Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond and state department of transportation directors from 17 states hosted a news conference today highlighting the rapid pace of delivering federal Recovery Act jobs and highway projects bolstering the nation’s economic recovery.
Nationwide, 2,000 construction projects with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are underway. That adds up to more than $6 billion in projects. A total of 5,600 projects have been identified and approved for bidding, which means a total of $16.7 billion will flow into the economy over the next two years.
Washington state received $491 million from the Federal Highway Administration for 181 state and local highway projects. 138 have been advertised or awarded to contractors, and 66 are under construction, said Hammond.