WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. government is spending nearly $4 billion per month in economic stimulus money on highway construction projects, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Thursday.
The Obama administration has also made available more than $1 billion for airport infrastructure projects, like runway repaving, and the Federal Transit Administration is preparing to release more than 60 grants totaling $640 million, LaHood said in remarks at the National Press Club.
The Transportation Department 'has made more money available to states more quickly than any of our routine programs,' he said.
It will likely have to keep up that pace for a while. The government website tracking stimulus spending, www.recovery.gov, says the Transportation Department had paid out $40.37 million as of May 8, or less than 1 percent of the $11.74 billion available.
Money available represents funds that have been promised but not spent.
When the stimulus was debated last winter, President Barack Obama called for it to fund 'shovel-ready' projects, or ones that could start quickly and immediately employ some of the country's thousands of jobless construction workers. Highway repair and road re-paving dominated the list of projects.
Ultimately, more than $25 billion was set aside for highway repairs over the two-year life of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
By May 1, 545 highway and transit projects had begun in 37 states, which represented $2.1 billion in spending, according to data released by the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday.
Nearly 3,000 highway and transit projects in 50 states and territories and the District of Columbia had been put out to bid, the committee said.
(Reporting by John Crawley and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Leslie Adler) Keywords: USA INFRASTRUCTURE/STIMULUS (john.crawley@thomsonreuters.com; Washington newsroom; +1-202-898-8300) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The Obama administration has also made available more than $1 billion for airport infrastructure projects, like runway repaving, and the Federal Transit Administration is preparing to release more than 60 grants totaling $640 million, LaHood said in remarks at the National Press Club.
The Transportation Department 'has made more money available to states more quickly than any of our routine programs,' he said.
It will likely have to keep up that pace for a while. The government website tracking stimulus spending, www.recovery.gov, says the Transportation Department had paid out $40.37 million as of May 8, or less than 1 percent of the $11.74 billion available.
Money available represents funds that have been promised but not spent.
When the stimulus was debated last winter, President Barack Obama called for it to fund 'shovel-ready' projects, or ones that could start quickly and immediately employ some of the country's thousands of jobless construction workers. Highway repair and road re-paving dominated the list of projects.
Ultimately, more than $25 billion was set aside for highway repairs over the two-year life of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
By May 1, 545 highway and transit projects had begun in 37 states, which represented $2.1 billion in spending, according to data released by the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday.
Nearly 3,000 highway and transit projects in 50 states and territories and the District of Columbia had been put out to bid, the committee said.
(Reporting by John Crawley and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Leslie Adler) Keywords: USA INFRASTRUCTURE/STIMULUS (john.crawley@thomsonreuters.com; Washington newsroom; +1-202-898-8300) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.