Iowa DOT Director testifies on Recovery Act successes.
Press Release Summary:
When addressing House panel, Iowa DoT director said states have achieved great success putting to work economic recovery funds and will proceed with additional infrastructure investment if Congress provides money in job creation bill this year. Nancy Richardson, chairwoman of AASHTO's Standing Committee on Finance and Administration, appeared before the House and noted "every state obligated every highway dollar they were eligible to receive" under American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Original Press Release:
Iowa DOT Director Testifies on State Successes in Implementing the Recovery Act
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - States have achieved tremendous success putting to work tens of billions of dollars worth of economic recovery projects in the past year and stand ready to proceed with $80 billion in additional infrastructure investment if Congress provides the money in a job-creation bill this year, the Iowa Department of Transportation's director told a House panel today.
Nancy Richardson, chairwoman of AASHTO's Standing Committee on Finance and Administration, appeared before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee during an oversight hearing on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the latest in a series of hearings the committee has held to examine how states are spending their recovery dollars.
"The Recovery Act had a March 2 'use it or lose it' deadline, and I am happy to report that every state obligated every highway dollar they were eligible to receive and not one dime was turned back to Washington for redistribution," Richardson testified. "The real story of the Recovery Act is about people: the people whose jobs were saved or who went back to work; the people who were able to make their mortgage payments, put their kids through school, and pay for health care."
Committee members received a copy of AASHTO's February report, "Projects and Paychecks," which found states have to-date created or saved 280,000 direct, on-project jobs on more than 12,000 construction projects approved during the Recovery Act's first year --- a total of $26.4 billion in federally funded investment in highways and bridges. As of March 11, more than 8,000 highway projects are under construction. Work has been completed on another 2,200 projects, with the remainder to get underway in the coming months. On the transit side, 933 grants have been issued worth $8.3 billion.
More work remains to be done to keep the nation's transportation infrastructure in a state of good repair as well as to expand highway and transit systems to keep up with a growing population and recovering economy, Richardson emphasized to the committee. Additional transportation funds will also spur more job creation, she added.
"States have more than 9,800 projects valued at close to $80 billion that could be obligated within 120 days of enactment," she said. "There is clearly a continuing need for such investment in our nation's transportation network. The unemployment rate in the transportation construction industry still exceeds 20 percent. Commercial construction activity remains very minimal, so it is the transportation sector that has been able to fill part of the void."
Finally, Richardson stressed the critical need for Congress to enact a long-term surface transportation authorization bill by the end of this year.
"Funding the program at the $500 billion level would help to double transit ridership, preserve and modernize the highway system, and enable us to launch a new era of intercity passenger rail," she said.
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials is the "Voice of Transportation" representing state transportation departments in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. AASHTO is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association serving as a catalyst for excellence in transportation.
