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Transportation jobs contribute to nation's recovery

Excerpt from July 29 AASHTO report
Sherry Conway Appel
In June 2010 alone, more than 64,000 direct, on-project jobs were sustained or created in the highway and transit sectors as a result of ARRA (American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009) – an increase of 57 percent since March.

Projects totaling $30.5 billion are either out to bid or under construction during these peak summer construction months. These are real people, working real jobs. These are the facts, despite many public complaints that the stimulus just “isn’t working.” I don’t know about your state, but I can tell you that without ARRA, our transportation industry – our workers, manufacturers, and all the spin-off jobs that have been created – would really be in trouble.

An important thing to keep in mind is that virtually all of the stimulus effects from public infrastructure investment are being felt in the U.S., since the construction work is being done on our own transportation network, and most transportation materials and equipment are manufactured in this country as well…

Nationally, state departments of transportation have almost 15,000 highway and transit projects under way, and have already spent more than $5.1 billion on completed projects since the program began. We are all working quickly, efficiently, and under budget to push projects out the door to obtain maximum economic impact.