The $787 billion stimulus package is working well for our nation’s transportation infrastructure if you don’t consider our national airspace system part of our transportation infrastructure. The stimulus package included only $1 billion for aviation. This is particularly perplexing in light of the fact that President Obama and Transportation Secretary LaHood have both since said that the Next Generation Air Transportation System is not only a national priority, but it is so important to the vitality of our national transportation system that its 2025 completion date should be accelerated by ten years.

We want to remind the transportation community how improvements to the national airspace system will positively affect our economy, society, environmental footprint and travel experience. And, remember, we are realizing some of the benefits now as parts of the system roll out in test bed areas like Georgia, Florida, Kentucky and Alaska. AIA is going to continue to press for funding and incentives that will bring home the system well before that 2025 date. Our nation needs this now.

I agree with Jeff Shane and others about the excellent work of the DOT staff, but have questions about the effectiveness of the stimulus legislation itself, largely because of the way it was designed.

The massive $787 billion stimulus package included only $48 billion for transportation. It included $142 billion for all forms of infrastructure, but even among overall infrastructure, transportation received less money than energy and water projects, which tend to take even longer and spend out more slowly.

If the stimulus spending for transportation could all be spent in one year, it would have roughly doubled planned federal spending on highway and transit for the year. But that is not what it does. Instead, the outlays will occur over seven or more years. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that only $5 billion will be spent this year:

See http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9989/hr1conference.pdf.

In reality, less than $1 billion has actually been paid out by DOT so far, according to the Recovery Board. http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/agency-summary&agency_code=69 This is not a criticism of DOT, which has obviously sought to get the funds out quickly and has already allocated roughly half of the available funding for projects, but it is an inherent problem of the stimulus legislation.

Another inevitable difficulty is that to best assist the economy, it would be preferable for the funds to go to projects with the greatest benefit to the public. But it is difficult to do that quickly. For example, the AP reported this week that most states have put money for bridge work into maintenance of bridges that are in good shape, which would not normally qualify for federal funds, while leaving unfixed significant numbers of bridges that have been inspected and deemed deficient. See http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g0c80lvkIYZF4eoTIcnV67SGZpqwD99P6R600.

Even if DOT pays out $5 billion of stimulus funds this year, as CBO originally projected, that would be less than the $8.5 billion increase that House appropriators have proposed for DOT’s budget next year, when the economy is expected to be out of recession and growing again. But during the recession, in the more than five months since the stimulus bill was enacted last February, less than $1 billion of new federal money has been spent on transportation.

During that same time, the Labor Department says the unemployment rate for the “transportation and utilities” sectors went to 8.4% in June 2009 (compared to 5.1% one year earlier). http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t11.htm That is higher than the Administration said would occur if the stimulus were enacted, but lower than the 9.5% unemployment rate for the overall economy.

We in the railroad industry believe that the transportation dollars provided by the stimulus bill have gone a long way toward our nation’s economic recovery. The stimulus bill provided increased flexibility, making freight rail projects eligible for transportation infrastructure funding. Unlike highways and other public works projects, which can take years to plan and begin – and even longer to actually build – freight rail projects can get underway much more quickly, often within a matter of months, which is why they are such a good choice for stimulus dollars.

Numerous railroad projects with proven public benefits have been funded through this bill:

• In Virginia, stimulus dollars are funding $62 million in rail improvements including rail relocation and grade crossing projects.

• In Oregon, rail line rehabilitation is being funded through stimulus dollars at the Port of Coos Bay and the Port of Morrow.

• In Ohio, 22 railroad projects worth $68.9 million were funded using stimulus dollars. This money will be used for improvements to intermodal connections, grade separations and other safety upgrades.

In addition, several rail projects will be considered for funding under the TIGER Discretionary Grant Program. Among them is the CREATE project in Chicago which will help to improve and expedite freight mobility regionally and nationally.

For the railroad industry, stimulus is at work in the states, creating jobs and boosting economic recovery.

As with any question of this type, the qualifier has to be how well is the program working as compared to what it was intended to achieve. On that basis, I think the transportation component of ARRA deserves very high marks.

