joe Biden, who’s leading the effort to get the money out the door quickly.  Because of Joe, and because of all the governors and mayors, county and city officials who are helping implement this plan, I can say that 14 days after I signed our Recovery Act into law, we are seeing shovels hit the ground.

 

(Source – The Number Thirteen Line blog, hosted by PBS’ Blue Print for America)

Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Number Thirteen Line, a monthly blog about transportation in New York and around the world. This month’s topic: The Stimulus Package and its impact on transportation.

Seven hundred and ninety billion dollars, as designated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is a lot of money. Frankly, we had hoped that most of it would go toward public works projects; after all, good infrastructure projects have been shown to produce five times the GDP impact of broad-based tax cuts. Nonetheless, we understand reality doesn’t always play out the way we’d like. So we are reasonably pleased to see that $130-billion, of the $790-billion bill (16%), is intended for construction projects.

The really good news from a transport perspective is that high-speed and existing long-haul rail will receive more than $9 billion. Urban transit gets a nice sized boost as well. So what can we, as New Yorkers, expect and what should we demand?

Approximately $1.3-billion of the funds are being directed to on-going capital transit programs in the New York City metropolitan area. This means that projects such as the Fulton Street Transit Center and the No. 7 Subway Extension will finally be built. There’s little left for much else, so we must be thrifty in advancing other new projects. We are also limited in our imagination by the requirement that projects be “shovel-ready.” In an upcoming blog we will let our imaginations go wild.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has been lauded worldwide as the one of the cheapest, most easily-implementable forms of mass transit (read “shovel-ready”), widely popular among riders and similar to light rail transit in its ability to carry people. And it fits perfectly into the objectives of the stimulus package as it can be planned, designed, and constructed in just one year. We recently planned and designed a BRT line on Fordham Road in the Bronx (disclosure: we are consultants to the New York City Department of Transportation and Metropolitan Transportation Authority on BRT) which was quickly implemented and has been enjoying wide success. We should demand a network of BRT solutions city-wide