President Barack Obama called on lawmakers Monday to support a $50 billion infusion to the nation's transportation programs that he said would rebuild the nation's infrastructure while also creating jobs. Hopefully this could help stimulate jobs for both construction and landscape industries.

John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, voiced support for Obama's continued attention to increasing funding for transportation infrastructure.

“We are pleased that the president wants to press for a frontloaded $50 billion investment in the lame-duck session,” Horsley said. “The stimulus funding made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be wrapping up next year. Unless there is an initiative like the president's to continue investment in transportation, you will see 300,000 construction jobs lost by the end of next year.”

A report by the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia concluding that without new ways to fund America's ailing transportation system, the nation will not be able to continue to compete economically with the rest of the world.

U.S. Treasury Department and White House Council of Economic Advisers concluded that this is the optimal time to invest in public-works projects due to both the high unemployment rate and low prices in the construction sector.

About 90 percent of the projected new jobs in the construction, manufacturing, and retail industries created by the president's infrastructure plan would fall in the middle-class range, according to the latest report. About 61 percent of those jobs would be in the construction sector, which has been hit hard with an unemployment rate surpassing 17 percent.

– Courtesy of AASHTO