Much of the funding was intended for rapid distribution in order to generate jobs that would kick in during the summer and continue for some time as we weather a deep recession. In fact, that was the rationale for including capital investment as opposed to the usual macro-economic tools that have been used in the past. With the intense effort put to the task by my former colleagues at DOT and in the state and local agencies, the goal of quick but job-intensive work is being met. If there have been "red-tape" delays encountered, it was because all of the normal program rules were applied in order to move through charted waters. Perhaps we can look at the ARRA activity as a learning experience and revisit the rules that govern our regular programs. But there is no question that the jobs are being produced and will be around for some time. Employment in the construction sector, especially that sector that serves transportation needs, is being sustained ata a critical time.

The other objective of the transportation ARRA program was to introduce programs and methods of funding that would serve us well for economic growth beyond the recovery program. Again, I think the results are very positive--the quick action by FRA to stand up a high speeed and passenger rail program has brought out a level of response from states and regions that no one could have expected, proving the case that these investments can contribute to a strong economy over time. And I expect the same from the TIGER program, knowing that some very innovative projects and delivery methods are being developed in response to a competitive program call with unprecedented flexibility. We should learn from these experiences as we design means and methods of transportation investment for the future.

Another criterion in designing ARRA's transportation component was that these investments would be additive to a strong level of base funding delivered through standard programs before, during and after the special recovery effort. Here, there are concerns that need to be addressed. Beyond October 1st, the outlook for funding is cloudy at best. If we don't want to tear down the good results generated through ARRA, we need to send the signal to the transportation community in as clear a way as possible that the federal programs will continue and will have sufficient time horizon to support design and execution of multi-year invstment projects.

Even now, plans and bid lettings are being held up because of uncertainty. We need to provide the direction that allows such work to go forward and continue the progress that ARRA transportation investments has supported. These are good and needed projects, with a strong emphasis on "fix it first." The successful implementation shows us that the transportation community can respond. We should build on that success.

Critics of DOT’s performance under ARRA are simply off the mark. The DOT staff and leadership are performing magnificently. The new statutory mandates piled on the Department were daunting, but DOT has delivered on every one. That’s not at all surprising to this alumnus. After the Air Transportation Stabilization Act was passed immediately following 9/11, when the mandate was to keep an already weak airline industry from cratering, the DOT aviation staff worked round-the-clock for weeks and the cash moved out smartly. There are lots of other examples of that kind of heroism in DOT’s history. It’s a superb team and they consistently distinguish themselves in administration after administration – most importantly in times of crisis. It's a record that isn't sufficiently acknowledged.

I agree with my fellow bloggers that ARRA is certainly stimulating transportation activity. Some of the other posts quantify that activity in very helpful ways. But it's still fair to ask whether we are we getting the biggest bang for our transportation buck.

James Surowieki, writing in the July 27 New Yorker, complains that, because Congress distributed stimulus money for road building to the states, we’re getting less stimulus – and less congestion relief -- than if Washington had poured it more effectively into high-leverage projects. Maybe so. But how would Congress have chosen those projects? How long would it have taken? How many were shovel-ready? There was a need for speed, and this was no time to start drawing up criteria for some new and untested federal program. Sending the money to the states in keeping with the established Federal Highway Administration formula was the most sensible and most efficient thing Congress could have done.

How, then, are the states doing? Well, we won’t really know until the DOT Inspector General tells us. Since the IG got a bigger staff increase in ARRA than any of the DOT offices that are actually implementing the program, we can expect him to tell us a lot. But nobody should be surprised if it turns out that the results are suboptimal. Recall that Congress established a use-or-lose deadline of June 30 by which the states had to obligate at least half of their ARRA money. It seems almost certain, therefore, that at least some stimulus money went to projects for which Surface Transportation Money was already available. The STP money will still be spent – we’ll see incremental investment in the long run – but maybe Congress could have achieved much of the same near-term stimulus merely by setting a hard deadline for the expenditure of existing STP money. My guess is that the after-action report will confirm that the program got a lot of people working, but there will also be some important lessons learned about how we might have done better.

