Buy America Works

Posted by jeckert on 02/10/2010

The Recovery Act (ARRA) has had great success in reviving parts of the economy, adding jobs, and promoting "Buy America." In a recently published "One-year report on State Transportation Successes under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" the facts presented outline how successful many ARRA funded transportation projects have been. According to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee:

As of December 31, $26.4 billion, or 77 percent of the $34.3 billion provided for highways and transit, has been put out to bid on 12,250 projects.
Within this total, 10,600 projects (totaling $22.6 billion) are under contract.
Across the nation, work has begun on 9,240 projects totaling $20.6 billion—60 percent of the total available highway and transit formula funds.
Work has been completed on 3,150 projects.

As of January 7, 2010:

- 21,400 miles of pavement were either improved, resurfaced, or widened.
- 1,700 safety traffic management projects were implemented.
- Over 630 miles of bike lanes, sidewalks, or environmental mitigation projects were underway.
- 7,450 buses have been purchased and 1,637 bus shelters constructed.
280,000 direct, on-project jobs have been created or sustained across the country.
Total employment from these projects, which includes direct, indirect, and induced jobs, reaches almost 890,000 jobs.
Nearly 70 percent of transportation contractors received recovery work.