How should states prioritize the use of stimulus package infrastructure funding?
The first infrastructure project to get under way with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), a bridge over the Osage River near Tuscumbia, Mo., has come under fire from St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. Slay, who told the St. Louis Beacon that he is unhappy about the Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) decision to so far allocate only $5 million of the $637 million it received from ARRA to road work in St. Louis, said that the Tuscumbia Bridge project violates the act’s requirement that projects in distressed areas should be the first priority for ARRA spending.
A MoDOT press release on the state’s first 32 ARRA-funded projects says that the projects will cost nearly $39 million and will provide 1,000 jobs. “MoDOT is analyzing the provisions of the economic recovery legislation to determine how it will spend the rest of the stimulus money not already obligated,” the statement reads.
How should state transportation departments prioritize the distribution of ARRA money?
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