| Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced that transportation projects funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) are moving swiftly.
As part of the Administration's effort to infuse Recovery Act funds swiftly into the economy, states are required under ARRA to obligate 50 percent of their highway funds by June 29, 2009. Working in coordination with the U.S. Department of Transportation, all 55 U.S. states and territories successfully beat this deadline at least 10 days ahead of schedule with Texas allocating over 50% of its funds as of June 12.
Nationwide, to date, $19 billion has been obligated to fund over 5,300 approved for highway and other transportation projects nationwide. Of those, 1,900 projects are already underway. Already in Texas, the state has put to work $960.7 million in highway funds - or 61 percent - of the funds required under the Act.
As of today, Texas' largest ARRA-funded project is the $6.6 million repair of concrete pavement on I-45 from Keechi Creek to Bliss Creek in Leon County, an economically distressed area. This 7.29-mile-long project - fully funded by ARRA - will extend the service life of infrastructure on a route that is expected to carry increased traffic volume. |