The biggest deficiency in ARRA, of course, has nothing to do with DOT’s performance or the states’ selection of projects. You don’t have to be a transportation buff to wonder why Congress decided that the nation’s famously deteriorating roads, bridges, and tunnels deserved no more than 3.5 percent of the money made available for economic recovery. Why did the U.S. transport sector as a whole get a paltry 6 percent? The needs had been freshly quantified by two SAFETEA-LU commissions and by a number of other studies. Just six months earlier, Congress had to inject $8 billion into the Highway Trust Fund just to keep it solvent. And everybody knows that investments in transport infrastructure are among the most effective ways to leverage government spending in the interest of economic development.

Once again, it just leaves us wondering: What does it take? Short-changing transportation in ARRA was not only a profound disappointment; it was a squandered opportunity of truly historic proportions.

There are multiple aspects of the stimulus legislation that are improving transportation infrastructure, the environment and security in and around America's seaports,on both the land- and water-side. These include: funding for the Corps of Engineers to help make a dent in the huge backlog of federal navigation channel maintenance and construction, state highway program funding and the upcoming TIGER grants to improve landside infrastructure and intermodal connectors, grants to help ports reduce diesel emissions, and additional investments to enhance port and maritime security.

These investments are not only vital to creating jobs and spurring recovery now, but will help develop the sustainable freight transportation infrastructure the country needs to provide efficient access to the global marketplace for consumers and US farmers and manufacturers. But it's also important to recognize that these investments in our transportation infrastructure are but a good start toward what is needed. I agree strongly with John Horsely's comments that the stimulus investments are strong evidence for the need to develop surface transportation authorization legislation that builds on these improvements.

Continuing to move toward a new surface transporation authorization that includes a focus on freight transportation will create more jobs and develop the infrastructure necesary to deliver prosperity, now and into the future.

Based on our analysis of the impacts of the stimulus to-date, the transportation portion is clearly having a positive impact on construction firms’ ability to save jobs. Indeed, over 60 percent of construction companies with stimulus-funded projects report it has allowed them to retain existing staff. Given that the vast majority of stimulus construction dollars that have been awarded are within the transportation sector, it is clear that portion of the stimulus is working.

More important, the stimulus is already beginning to have an impact of construction firms’ purchasing patterns. Over 40 percent of construction companies with stimulus-funded work report they plan to spend over $500,000 on new equipment and supplies this year and next. That compares favorably with the 18 percent of construction firms without stimulus funded working planning to invest over half a million.

The transportation portion of the stimulus stands out as an example of how to effectively use infrastructure investments to stimulate economic growth. Indeed, our hope is that the U.S. Department of Transportation will share its expertise with other federal agencies responsible for overseeing stimulus construction dollars so we can begin to see a similar positive impact in construction markets being decimated by declining private-sector activity.

The bottom line is this, as one of our highway contractors said today, if it hadn’t been for the stimulus, there would be a lot fewer people working in hard hats today.

As we weather the storm of job loss and unemployment, transportation workers are beginning to feel the benefits of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. As transportation projects roll out, this critical legislation is starting to take effect.

Workers in transportation construction are seeing significant job creation, which will grow significantly in the next several months. In all 50 states, four territories, and the District of Columbia, a total of 5,079 transit and highway projects have been put out to bid. These projects total $16.7 billion, representing 49% of the funds available for these types of projects.

Not only have Congress and the President injected new capital investments into transportation projects, they’ve also offset mass transit systems’ budget shortfalls with new flexibility as to how capital dollars can be spent. This kind of relief is being offered to communities across the nation, from St. Louis to Cleveland to Atlanta. Thanks to the economic recovery legislation, transit systems nationwide are in a better position to survive the economic crisis and preserve jobs and services.

The economic recovery legislation has also offered hope to Amtrak workers, who are emerging from eight very dark years under an administration that sought to undermine and dismantle their employer and their jobs. Now, for the first time in many of their lives, they’re seeing Congress and the President poised to invest in their jobs and futures. With Recovery Act funds, Amtrak is restoring more than 80 rail cars and has hired 400 employees already, many of them former autoworkers. Amtrak expects to fill almost 9,000 new job openings in the next two years.

