Stimulus-funded transportation projects are leading to new hires

Funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) are helping improve the infrastructure and create new jobs, says a new report from the Washington-based American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). According to the AASHTO report, ARRA has created $5.4 billion worth of work that is under way on 4,200 mass transit projects, and 11,978 highway and bridge projects are being completed, totaling $24.1 billion.

The U.S. Department of Transportation reported a total of 13,000 highway projects worth $26.4 billion have been approved for construction as of Aug. 31, that when completed will improve 35,399 miles of highways, and 1,200 bridges, according to AASHTO's "More Projects and Paychecks: Transportation's Summer of Recovery." Jobs-creation is happening, says AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley. "Billions of dollars are 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 2,500 transit projects have already been completed, you can see first-hand how states are delivering for the American people."

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