‘Shovel-Ready’ Projects Account for 280,000 Jobs

A congressional committee that tracks spending of federal stimulus funds said investment in roads and bridges has created or saved 280,000 jobs worth an attached payroll of $1.4 billion.

According to the report, about 77 percent of the funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for highway and transit programs has been used in 12,000 stimulus transportation projects around the country. About 60 percent of the stimulus funds, or $20.6 billion, has been spent on 9,241 projects that are currently in progress; another 3,148 projects have already been completed.

Among states, Maine and California are leading the way. Maine already has invested its entire share of the federal funds on “shovel-ready” projects while California leads in number of jobs having been created or saved by the stimulus with 33,383.