The available data indicate that these and other transportation initiatives now underway have created or sustained over 48,000 on-project jobs, not to mention tens of thousands of indirect jobs, all across the country. And with much of the funding yet to be spent, this is only the beginning.

While critics complain that available funds are not being put into action quickly enough, it is important to realize that the stimulus act is not a magic trick; we can’t wave a wand, throw the funding around, and expect an economic rebound overnight. This is a step-by-step process that must be followed to ensure that accountability and oversight don’t become afterthoughts. Can you imagine the accusations of waste, fraud and abuse that would come from the stimulus bill’s same critics if the funds were doled out carelessly?

But most important, can you imagine what the unemployment rate would be had we done nothing? When the President took office, the economy was losing 700,000 jobs per month and yes the hemorrhaging still continues in this recession. But new claims for jobless benefits have fallen to their lowest level in six months, the Labor Department reported this morning. And how many Americans wouldn’t be working – from bus drivers and teachers to construction workers – if the recovery legislation had been derailed by its detractors?

If the critics of the recovery bill think it isn’t doing enough to put Americans to work perhaps they should call for more federal investment in jobs-creating infrastructure programs like the stalled surface transportation authorization, which would put millions to work. Where are their voices as this critically important jobs bill languishes? Their silence is deafening.

My colleagues have placed the right qualifiers on an evaluation of transportation stimulus, which by most accounts has been successful. It is also worth remembering that the stimulus program was implemented in very different ways depending on mode and/or program:

• transit (formula-based)
• highways (formula, but with some additional flexibilities)
• airports (discretionary, with an emphasis on truly ready-to-go projects)
• "TIGER" multimodal/intermodal (discretionary with some criteria about distribution)
• high-speed rail (first appropriations of PRIIA with some new criteria)

This suggests that as the stimulus program is evaluated that we should look at project delivery by mode and/or program to ensure that we are learning the right lessons for perhaps a second stimulus and/or reauthorizations. For example, Greg Principato is right that airport projects have been fast (especially when compared to some transit projects as Steve Heminger notes), but that is due mostly to the FAA's tracking of significant national projects and awarding money to projects completely through the environmental process. IF we are interesting in learning the right lessons, we might ask: Does it make sense to provide more money to discretionary projects? What is the relative ability of the modes and or programs to deliver money in an expedited manner?

The criteria and reporting requirements are also worth reviewing to ensure that they did not place challenging and unreasonable burdens on grant recipients that needlessly delayed projects or burdened overworked agency staff. The multiple reporting requirements, under the guise of accountability and transparency, were likely somewhat excessive in retrospect.

Steve Van Beek

If we are going to answer this question, we have to push aside the partisan back-and-forth, and pay more attention to which kinds of projects the states are choosing to fund. This is ultimately a question of how well states are spending money.

The states’ choices determine how many jobs the stimulus is creating, and how fast. States’ choices also determine whether the stimulus will either help solve or exacerbate the problems plaguing our transportation system.

Investments in road and bridge repairs and clean transportation options create more jobs, faster, than highway expansion projects. The data have shown this for some time, and recent work by the University of Massachusetts confirms it. The reasons are fairly straightforward, starting with the fact that repair doesn’t need new right of way, and so puts more money towards wages.

Unfortunately, our study of the first 120 days of the stimulus found that nearly one-third of the $21 billion states committed through mid-June went to the very road and highway expansion projects known to be slower job creators than other shovel-ready projects. And state performance varied widely. Some spent entirely to fix it first. Others spent as much as 85 percent of their flexible stimulus funds on new roads even though 62 percent of their roads are not in “good” condition.

Given the needs of our roads, bridges, and public transportation system, deciding to spend so much on expansion is like adding a new wing to your house when the roof is falling in. Nearly 19,000 U.S. bridges rated as “structurally deficient” by the U.S. DOT, and deemed “unsafe” by the American Society of Civil Engineers. One‐third of the nation’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

Beyond repair, the states could have used their $26.6 billion for increasing public transportation capacity. Ridership regularly sets records, and ballot measures for transit regularly pass. People want more transit. In the context of the stimulus, transit projects create more jobs than do new roads, and reduce gasoline use, oil dependency, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and sprawl. These, too, were ARRA goals.

