Recovery Act Continues to Stimulate Economy

''States are using these ARRA dollars to improve 35,000 miles of pavement and 1,262 bridges - real value for the American public not only because their tax money is being spent wisely but because they will soon see improvements to the highways and transit systems they use every day,'' said John Horsley, AASHTO executive director.

More than 311,000 direct, on-project highway and transit jobs have been created or sustained across the country during the first year of American Recovery & Reinvestment Act. Hundreds of thousands more positions have been generated as a result of the spin-off of recovery funding, according to House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. Hopefully these highway projects will have a trickle-down effect with more jobs going to professional landscapers.

The committee's report, issued Wednesday, examined data submitted through April 16. Almost 100 percent of the recovery funding dedicated to highway and transit improvements has been approved at the federal level and is working its way through the system.

There are 11,667 highway and bridge projects worth $24.9 billion in the bidding process and work is underway on 8,613 projects valued at $19.6 billion, according to the report. On the transit side, work is underway on 3,279 projects totaling $4.7 billion.

- Courtesy of AASHTO