Transportation Stimulus Supporting 76,000 Direct Jobs

Federal stimulus funds to states for such needs as highway, bridge and transit repairs were supporting at least 76,000 direct jobs as of July 31, says the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

The panel said that’s how many on-project jobs were either saved or created from $35.5 billion in infrastructure projects announced by that time for programs under its jurisdiction.

That amounted to 10,542 projects at that point in the summer, of which 6,831 were for highways and transit systems.

But the job impact goes further, as “these projects have further resulted in tens of thousands of indirect and induced jobs, including those at companies that produce construction materials and equipment,” the committee report said.

Besides roads and transit projects, officials at state agencies and the Department of Transportation have said the stimulus money is also paying for some freight rail and inland river port construction, plus runway and structural repairs at airports.

In addition, a Coast Guard program at the Department of Homeland Security is funding railroad bridge improvements over navigable waterways, and the Environmental Protection Agency is issuing grants to help ports, truckers and some rail operations retrofit or replace old diesel engines.

And more recent weekly spending reports under the Recovery Act show that project approvals have gained steadily and actual disbursements more than doubled in the past month.

The T&I Committee report, another in a monthly series for spending that it oversees, said as of July 31 about $20 billion in highway and transit projects had been put out to bid, and nearly $11 billion worth were under construction at that time.

Contact John D. Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.