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Stimulus takes detour around ailing metropolitan area roads
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| Contributor | kal |
| Last Edited | kal Sep 25, 2009 07:47am |
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| Category | General |
| Media | Newspaper - USA Today |
| News Date | Friday, September 25, 2009 01:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Nearly $10 billion in stimulus aid to repair the nation's tattered highways has largely bypassed dozens of metropolitan areas where roads are in the worst shape, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
Half of the nation?s worst roads are in counties that will only get about 20% of the stimulus money allocated by state and federal officials for street repairs. Although the worst roads are in just a handful of counties, they account for 11,000 miles of pavement so rough the government has branded them as unacceptable.
The problem is a byproduct of a stimulus package designed to spend as fast as possible to revive the economy. Many roads are in such bad shape that repairs would take too long and cost too much to qualify for funds, says John Barton, head of engineering for Texas' Department of Transportation.
The result is that counties with the worst roads won't get much more repair money than counties with better roads. The 74 counties with half of the nation's bad roads will split $1.9 billion, records show; counties with no major roads in bad shape will split about $1.5 billion.
Areas most in need may still get more money. About 70% of the stimulus highway money has been allocated so far.
Using the most recent records from the U.S. Department of Transportation, USA TODAY compared nearly $10 billion in stimulus-funded roadwork to a ranking of rough roads in counties across the country. Repair money is the biggest single slice of the $27 billion included in the stimulus for roads and bridges. The review found:
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