Are the road projects I see starting in my town part of the stimulus?

Put your state name “road projects” and “stimulus” into a search engine and you should get an announcment. Here are articles on Minnesota’s and North Carolina’s plans.

OH NO! Am I one of those people who should have googled????

I feel a little better because I still didn’t get teh answer to my question when I googled it. I am in Bakersfield, CA. Maybe I’m not the greatest googler.

You can also watch the official site to see when they put stuff up. They’re still in the deciding who gets how much phase, so the projects in your area are probably just the regular, non-stimulating kind. :)

From the San Jose Mercury News

“California is in line to receive at least $31.5 billion in federal stimulus funding. . . state officials reported Tuesday.

Most of the money will be used to fill gaps in education and health care programs. California also will get help with housing, welfare and unemployment programs. About 8 percent of the total will fund transportation projects.”

“California expects to receive $2.6 billion for highways and roads from the transportation component of the stimulus plan. The state also could get an extra $1 billion for bus and rail systems.”

Source
“A Butte County highway project is among 57 approved Thursday for the first allocation of Caltrans’ share of federal stimulus money.

The $17 million project will level out the humps on Highway 99 near the Thermalito Afterbay.

When construction will begin is uncertain, but Caltrans Director Will Kempton said, “We plan on starting the first of these projects within 60 days—putting people to work as soon as possible.”

The projects approved Thursday by the California Transportation Commission totaled $625 million.

Also on the list was a $38 million project to rebuild five miles of Interstate 5 in Red Bluff. The construction zone runs south from Adobe Road.

The money became available after President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Feb. 17.

Something in the $9 million-to-$11 million range is expected to come directly to Butte County under the act. As much as $30 million might be spent here, including Caltrans projects inside the county line.

The Butte County Association of Governments has collected a list of projects from the cities and the county for consideration for funding. The 34 proposals would cost $81.4 million, so not all will be funded.

Which ones get money may be decided on how ready they are to go. The bill requires the money to be “obligated” in a rather short time frame. In addition, projects using this money need to go through the federal environmental review process as well as the state process.”

From what I understand no one has gotten any of the stimulus money yet (although some governors have turned the funds they haven’t yet received down, such as our Republican Rick Perry).

Our city is currently in the throes of tearing up every major street in town, but these projects were funded by bond issues passed as long ago as 2001, 2003 and 2005. I suspect the stimulus money will take a while to come into play in most cases.

@Judi those projects are probably not funded directly with stimulus money (most of the money is just now beginning to get out), but they nevertheless may be an indirect result of the stimulus. Many local and state governments are facing serious budget deficits and unlike the federal government, these local governments generally can’t borrow to fill in the gap. There are likely many projects that were on the chopping block or were going to be postponed in the face of massive deficits, but with the expectation of federal money, those projects have been saved and will go forward as planned. So, it is possible that those transportation improvements, while not directly funded by the stimulus package, are happening because of it.