This is much more than just an Inside-the Beltway story, or a battle between parties. States and metropolitan planning organization officials who decided how ARRA funding would be allocated should be held accountable for the projects they select. The states’ performance on ARRA should be judged by the extent to which they prioritize rebuilding of our crumbling infrastructure and make progress towards a 21st century transportation system.

Yes, the funds allocated to transportation in the Recovery Act are working to help boost the economy, jump-start projects, and create jobs.

However, only a small portion of the stimulus package was allocated to transportation to begin with, so we missed an opportunity to get even more bang for the federal buck.

States are executing many “shovel-ready” projects -- in many cases road paving and deferred maintainance -- but not the more complex projects that will generate larger and more sustainable job creation. To achieve such an objective on the back of the current recovery bill, we need early approval – not an 18 month delay – of the new multi-year transportation bill that will give states the funding guarantees they need to move forward on major job-creating projects. Delay will simply cause states to put off many projects indefinitely, and the job creation gains from the Recovery Act will be short-lived.

The transportation sector has delivered on its promise to put people to work and get money circulating in the economy. The problem is that the national media doesn’t understand how federal transportation funding works. Unlike most of the rest of stimulus funding, transportation is not a direct payment to states or contractors, but rather is on a reimbursement basis. Even before the state spends the money, contractors have to place orders for steel, asphalt, concrete and rock. These orders put people to work preparing for delivery to the contractor at which point the supplier gets paid. Suppliers take the confirmed order to the bank to cash flow the work. Money enters the economy without the state or federal government expending a dollar. The federal expenditure happens at the end of a long train of commercial transactions, so a small disbursement of federal dollars at this stage is not an indication that the transportation portion of stimulus has failed.

Aviation is a real stimulus success story. Nearly all of the $1.1 billion in airport funds that were included in the stimulus have been allocated. The FAA has an effective and efficient program for investment in airport infrastructure and it has been put to good use. Consider what’s happening at these airports:

• A $15 million grant provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (WCCA) will allow the airport to open a newly reconstructed runway nearly a year and a half ahead of schedule. The project is expected to create nearly 225 local jobs (see ACI-NA’s profile on Detroit).
• Stimulus funds allocated for taxiway work and bridge construction at Tampa International Airport will create nearly 600 local jobs while improving the flow of plane traffic and increasing safety at the airport.
• At the San Francisco International Airport, a $5.5 million rehabilitation of the Airport’s largest runway included repairing deteriorating pavement, improving the surrounding drainage system, upgrading the runway and taxiway lighting and repainting runway markings to increase visibility and improve safety for aircraft on the airfield.

These stimulus success stories are visible examples of the positive impact the stimulus funds are having in our industry. But an often overlooked success story is the provision that waived the Alternative Minimum Tax on private purpose bonds for the next two years, and also allowed refinancing of such bonds that were five or fewer years old. Last fall and winter, the market for airport bonds was frozen by the credit crunch; even the highest rated airports could sell nothing. With this provision, nearly $3 billion of airport bonds has been sold, creating or saving thousands of jobs. At Las Vegas alone, 1,600 good paying jobs were saved by this provision. This waiver must be made permanent.

ACI-NA's widely respected capital needs survey shows that the nation's airports have capital needs over the next 5 years of $94.4 billion. These are not wish list projects they have either been signed off on by airlines or are likely to be approved. And this number takes into account the fact that medium hub airports are cutting capital spending by 22 percent and small hubs by 8 percent because of traffic downturns.

When was the last time you thought that this country has all the airport and aviation infrastructure it needs? Not in this lifetime, I'll bet. The stimulus has been successful in addressing some of those needs, but much more work remains. That is why I believe the FAA Reauthorization bill, which must include an increase in the passenger facility charge user fee to $7.50 (indexed for inflation) will be a REAL stimulus package when it is passed and signed into law.

