In a first-of-its-kind study, Transportation Equity Network (TEN) surveyed how states are doing at creating job opportunities in infrastructure for women and minorities. They found some notable bright spots, but a lot more work to be done. As TEN points out in their release, infrastructure investment continues to present an untapped opportunity for job creation [...]

Sidewalkers Originally uploaded by Transportation for America to Flickr. Photo by the Safe Routes to School National Partnership Transportation is what connects us all to the things we need each day, making life possible. But the decisions we’ve made about where and how to spend our transportation dollars have extended that opportunity to some people [...]

The Transportation Equity Network’s “More Transit = More Jobs” report dovetailed nicely with President Obama’s infrastructure initiative unveiled this week, receiving a good deal of media coverage for its conclusion that transit investment would result in hundreds of thousands of jobs. TEN outlined how a significant shift in federal transportation funds from highways to public transit — without spending more money overall — would impact 20 metropolitan areas in the United States.

Although unemployment turned out worse than some forecasters anticipated, there has been some consensus among economists that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed earlier this year prevented even higher job losses while channeling much-needed relief to states. But spending money quickly often relies on formulas and methods that are outdated, or — as evidenced in last month’s report by the Transportation Equity Network (TEN) and Good Jobs First — inequitable. Minority-owned businesses have received only 10.2 percent of stimulus funds toward federal contracts, while women-owned businesses received 5.9 percent.