The stimulus bill conference report passed by the U.S. House of Representatives was praised for investing billions in transit and high speed rail and for the option of spending highway funds for transit and fixing roads and bridges, not just building new roads. The U.S. Senate is expected to pass the conference report as soon as tonight.
"When it comes to job creation and reducing air and global warming pollution, investments in transit, rail, and fixing roads and bridges trump building new roads and bridges," said Michael Replogle, a civil engineer, a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems for the U.S. Department of Transportation, and Transportation Director for Environmental Defense Fund. "The challenge now is educating states that will decide how to spend the bulk of these funds to recognize these facts, and to be transparent and wise about how they spend these tens of billions of taxpayer dollars."
Public transportation creates 19 percent more jobs per dollar than building new roads or bridges, according to the American Public Transportation Association. Investments in road and bridge repair create 9 percent more jobs per dollar than building new roads or bridges, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
The conference report includes the following transportation investments:
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