No doubt about it, YES, the Stimulus is working for transportation. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently announced that the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has been awarded $67.2 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to complete critical fleet, infrastructure and facilities rehabilitation projects. These priority projects are “shovel ready” and will improve the performance and reliability of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) system, keeping Muni in good operating order, maintaining our equipment in a state of good repair and assisting us in providing consistent and timely service throughout the City. The majority of SFMTA projects that will be funded with ARRA funds are now out to bid and will be under contract as early as September. The SFMTA has made a particular effort to reach out to small businesses as part of our efforts to ensure that all sectors of the contracting community might benefit from these federal funds.

Additionally, the California Department of Transportation has designated funds for other transportation projects that will enhance quality of life in or around transportation facilities, with priority given to bicycle and pedestrian projects.

Implementation of these important projects will create and retain jobs, thus infusing money into the economy while also reversing a trend of deferred maintenance and providing improvements for pedestrians, transit riders, bicyclists and motorists. As others have noted, it will be critical for all levels of government to look to streamline their respective role in getting these funds moving and creating jobs as quickly as possible. Reviews, approvals and contract awards must not be delayed or hindered during these difficult economic times.

The transportation portion of the stimulus package is paying immediate and long term benefits to Virginia.

A statewide identification of deficient bridges and pavements led to a commitment of $230 million in stimulus funds to these immediate maintenance needs. Another $170 million in stimulus funds has been devoted to transit and rail projects that keep transit properties in a state of good repair and that take trucks off our highways and move more freight on fuel-efficient rail lines. The balance of Virginia stimulus funds will be used to unlock longstanding projects that serve existing and imminent job growth in Virginia, including the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) relocations for military bases in Virginia and other existing job sites throughout the Commonwealth.

Finally, and most importantly, Virginia has obligated well over a quarter of a billion dollars and awarded over $100 million in construction contracts. These contracts are lifelines that are keeping many small and mid-sized contractors and suppliers out of bankruptcy.

Yes, the stimulus is working for transportation, but it would be working much better (and faster) if we had a less cumbersome project delivery process. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we have obligated over 70% of the highway and transit funds at our disposal from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). But "obligating" the funds doesn't stimulate the economy. Jobs are created when the funds are put under contract with a private sector firm to pave the road, fix the bridge, or manufacture the bus. And the Bay Area has less than 10% of our ARRA funds under contract.

It is not for lack of trying. Despite the fact that we intentionally selected meat and potatoes repair work for most of our ARRA funds because we thought that would shorten the federal review and permit process, the red tape rolls on. As noted in the December 2007 report of the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission (on which I served): "Simply put, the Commission believes that it takes too long and costs too much to deliver transportation projects, and that waste due to delay in the form of administrative and planning costs, inflation, and lost oppportunities for alternative use of the capital hinder us from achieving the very goals our communities set."

To borrow President Obama's recent phrase, I hope the transportation community uses our experience with delays in the ARRA program as a "teaching moment" to help us prune the federal rule book and speed up project delivery. On average, it takes a major highway project 13 years to advance from project initiation to completion, according to the Federal Highway Administration. The folks in Minneapolis replaced the Interstate 35W bridge in only 13 months. Now that's more like it!

The transportation and infrastructure investments of the Recovery Act have already begun to play a key role in putting Americans back to work. Federal agencies, States, and their local partners have demonstrated they can deliver transportation and infrastructure projects and create urgently needed employment in the tight timeframes set forth in the Recovery Act.

I am pleased to report that, according to submissions received directly from States, metropolitan planning organizations, and public transit agencies, as of June 30, 2009, a total of 5,079 highway and transit projects have been put out to bid in all 50 States, four Territories, and the District of Columbia, totaling $16.7 billion. This represents 49 percent of the total available formula funds for highway and transit projects. All 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia have signed contracts for 3,553 highway and transit projects totaling $10.6 billion, which represents 31 percent of the total available formula funds. Work has begun on 2,522 projects in 50 States and the District of Columbia totaling $7.7 billion, an increase of 75 percent in just the 30 days since the pervious reporting deadline.

