GDOT Awards $57 Million in Stimulus Contracts
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) announced this week it has awarded 22 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) contracts worth $56.7 million.
Construction will begin this month on projects such as the repaving of 20 miles of I-575 as well as bridge replacements and safety improvements in a dozen counties.
“This truly is a ‘win-win’ for Georgia,” GDOT Commissioner Vance Smith said Monday. “We’re creating and saving jobs for our citizens while at the same time making important safety, capacity, and maintenance improvements to our highway system.”
GDOT has so far awarded 63 highway projects worth $119 million. Another 43 projects worth $250 million will be acted on in the coming weeks to complete Phase One of GDOT’s ARRA implementation plan. GDOT will kick off Phase Two in August by awarding $370 million in projects.
“Our Phase Two priority will continue to be carefully evaluating and selecting ‘most needed’ projects throughout Georgia and then awarding projects that will create and sustain as many jobs in as many parts of the state as possible, especially those areas that are economically depressed,” Smith said.
Smith joined Gov. Sonny Perdue and U.S. Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari on Tuesday to break ground on Georgia’s first ARRA highway project. The project will resurface 4.2 miles of SR 3/US 19 in Clayton and Fulton Counties.
ARRA is giving Georgia $932 million in highway funds, with 70 percent going to GDOT and 30 percent going to 15 Metropolitan Planning Organizations and designated rural areas. Georgia also received $144 million for public transit and GDOT has awarded related local grants totaling around $39 million.