The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has released a new report on the Recovery Act, arguing with numbers and project stories that the Stimulus is working and working well.
According to AASHTO executive director John Horsley ,”These are big numbers. Billions of dollars being invested in transportation projects that are creating paychecks for hundreds of thousands of construction workers hard hit by unemployment rates that were well above 20 percent earlier this year. And when you consider that more than 6,000 highway and bridge projects and nearly 25-hundred transit projects have already been completed, you can see first hand how states are delivering for the American people.”
The report says that the stimulus is working in every state. “More than $40 billion in highway and transit projects have been approved and are moving forward—almost $30 billion are under contract on 16,761 different projects. More than 63,000 direct on-project jobs have been created or sustained in August as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and states have already paid out $3.2 billion in payroll.”
Some numbers:
As of August 31, 20101:
Highways and Bridges:
+ Federal Highway Administration has approved 13,077 highway projects totaling $26.4 billion. Of these projects:
• Out to bid: 12,739 projects totaling $25.5 billion
• Signed contracts: 12,371 projects totaling $24.7 billion
• Work underway: 11,978 projects, totaling $24.1 billion
• Work completed: 6,154 projects, totaling $5.4 billion or 21 percent of funds
+ When completed, these funds will improve 35,399 miles of highways, and 1,264 bridges
There’s a lot more. Read AASHTO’s latest Stimulus report here.
And by the way, Horsley also provides a stat that you can use to try and pry funds out of politicians, especially those facing election campaigns: “For every dollar spent in keeping a road in good condition the American taxpayer saves $10 to rebuild a deteriorated road.”
