Evaluation of the Commonwealth’s Flexible Stimulus Spending Compared to Other States
Boston, MA -- A new report released today by MASSPIRG Education Fund and Smart Growth America showed that in spending the money apportioned to it under President Obama’s stimulus bill, Massachusetts made better progress than most other states towards repairing roads and bridges and investing in public transportation, in addition to bike and pedestrian options.
Coming at the 120-day deadline for states to spend half their transportation stimulus funds, the report showed that “Massachusetts spent its stimulus money well, and is facing its transportation challenges head-on,” according to Lizzi Weyant, staff attorney for MASSPIRG. “The commonwealth should be commended for focusing on projects that invest in public transportation and fix our roads and bridges. These priorities will go a long way towards meeting the goals of the stimulus and can be directly connected to job creation.”
The report, Massachusetts and the Stimulus: An Appraisal of Transportation Spending, draws on official data reported by all 50 states to the US Department of Transportation on stimulus spending from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It examines the extent to which the commonwealth’s projects meet urgent economic recovery and transportation objectives, including expected job creation, investment in public transportation and fixing crumbling roads and bridges.
The Secretary of Transportation, James Aloisi, Jr., received a report card from MASSPIRG at today’s press conference. “Our recovery efforts are using this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest in projects that fix broken roads and bridges, expand public transit, bicycle and pedestrian opportunities and that spark economic development,” said Transportation Secretary James Aloisi, Jr. “In every corner of the Commonwealth, we are putting people to work to build safer roads and more livable communities.” MASSPIRG gave the commonwealth an A- in stimulus spending, reflecting the good choices made, but also showing room for improvement.
The report illustrated that 75 percent of the discretionary stimulus money Massachusetts committed to roads and bridges was spent repairing and restoring our highways, instead of creating more highway miles. The report also showed that Massachusetts committed 19 percent of its overall stimulus spending, the third highest in the country, on projects that support public transportation and advance bike and pedestrian options. “Massachusetts did a good job of balancing the state’s needs in picking projects, but could have spent more money on preserving roads and bridges, more money on public transportation, and no money on projects designed to create more highway miles,” says Weyant.
Road and bridge repairs and public transportation projects produce more jobs than construction of new roads and bridges. In fact, Massachusetts ARRA spending in the first 120 days can be predicted to generate 4,676 jobs. The report shows that if flexible funds had been completely allocated to meet backlogs in public transportation funding, an additional 950 likely jobs would have been generated.
The report also revealed that Massachusetts plans to take advantage of the separate ARRA high-speed rail program to prepare multiple proposals for high-speed rail funding.
“The investments that the commonwealth is making today will be a benefit for our communities for the future,” says Weyant. “We gave the commonwealth an A- in transportation stimulus spending, because we feel that there is always room for improvement, room to invest more money on public transportation, and repair and restoration projects. Massachusetts is a leader on transportation stimulus spending when compared to the rest of the nation. This report clearly reflects that leadership.”
FINAL-120-day-report_06-29.pdf