Recovery Act transit investments pay multiple dividends

On Friday, the Federal Transit Administration met its ambitious deadline for awarding 100% of its Recovery Act money. The final round of 191 grants reaches 42 states and Puerto Rico, and totals over $600 million.

"Investing in these transit upgrades not only puts construction workers on the job at project sites, but supports American manufacturing jobs all the way down the supply chain. At a time when jobs are priority number one, that means twice the employment bang for the Recovery Act buck.”

Those are the words of Vice President Biden on Friday, celebrating yet another American Recovery and Reinvestment Act milestone. Since February 2009, the Obama Administration has obligated over $7.5 billion to 881 transit projects.

And, so far, Recovery Act funds have supported:

• Purchasing nearly 12,000 buses, vans and rail vehicles;
• Constructing or renovating more than 850 transit facilities; and
  
• Performing more than $620 million in preventive maintenance.

In addition to the direct employment impact of the projects, as Vice President Biden noted, domestic bus, seating and rail car manufacturers have received orders that are helping boost production and sustain jobs. For example:

• Orion Bus in Greensboro, NC, has received 10 contracts for nearly 300 buses--maintaining 176 jobs.
• Gillig Bus in Hayward, CA, has received orders for 790 buses--supporting 395 jobs.
• American Seating Company in Grand Rapids, MI, received $3 million in contracts last year--adding 11 full-time employees with additional job growth expected in 2010. 
  

But it's not just about jobs and stimulus. Those transit improvements help people get where they need to go.

And for those who can't afford to own a car, who live where the roadways are congested, who are concerned about greenhouse gas emissions, or who simply want to read a book or a newspaper while traveling to work or to a doctor's office, those transit improvements are essential.

So, yes, we have met another ambitious deadline--Thank you, FTA! And yes, Recovery Act transit projects have already generated enough work to employ thousands of people nationwide. And, yes, activity is expected to ramp up even further in the months ahead as new projects break ground and equipment orders are fulfilled.

But let's remember that, although those investments are paying considerable stimulus dividends now, they will be paying mobility dividends and environmental dividends for decades. In Tulsa, Colorado Springs, and Philadelphia. In Utah, Mississippi, and West Virginia. From Fresno to Miami and from Lane County, Oregon, to Lorain County, Ohio.

That's the kind of recovery we can all live with.

Comments

[Adam Howell]

Ray LaHood,
Please reject funding for the Bridge to Nowhere (Grandview US 160/US550 Interchange) project outside of Durango, Colorado. This project was started preemptively by the Colorado Department of Transportation without obtaining easements from the private landowner where the bridge would direct drivers towards. It has been a colossal waste of tens of millions of dollars, and will serve a very small segment of our population. As constructed, this bridge provides little benefit to our community, based on CDOT's flawed analysis of future traffic for the Grandview area. This bridge scars the rural character of our county. Please reject and deny funding from the Recovery Act towards the offramp of this Bridge to Nowhere. Also, please reject and deny the funding of a proposed overpass at Three Springs Blvd and US 160, and also reject funding for the proposed overpass at CR 234 and US 160. These projects are unnecessary given the future traffic projections for our county and would scar the rural character of our landscape.

Thank You,
Adam Howell
656 County Road 207, #27
Durango, CO 81301

[Michael E. Bailey]

The ARRA has been a great thing. It has kept the economy from sliding into a depression. We need some funding--emergency funding on the operations side because projects will hire people while they are being put together. But after that, they must have operators to run them. Operations funding will create more jobs than project funding alone will. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.

[Walt Brewer]

This is shear nonsense.

From Rita Mae Brown: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result"

That's what has been happening for 20+ years of urban transportation in USA. More and more mass transit that only a tiny few will use. Despite activist claims, energy is being wasted because of congestion.

Meanwhile inadequate roads, and taxes and fees they produce are wasted in part for even more mass transit.

Result $70+ billion lost annually due to congestion

Mass transit is overbuilt and under used. Just because it is shovel ready and creats jobs, there are better uses for funds.

$8 to 14 Billion for high speed rail is the worse offender. It has no impact on the #1 issue, urban congestion. With high subsidy, even for operating costs, the unfunded libility after construction is dumped on to the budget challenged States.

Let's start supporting some new approaches preserving the public's demand for personal, not mass, transportation.

Concepts, originated in USA for automated very efficient vehicles with on demand direct to real destinations are appearing overseas. Lile autos only more efficient. Making progress with real 21st century facilities instead of those long rejected from the 19th century can produce real productive jobs.