Transportation For America » Creating jobs through transportation investments

Creating jobs through transportation investments — but what kind of investments?

December 3, 2009
By Stephen Lee Davis

Photo by Dan Burden, Walkable.org

With the signs pointing toward a jobless recovery — America’s economy rebounding slightly, but unemployment remaining high — pressure is mounting on President Obama and Congress to take measurable steps to put people back to work.

Amidst today’s White House jobs summit, congressional Democrats have been working on ideas for a potential jobs bill in the House and Senate to put Americans to work with targeted investments. One potential component of a jobs bill receiving significant attention is investment in transportation infrastructure — a part of the economic recovery act from the beginning of this year that has clearly had an impact on the economy and created jobs.

Supplemented by numbers from the American Public Transportation Association and the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, Chairman James Oberstar and Rep. Peter DeFazio held a press conference and sent a letter to President Obama yesterday noting the thousands of transportation projects in states that can get underway quickly. Reports from AASHTO and APTA identify $48 billion in highway projects and $15 billion in transit projects that can be started quickly, creating jobs and investing in our transportation system.

With consensus beginning to form around including ample funding for ready-to-go transportation projects in any potential jobs bill, the debate has shifted. What projects will get funded, and what might the criteria be for choosing? Will the stimulus debate’s ubiquitous “shovel-ready” term once again be the only criteria? Could this bill, like the stimulus, allow states to bypass urgent repair needs in favor of new projects?

With almost every state facing an enormous backlog of desperately-needed repair projects, Transportation for America is pushing to make sure any spending boost is targeted at ready-to-go projects that can bring our transportation system into a state of good repair, rather than directing funds toward new projects we cannot afford to maintain. T4 America campaign director James Corless said in a statement yesterday:

We applaud the chairmen for pointing out that the rehabilitation of our over-taxed highway and transit systems is as imperative as it is effective at putting people to work on a timely basis. Among infrastructure-related investments, such ‘state-of-good-repair’ projects will create more jobs, faster than other investments. As we have argued since before the first stimulus, it makes perfect sense to restore our existing infrastructure as we prepare to lay the groundwork for a more transformational vision.

Creating jobs through a burst of transportation spending is a smart plan, but it should not detract from passing a full, six-year transportation bill that can get us on the path to a 21st Century transportation system. Corless went on to note:

However, we are deeply concerned that a two-year continuation will once again provide an excuse for some members of Congress to defer this country’s desperate need to create a new, long-term plan for investing in the infrastructure we need to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving, global economy. As we noted in a letter to Congressional leaders this week:

Any short-term jobs package for transportation should be limited to no more than one year, providing a strong boost to the American economy in 2010, while making sure this Congress finishes its work on a longer-term transformational transportation authorization bill that can bring our nation’s transportation policy and programs into the 21st Century.

Before Thanksgiving, we sent a letter to Congressional leaders with three principles that should guide transportation spending in any potential jobs bill. Any plan to create jobs through transportation spending should:

Create the greatest number of jobs in the quickest time possible by prioritizing rehabilitation and operation of existing infrastructure and target new workforce development opportunities for people most in need of employment. (i.e., “Fix-it-first.”)
Chart a new 21st century direction in transportation policy.
Be limited to no more than a year and not replace the long term authorization of the transportation bill.

As Matt Lewis from the Center for Public Integrity noted from US PIRG on Twitter yesterday, “House leaders stressed ‘state of good repair’ #transpo projects but said $ would flow thru existing formulas. Tough 2 do both?”