Smart Growth Around America

In today’s announcement of $1.5 billion in TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) awards, the US Department of Transportation (US DOT) showed the kinds of transportation projects that move people and freight in a way that makes places stronger, cleaner, and safer. DOT received 1,380 applications for the $1.5 billion pot, for a grand total of $56.5 billion in funds requested. The 51 projects announced under TIGER, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), include…

In the first ten months of the 2009 economic stimulus package, investments in public transportation created twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways, according to a new analysis by Smart Growth America. With the 2009 stimulus providing three times more money for highways than transit, Congress missed a chance to put more [...]

In the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation have created twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways. A new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Smart Growth America, and U.S. PIRG shows that by mimicking funding levels for transportation set out in ARRA, the Jobs for Main Street Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in December missed an opportunity to create additional jobs where they are needed most. Read more on the report, “What we learned from the Stimulus, and how to use what we learned to speed job creation in the 2010 jobs bill.”

Lessons Learned from Recovery Act Show Superior Job Creation
from Spending on Public Transportation
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new analysis by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Smart Growth America, and U.S. PIRG shows that in the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), investments in public transportation have created twice as many jobs [...]

An analysis of congressional data by the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups and Smart Growth America shows that stimulus funds spent on public transportation were a more effective job creator than stimulus funds spent on highways. In the 10 months since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed, investing in public transportation produced twice as many jobs as investing in roads.

For 17 straight years, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has failed to meet their own, not-remarkably-ambitious hiring goals: that at least 11% of their workforce should be people of color and at least 6% should be women. (Minnesota is 85% white, though not 94% male.) The economic stimulus was meant to benefit everyone in hard economic times, partially through job creation in the transportation sector. African-Americans are hit disproportionately by job losses in a recession, but in Minnesota they haven’t received the full benefit from the stimulus money, an investment meant to aid everyone.

At Streetsblog Captiol Hill, Elana Schor’s “Crunching June Stimulus Numbers: Roads Create Pricier Jobs Than Transit” confirms, so far, the predictions in SGA’s Spending the Stimulus: per dollar of investment, state road projects create fewer jobs than do state transit projects. The differences that she found are smaller than other studies have found, mostly, we suspect, because all the road project types are lumped together. Repair has long been found to produce more jobs than new roads.

The town of Edmonston in Prince George’s County, Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C., is a small hamlet of under 2000 residents, most of them blue-collar workers. Like many other cities in America, times are tough in Edmonston, which has high rates of unemployment and foreclosure. What makes life particularly hard for Edmonston is that it is bisected by the Anacostia River. Due to poor environmental practices, the Anacostia periodically floods the town, wreaking devastation on a place already struggling to get by.

Smart Growth America State Policy Director Will Schroeer was on Fox Business this morning, discussing our 120-day report from Minneapolis.

The report we released yesterday analyzing the first 120 days of transportation stimulus spending — with the help and leadership of many state partner groups — has been getting some good media coverage from coast to coast. Here’s a roundup of coverage from the first full day of the report release. Articles that have quotes [...]

Smart Growth America president Geoff Anderson was a guest on Fox Business this morning, discussing the our report analyzing the first 120 days of transportation stimulus spending. Click here to watch the video.

Download the full report (1mb pdf)

Within the $787 billion stimulus bill that became law in February, Congress provided states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) with $26.6 billion in flexible funds for transportation projects. Today marks 120 days from the apportionment of the funds to the states.
The 120-day mark is significant because it is the point [...]

While states may typically be excellent at spending federal money quickly, the big question is: are states also good at spending federal money wisely?
Within the $787 billion stimulus bill that became law in February, Congress provided states and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) with $26.6 billion for transportation projects. States and MPOs were given considerable flexibility [...]

Photo credit WBZ

Facing staggering budget problems, government agencies everywhere are scrambling for funds. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is no exception—it has an estimated $165 million budget deficit. The MBTA has spoken of raising fares and cutting back services, including bus cuts, Boston subway cuts, and a 50 percent cut in evening [...]

Smart Growth America’s Restoring Prosperity campaign, which provides help for revitalizing our aging industrial cities, recently released four more policy packages for use by state advocates.  These packages are the part of a series of six policy recommendations for how state and city governments can transform struggling cities into places where anyone would want to [...]

Investing first in repair and maintenance can prevent another disaster like Minnesota’s I-35W bridge collapse. Tell your Governor to invest in the future with smart, proven, ready-to-go transportation spending.

Creative Commons Flickr photo by Poppyseed Bandits.

Earlier this week, we highlighted a new Smart Growth America report that details 20 proven and ready-to-go ways for states to [...]

Click to learn more about the report

Governors and state departments of transportation around the country are burning the midnight oil to prepare lists of transportation projects that could be funded under President Obama’s economic stimulus package, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
As they develop these lists of transportation projects to be funded under the stimulus, [...]