DOT Stimulus Payouts Jump Past $2 Billion

The Department of Transportation pushed its stimulus project payouts to $2.023 billion in the week ending Aug. 21, which represents a disbursement surge of more than $1 billion in just the past month.

New figures released on the Recovery.gov Web site show DOT has approved funding for projects that are expected to cost $26.6 billion this year and next, out of $48 billion in all the department was allocated in the February stimulus measure.

The amount DOT paid out in the latest week, for bills coming in on a host of early road, bridge, rail, inland port and airport repair projects around the country, increased by $286 million from Aug. 14.

A week earlier those disbursements increased by $243 million, and they rose by $347 million the week of Aug. 7. So DOT has hit a stride of pushing out about a quarter-billion dollars or more each week, as the peak summer construction season rolls along.

As recently as June critics said the money was not getting into the economy fast enough, but Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said it would escalate quickly as states revved up their infrastructure repairs over the summer.

Those latest totals do not count DOT project awards yet to come for freight and passenger rail systems, through an $8 billion stimulus grant program to develop more intercity passenger train service including high-speed rail corridors.

Grant applications for its most shovel-ready projects were due into the Federal Railroad Administration Aug. 24. The FRA has yet to say how much money states asked for, but expects to award those first grants in early autumn. A second round of requests from that fund, for the longer-term high-speed corridor projects, is due in October.

And LaHood has a $1.5 billion discretionary fund he can distribute as he sees fit. That is unlike most of the DOT money in the Recovery Act in which certain amounts were specifically targeted, for instance, at roads, airports, transit or other needs. Grant applications are due Sept. 15.

He has said he will aim some discretionary grants at seaport projects, which did not have any designated funding in the stimulus law. But other groups are eyeing that grant pool as well, including a multi-year Chicago plan to unclog its congested rail network. See ”Illinois to Ask LaHood for $300 Million.“

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