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| AASHTO Press
Release |
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Sunny Mays
Schust
(202)
624-5800
Friday, October
26, 2001 09:01 AM |
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| States Could Jump-Start More than 2,200
Transportation Projects Worth $14.2 Billion |
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Transportation departments in 47 states have identified 2,277
projects across the country, worth more than $14.22 billion, that
can be obligated for construction within 90 days should additional
federal funding become available, according to a survey conducted by
the American Association of State Highway and Transportation
Officials.
The
survey found that state departments of transportation, working with
their partners in local government and the private sector, can
provide an immediate stimulus to the economy by creating thousands
of jobs while addressing high-priority infrastructure
needs.
"As Congress
and the Bush Administration consider ways to jump-start the economy,
the states stand ready to direct available funding from an economic
stimulus package to highway, bridge, transit and rail improvements,"
AASHTO Executive Director John Horsley said.
"I'll guarantee, we can spend the money
and get it out where it will actually affect peoples' lives within a
very, very short time," said Joseph Perkins, Commissioner of the
Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and the
Chairman of AASHTO's Standing Committee on
Highways.
If states
were provided with funds for transportation-based stimulus, Perkins
said, "We will have those contracts on the street, providing
large-scale work, injecting money into the economy in a
cost-effective manner."
Every $1 billion of increased investment in highway
infrastructure generates 42,000 jobs, according to the Federal
Highway Administration. Estimates are that 75,000 jobs would be
created within 12 months of enactment, and an additional 100,000
during the year to follow.
Through the AASHTO survey the state departments of
transportation provided the number, types and dollar amounts of
highway and bridge projects that are programmed for FY 2002, but for
which funds are not currently available.
A state-by-state summary is attached to
the pdf below:
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