Report: State transit stimulus spending producing mixed results
A new report from Smart Growth America, a coalition of national, state, and local organizations working on better rural and urban planning, tracks how well the states are spending $26 billion in transportation funds allocated in the first 120 days of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
The report makes two key spending conclusions:
- Almost one-third ($6.6 billion) of all funds allocated so far have been spent on new capacity roads and bridges despite a multi-trillion dollar backlog of road and bridge repair.
- States have not taken advantage of a chance to improve public transportation.
Georgia has taken a more balanced approach so far than other states when it comes to system preservation and new capacity. The state is spending 73 percent on system preservation (8 percent of Georgia roads are considered not in good condition) and 27 percent on new capacity.
The state is spending 9.3 percent on public transportation and “non-motorized” projects, which doesn’t sound like much but puts Georgia in the top ten in this area. The national average is only 3.7 percent.
The report finds states are creating and saving jobs but not as many or as quickly as they could and states are repairing the crumbling infrastructure but not as much as they could.
On the other seven ARRA goals for transportation, states are either not meeting them or are producing mixed results.