Monitoring the percentage of allocated funds associated with projects out to bid, under contract, and underway helps us measure the Recovery Act’s progress. Critics of the Recovery Act focus exclusively on the amount of outlays of Federal transportation funds. This approach does not provide a good sense of Recovery Act progress because transportation projects primarily operate on a reimbursement mode. For example, States seek reimbursement for highway projects after construction is underway. Federal outlays therefore come months after jobs are created and necessary infrastructure projects are underway. Knowing how many funds are associated with projects out to bid, under contract, and underway better captures the extent to which Recovery Act funds have arrived on Main Street.

These 2,522 highway and transit projects that are underway have created or sustained more than 48,600 direct, on-project jobs. However, these direct, on-project jobs only tell part of the story. Recovery Act highway and transit projects have also resulted in tens of thousands of indirect and induced jobs, including jobs at companies that produce construction materials such as steel, and manufacture equipment including new public transit buses. When you combine the direct, on-project jobs with all the jobs that are created in the supply chain, the tally of jobs rises much higher.

I am also pleased to report that all 50 States met the Recovery Act requirement that at least one-half of all highway funds apportioned to the States be obligated within 120 days (June 30, 2009) of the date of apportionment. After obligation, States proceed to put contracts out to bid and award highway projects.

According to a recent survey, in June 2009, new contract awards for highway projects (regardless of funding source) totaled $6.8 billion – up 33 percent since June 2008. New contracts also surged 51 percent between April 2009 and June 2009, further indication that the States and their local partners are quickly implementing highway projects funded by the Recovery Act.

These contracts are putting Americans back to work in family-wage, construction jobs all across the nation

The money is working compared to the mess we'd be in without it. Unemployment would be higher. State transportation departments across the country would be like 50 anti-stimulus programs.

The Economic Recovery funds aren't "working" if you expectated the legislation would already have overcome the effects of the economic crisis. That's an unrealistic expectation. States are still in cutback mode. Despite economic recovery funds, at least 48 states states were forced to address shortfalls for fiscal year 2010.

That's not to say that states and localities couldn't create more jobs with their transportation stimulus funds. Spending on public transportation creates more jobs than spending the same sums on highways -- on average, 31 percent more jobs. Likewise, repairing highways and bridges creates 16 percent more jobs than more capital-intensive spending on constructing new or wider roadways. Unfortunately, states have not targeted their flexible stimulus funds toward maximizing investments in these highest job-creating uses. State and local cutbacks have also forced 94 transit agencies into fare hikes or service cuts which drag down the economy.

The biggest success story so far is high speed rail, where 40 states and the District of Columbia responded to stimulus funds by submitting 278 applications for $102 billion in new projects. This ferment on exploring investment opportunities will also be reflected in private-sector investments near likely future rail stations. Some states are already ordering new rail cars in anticipation of future expansion.

Overall, stimulus funds are doing their job against a much larger economic downturn. While they could be better targeted, it's scary to think of where we'd be without them.

Updated at 10:26 a.m. on July 27.

A more appropriate question might be to ask is state delivery of transportation’s share of the economic recovery dollars available, working for America? If you spend any time behind the wheel of a vehicle this summer, you’ll find the answer right before your eyes. Today, ARRA funds are supporting nearly $17 billion dollars worth of highway construction projects in all 50 states.

Over the next two years ARRA will provide $27 billion for highway and bridge projects. All 50 states moved swiftly to obtain U.S. DOT approval for half of their federal funds within 120 days of the Act’s signing. And according to the U.S. DOT 51 percent of the funds are being spent in economically disadvantaged areas, which represent almost 40 percent of the nation’s population.

Each one of these accomplishments can be viewed as a benchmark of the successful implementation of ARRA by state departments of transportation and our partners at the Federal Highway administration.

And the good news doesn’t stop there. Construction bids are coming in 5 to 30 percent lower than projected, which means more projects can be launched than initially planned and even more jobs created or sustained.

It’s important to remember the intention of the economic recovery act – the creation or preservation of good jobs, right here at home. States and local governments are using their transportation dollars to ensure a sustained and steady flow of funds into the economy over two years. Nearly 2,400 projects are underway as of July 24, valued at $7.4 billion. The construction season is picking up speed and in another month that number will be substantially higher. Equally important is that transportation investments create long-term assets that benefit the economy and communities for years to come.

