Transportation numbers emerge on the stimulus
February 12, 2009
Transportation for AmericaWe now have what appear to be the final numbers for transportation infrastructure in the stimulus. While the totals for both transit and highway spending were both in the same ballpark as what they were in the original House and Senate bills, the sum for high-speed has drastically increased from the numbers in the first two versions. The Associated Press is reporting the following details:
- $27 billion for highways and bridges
- $8.4 billion for transit
- $8 billion for high-speed rail
We’ve also heard that the sum for highways is $29 billion, but can’t be 100 percent sure on the details until the actual text of the bill comes out.
Although it’s too early to know exactly how things played out behind the scenes, the AP reports that President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid helped push up the numbers for high-speed rail.
Economic Stimulus Numbers for Transportation
February 12, 2009 by John
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Very nice! It’s great to see the balance shifting a little.
MORPC, COTA to get $42 million in stimulus money
Thursday, February 19, 2009 12:24 AM
By Debbie Gebolys
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Federal economic-stimulus money will bring $1.465 billion to Ohio to rebuild the state’s transportation system and create jobs, officials said yesterday.
The money is part of $8.2 billion that Ohio will get from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, enough to preserve or create 130,000 jobs.
Besides the $4.8 billion of that money that will go to stabilize the shaky state budget, the amount for transportation and infrastructure projects is the largest chunk of the stimulus money, Gov. Ted Strickland’s office said.
“The effects of this recession reach deep into the lives and pocketbooks of everyday Ohioans,” Strickland said in a statement. “The federal stimulus is the right investment at exactly the right time to jump-start the stalled economy.”
The Ohio Department of Transportation is to get $971 million for highways and bridges, $203 million for transit capital grants and $9 million to repair rail lines. Within those totals is money that will come to central Ohio and the Central Ohio Transit Authority.
Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said Ohio could get more federal money from agencies administering discretionary dollars and competitive grants. She couldn’t say how much or when the state might get that money.
ODOT has six months to earmark the money for so-called shovel-ready projects or forfeit it. The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission and COTA have six- and 12-month deadlines to use theirs.
MORPC is to get $28 million, and an estimated $14 million is going to COTA, more than double the agencies’ annual federal subsidies for capital projects.
“That’s pretty good,” MORPC Executive Director Chester Jourdan said. “We were disappointed in the amount of infrastructure dollars in the overall package. Nevertheless, we’re glad to get what we got.”
In addition to traditional road projects, MORPC can use the money on public transit, ports or passenger rail, Jourdan said.
The agency must identify projects that provide immediate construction jobs and others that offer long-term economic development.
“How can we leverage that $28 million to create $300 million or $400 million?” Jourdan asked.
Potential projects include paying for the planned Rich Street bridge and Grandview Yard, or the I-270 interchange at Alum Creek Road that would help workers and employees at Rickenbacker industrial park, Jourdan said.
COTA’s light-rail project won’t get the $200 million in federal economic-stimulus money that local officials asked for, but that doesn’t mean the project is dead.
COTA’s 8-mile light-rail line from Downtown to Ohio State along High Street isn’t far enough along to qualify for the money, COTA President Bill Lhota said, but it could be eligible for money that’s freed up by the federal cash infusion.
“I’m the eternal optimist,” Lhota said. “I think the time is right to move forward with alternative transportation modes in central Ohio.”
COTA ridership last week was up more than 20 percent compared with the same week last year, continuing a string of passenger increases that started last year.
“Four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline has made a systemic shift in the way people think about transportation,” Lhota said.
COTA will continue to work with MORPC and the city of Columbus “to try to figure out how to make this thing work,” Lhota said.
At a Columbus Metropolitan Club meeting yesterday, Jourdan said central Ohio could have a light-rail line in operation by 2015.
“This is not about building a train,” he said. “It’s about building jobs.”
Lhota said COTA probably will use stimulus money to replace 26 hydraulic lifts at its McKinley Avenue bus garage and other vehicle equipment. Later in the year, COTA could use the money to replace some of its aging buses.
“We need to spend it wisely,” Lhota said.
dgebolys@dispatch.com
http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/02/18/rail19.html?sid=101
Check out npr.org: ‘high speed rail’ today, for comment by Ray Lahood. Also google “high speed rail”, news, for articles nationwide. This waiting is like a plaque on the wall next to the corporate vice presidents office: Decisions around here are like the mating of elephants. It’s done at very high levels and it’s always messy.