Remember Stimulus money? Yeah, it seems like that was so long ago now. Looking back though, how did the whole American Reinvestment and Recovery Act(ARRA) thing work out? That's what Smart Growth America wanted to find out, and they just released a new report entitled, “Recent Lessons from the Stimulus: Transportation Funding and Job Creation.”
Smart Growth America is an organization dedicated to researching, advocating for and leading coalitions to bring smart growth practices to communities nationwide. They work with communities to fight sprawl and do everything from providing sidewalks to ensuring homes are built near public transit and farms remain part of communities.
Smart Growth America's report discusses how states spent their flexible transportation funds from the 2009 stimulus, and specifically looks at which states were more successful (or less successful) in creating jobs out of those funds.
So who were the big winners? Apparently states that invested more heavily in public transportation than new construction of roads and bridges came out on top. In our area, Idaho was ranked #35 for percentage of total road spending allocated to system preservation and new capacity and Washington was #38 on the list. For Percent of funding spent on public transportation and non-motorized projects, Idaho came in #17 and Washington 33.
There's a lot of other interesting info in this report you will want to check out, so click here and read it. Then give me your feedback if you have any.
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