Some critics on Capitol Hill have dubbed transportation’s efforts to create jobs a ‘failure’ using federal ARRA reimbursement figures to make their case. In reality, keeping tabs on the cash drawdown by states from the federal coffers isn’t an accurate way to track the impacts of the stimulus, since state claims may lag behind actual spending by a month or more. Members of Congress should visit with their departments of transportation, or simply drive around when they’re home for the August recess – they will see orange traffic cones everywhere.

The ARRA has boosted the transportation industry, but in reality it is only a good first step. Prior to the passage of ARRA, states identified 5,000 “ready to go” projects worth $64 billion. The need far exceeds the level of investment. A greater commitment to repair and modernize our ageing highways and bridges must be made now. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are making a strong case for Congressional action on a six year, surface transportation bill that will sustain the momentum. The bottom line is jobs, jobs, jobs.

Is the stimulus package working for the transportation sector? No question.

The Recovery Act is strengthening our economy; it's creating jobs, sustaining jobs, and positioning our transportation infrastructure for the 21st century.

Here's the scorecard so far:

• $22 billion--nearly half of DOT's stimulus money--made available to the States

• Over 6,600 projects approved

• Over 3,200 projects underway right now

Airports, roads, bridges, Amtrak, buses, paratransit vans, port facilities, and more--the Recovery Act has provided needed jump-starts in all of these areas.

And the future promises even more boosts to economic activity:

• $8 billion in high-speed rail development

• $1.5 billion in TIGER discretionary grants

While the stumulus funds that the Department of Transportation is managing can't make up for every job our economy has shed, we have supported over 5,000 jobs already, with up to 500,000 more on the way once the full effect of this landmark program is felt.

Every job we do create or preserve should count as a victory.

What's more, the record on compliance has been amazing:

• 100% of States and Territories met the 120-day deadline to obligate half of their highway funds

• Transit agencies are on track to meet a similar deadline on September 1st

Those are remarkable achievements for a fast-moving program of this scope and complexity.

The American people want us to rebuild our roads and bridges--the orange barrels and cones are out there.

They want us to build clean public transportation--the green transit vehicles are being built and put into service.

They want us to modernize transportation for today's economy and tomorrow's--and the marine highway network and high-speed rail are on their way.

Is the transportation stimulus putting Americans to work improving our country's global competitiveness? Yes, it is. And I'm confident that we'll look back on the Recovery Act as a moment when Americans met a powerful challenge with a powerful response.

One of the problems with the stimulus is that it did not address the bureaucratic delays that plague the underlying infrastructure project approval process. Even CBO cautioned Congress about the ability to expedite expenditures of transportation funds because of the long approval process.

Unfortunately, this bureaucratic process slows down projects to a crawl, wasting time and money. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the project delivery process can take up to 15 years from planning through construction.  This is too long to build projects, and it hinders any effort to create more jobs quickly.

Congress could have addressed the lengthy project approval process in the stimulus, in order to allow more projects to be brought online faster, but it did not do so.

As a result, fewer major infrastructure projects – the kinds of projects that can create the most jobs – qualify as stimulus projects. Had the stimulus eliminated some of this red tape and allowed projects to move through the approval pipeline more quickly, we could be looking at a more significant and more timely investment in America’s infrastructure than what we are seeing now. Rather than funding thousands of resurfacing projects through the stimulus bill, we may have been able to fund more projects that add highway capacity or replace structurally deficient bridges.

Let me be clear: I do not fault state DOTs for the types of projects that are being funded or the time it takes to get money out the door. In fact under current federal regulations and rules they are doing the best they can. The problem is the bureaucratic red tape at the federal level. This is why I will continue to work with Chairman Oberstar to cut the process in half through the surface transportation reauthorization, because this issue will continue to be a problem. It can be done – the I-35W bridge was contracted to be replaced in just 437 days and came in well ahead of schedule. There’s no reason we cannot do this for other projects.

The bottom line is we have a national emergency. Unemployment is rising well above the levels predicted by the Administration. At some point Congress must wake up to the fact that with the current burdensome project approval process we simply cannot get shovels in the ground fast enough, for far too many projects, to create the jobs the country needs right now.