Transportation For America » U.S. PIRG challenges states to invest in 21st century transportation infrastructure

U.S. PIRG challenges states to invest in 21st century transportation infrastructure

January 16, 2009
By Andrew Bielak

In the run up to the economic stimulus, we’ve been taking a hard look at some of the transportation project lists that states are putting together.

While many of details of the federal stimulus are still being hashed out, our analysis of these state project lists has made one thing quite clear — if we expect to create more jobs, protect our climate, and reduce our dependence on oil, our state and federal governments need to do a much better job of investing in green infrastructure projects that will help us rebuild and retool our economy.

Transportation for America partner and national advocacy organization U.S. PIRG has now released a new report, “Economic Stimulus or More Misguided Spending,” that takes an in-depth look at some of the project lists from the states, and finds some troubling trends:

Most stimulus project lists from state DOTs prioritize new highways while paying relatively little attention to repairing crumbling bridges and roads and even less emphasis on forward-looking transportation options, such as public transit and intercity rail. As a result, they are contrary to President-elect Obama’s stated intention to use smart spending to reduce America’s dependence on oil and emissions of global warming pollution.

U.S. PIRG and its state partners are pushing the report in key states across the country, and have already garnered attention in California, Connecticut, Arizona, and Florida.

With your help, we can push our state governments and federal lawmakers to match their words with actions by investing in a clean, green, 21st century economy. Check out the PIRG report and Transportation For America’s analysis to see how your state wants to spend its stimulus dollars, and be sure to sign our petition urging Congress to fix what’s broken before committing billions to expanding roads and highways.